Anger - Putting It Away - Part 1 of 2

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, the worries of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace.

This is Laseya Bradley Jr. welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. How happy's every child of grace, that feels his sins forgiven! This earthly crisis, not my place, I seek a place in heaven, a country far from mortal sight, yet all by faith I see, the land of rest, the saints delight, a hymn prepared for me. Oh, what a blessing, hope is ours, while here on earth we stay. We more than taste God and be part, and then to date that day, we feel the resurrection near, our life in Christ concealed, and with his glorious presence here, our longing hearts are filled. When he shall moor up heaven bestowed, and bid my soul remove, and let my trembling spirit go to meet the God I love, with rapture sown him a gaze, who died to set me free, asking and shall redeeming grace in past eternity.

In our study on anger, we come now to a very important part of that study, talking about anger toward God. I hope that this part of the study will be particularly beneficial to you. If you want the broadcast to continue on your local station, we certainly would appreciate your support. You can make a donation by going to our website at baptistbiblehour.org, and I do hope you will visit the website. Our new website is up and new features available, and we hope that you will visit us there.

I want to continue today. The text we have used for this message is Ephesians chapter 4 verses 26 and 27, and verses 31 and 32. We'll be getting back to those and making some specific comments as we go along. But the first thing we have considered in this message is righteous anger. There is such a thing as righteous anger. God is angry with the wicked every day. Jesus Christ was righteously angry when he drove the money changers out of the temple. But it generally is extremely difficult for most of us to be angry and to maintain a righteous spirit in it at the same time. That's why the text says, be ye angry and sin not, because it's so easy to fall into sin and to handle our anger improperly. We then talked about sinful anger, and looked at a number of admonitions regarding it. A good many of those are in the book of Proverbs, a book that deals extensively with the subject.

Then we talked about some examples. Going to the scriptures and looking at individuals like Cain, and Ahab, and Saul, and even the prodigal's brother who were angry. And made some observations about their improper behavior and the attitude that motivated them to be angry and sin before God. Now we come today still talking about sinful anger to deal first with the consequences of it. There are always consequences to sin. So anytime we disobey, rebel against God, yield to the flesh rather than to the spirit, there are going to be some consequences. The Lord may forgive us and cleanse our hearts as we confess our sin to him, but often there are still some consequences that must be endured. Now going to this fourth chapter of the book of Ephesians from which our text is taken. After admonishing us not to sin when we are angry, and further saying, let not the sun go down upon your wrath, verse 27 says, neither give place to the devil. We learn then from this that one of the consequences of giving in to anger is that we are giving place to the devil.

We're opening up room for him. We're inviting him into our life. Now we're told in the book of James chapter 4 in the seventh verse to resist the devil. Resist him and he will flee from you. We are not to invite the devil in.

We are not to direct him to an easy chair where he can sit down and make himself comfortable and say, here's the place I'm providing for you. But this text tells us that if we give in to anger, if we are sinfully angry, we are giving room to the devil. We are opening up the opportunity for many other sins to develop as a result of our angry spirit. Would any of us make the conscious decision to invite the devil into our lives today? Would any person be so foolish as to say, I think that as time has passed, Satan is not that fierce adversary that he once was, and I don't know that he can do me much harm. Friends, he still is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Would you want to invite a roaring lion into your living room?

Would you want to be in the same room with him? Certainly be tremendous fear and apprehension, would there not? Well, if we do not deal with anger, that's exactly what's happened.

We have allowed Satan, a roaring lion, to enter our lives and to have a room to dwell within us. Does it not then make it explicitly clear that it's something that must be dealt with appropriately, that it needs to be resolved? The next thing we notice in this passage, as we come to the 29th verse, is that it allows for corrupt communication. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.

That's another one of those places where it's so plain you couldn't miss it if you tried. People often say, I just can't understand the Bible. You understand that? You may have a little trouble abiding by it at all times, but you don't have any problem understanding it, do you? Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.

Say, well, I don't think it hurts to use a bad word now and then, do you? Is that what the text says? Let no corrupt communication. And that word, corrupt, carries the meaning of putrid as rotten fruit. It smells bad. It's detestable.

Don't want anything to do with it. You ever come across something that's been in the refrigerator much too long, and you pick it up and get a whiff of it? I mean, you want to get rid of that stuff. It smells bad. In fact, I always say, if you've got to smell it, throw it out.

Nothing worse than seeing the cook looking over something to see if it's turned green. Well, this rotten communication is not to proceed out of your mouth. No unkind word. No inappropriate word. No time when you would ever use God's name in vain. I hear people who have been so accustomed to using the Lord's name carelessly, that I don't think they're even aware of it.

As to how many times His name is used in some form that is not worshipful and respectful, but using it as a part of the slang of their conversation. Friends, that becomes corrupt communication. We're to be careful of what we say and how we say it. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good. We mentioned already that the scriptures verify, although not in these words, but many of those portions we looked at in the book of Proverbs, certainly would confirm the thought that we need often to count to ten before we speak.

And some people need to count much farther than that. And as you count, you're deciding is this communication going to be good? I'm going to only speak that which is good, that which is beneficial, that which is worthwhile, that which is God-honoring. For what purpose? To the use of edifying. That which is good to the use of edifying. That is, I'm going to speak appropriate words that are according to the need. According to the need in this situation. I may be disturbed about a matter.

I may be concerned about the sinful behavior that I have seen in a brother or a family member or somebody that I am very concerned to admonish. But what words am I to use? Words that are befitting the occasion.

Good words that are going to be used to turn that person around and to restore that one that has fallen from the way. Oh, what a difference it would make if we were thinking about what we say. What a difference it would make in families. What a difference it would make in the workplace. What a difference it would make among God's own people. No words of harshness.

No words to put down. No cutting people up. No insinuations to try to tear them apart so that we would make ourselves look to be better. Only that which is building up to the use of edifying.

That it may minister grace unto the hearers. If you allow anger to remain in you, you're angry at people. You're angry about things. You're angry about circumstances. And you may even be angry at God.

And we're going to say more about that before we've concluded. But if that anger is festering inside of you, you are allowing for corrupt communication to come out. That's why people say things they shouldn't say, because that's what they've got on the inside. It's proceeding out of a corrupt heart. It's proceeding out of a sinful, wicked nature. Verse 31 says, Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice.

How much of it? All bitterness, all wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, be put away from you. Get rid of it. Therefore you're not to allow for corrupt communication. Verse 30 gives us another reason as to why we need to deal with anger, and as to what the consequences are if we fail to deal with it. It says, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. If you fail to deal with anger, you have grieved the Holy Spirit.

Just as you would recognize it to be most inappropriate to make the decision, I'm inviting Satan in to give him room in my life, would it not also be a dreadful thought to say, I am going to willfully grieve the Spirit of God. The Spirit is called the Comforter, and what a beautiful name it is. Jesus said, When I go away, the Comforter shall come.

And the Comforter abides in the hearts of those that have been born of the Holy Spirit. He's in you. He's with you. He's a part of you. When you are angry, you grieve the Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit of God. We need His abiding presence. We need His comforts. We need His strength that we might bear the fruit of the Spirit. But when there's anger, we grieve Him. We don't enjoy His blessings. We don't have the special strength that we need.

We don't have the insight that's so necessary along the way in life. Oh, may we search our hearts. May we pray, Lord help me to search my heart and to see deep within that if there is anger there that I have ignored. If there is a sinful attitude that has offended Thee. If I have grieved Thy Holy Spirit, it grieves me to know it and I want to confess it.

You see the consequences of anger? Not only so, but it leads to other sins. The sin of bitterness is here mentioned. That word is used in a very, very negative connotation in the Scripture. Let's look at one example of it in the book of Acts chapter 8 and verse 24.

Surely as we see this language, we would all say of a truth, I would not want to allow bitterness in my heart or to be moved by it or controlled by it in any sense. Or here the apostle is talking about one who is sinful in his behavior. And he says concerning Simon in verse 21, Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Simon the sorcerer thought that he could pay for the gifts of the Spirit.

And what does he say? What does the apostle say concerning him? I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness. Would any of us want to be associated with such a character, be in such a plight? Gall itself is bitter.

The language employed is powerful and significant. I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness. When we are angry and we fail to deal with it, you see, anger leads to other sins. It leads to bitterness.

And then we turn to the book of Hebrews chapter 12 to see another reference to it. We've referred previously to the fact that this sin of anger is often passed on. Angry parents teach their children to be angry. Now let me hasten to add I'm not talking about failing to discipline children. I knew of a lady who said she didn't believe in spanking because she didn't think that children ought to be dealt with violently.

But her little brood had learned violence on their own and nobody had corrected them to say that that conduct is improper. The book of Proverbs makes it clear that spankings are in order. But anger, sinful anger, can often be passed on to children not through the spanking that is administered to correct them and chasten them, but through the deep bitterness that's harbored within by parents who are angry at people, angry at life, and sometimes angry at God. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 15 says, looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled.

Now we recognize that the grace of God is not going to fail, that all of those who are called and chosen in the covenant, those who are the recipients of God's grace, are secure in Him, but some in their behavior fail of the grace of God and fail to walk in harmony with it and to display it. And he says, lest there be in any of you a root of bitterness springing up and thereby many be defiled. See, when you allow bitterness to stay within, it develops a root system. It permeates your whole being, your thought patterns, your attitudes. Many times your very physical makeup is affected by your bitterness and the further consequence of it, many others are defiled by it. An angry husband can have a tremendously negative impact on his wife and on his children. Angry parents often pass their grudges and their prejudices onto their children. Those children, rather than hearing words that edify and build up, hear people spouting off and blowing their tops who have no self-control and feel this is the way you do it.

This is how you live. You just let it fly and they develop that same way of speech and that same way of dealing with the problems of life and that bitterness spews out and has its terrible negative bitter effect on everybody around. You see the consequences?

See the results of it? And then he speaks of clamor. The word clamor literally means outcry.

They would say, listen, if I don't vent my anger, I'm going to explode. I'm going to be torn up on the inside. He says clamor is a sin. You put away all clamor. You're out crying. You're screaming and yelling. Your declaration of your rights, your thoughts that you're entitled to dump your frustration on everybody else. Put it away.

Put it away. I believe it leads furthermore to provoking children. Children are to be correctly disciplined because it's the right thing before God and to be disciplined in a way that will bring them to submission and obedience and recognize their God-given responsibilities. But Colossians chapter 3 verse 21 says, fathers provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged.

It's possible then for fathers to be guilty of instilling anger in their children. It literally is saying do not exasperate them. You be consistent. You don't take one stand today and change it tomorrow. You don't hold them to the line on one minor point today and then give in on something tomorrow because it's not convenient for you. You're careful not to exasperate them, that you do not want to provoke them to anger. And then finally we would say as to the results and consequences of this anger, it will eventually result in isolation. Now you think about that a minute. It will eventually result in isolation.

You say, well how can that be? Well I think you can see logically from the standpoint that a person who is constantly angry is not a very enjoyable person to keep company with. And if a person is always spouting off using inappropriate language, they're upset about something, they're mad at somebody, you soon decide, well I don't believe I want to go through that today. I'm not going to call them up. No need to go over and see them because I know what I'm going to hear before I get there. And then here's this person that's angry and they're sitting at home getting hotter by the minute saying, where are my friends?

Whatever happened to them anyway? Why don't people call me up anymore? Why don't people come to see me?

Why am I not invited to go places? Never imagining that they are the problem. Now you could see that logically, but I want to show it to you biblically. Proverbs chapter 22 verse 24, Make no friendship with an angry man.

That's pretty plain isn't it? Make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man thou shalt not go. Don't associate with angry people.

Why? Lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul. Now isn't life difficult enough without adding another snare to your soul? Having another situation in your life where you're going to be tempted to sin yourself? Where you're going to be encouraged to have the wrong attitude and the wrong outlook? Make no friendship with an angry man. So if you happen to be an angry person and you wonder where all your friends have gone, if they are following the admonition of the word of God, they're staying away from you because God told them to. Now there may be a place for them to come periodically with loving admonition to try to recover you because you have been overcome with this sinful behavior, but this makes it clear as the apostle tells us elsewhere, evil communications corrupt good manners.

I've talked to young people repeatedly that have the idea that doesn't apply to them. I can travel with friends that use drugs, I can travel with friends that drink, I can travel with people that have all kinds of ungodly behavior as a part of their life, but I'm strong enough it's not going to influence me. I tell you on the authority of God's word it will influence you.

There's no young person, there's no middle-aged person, there's no old person who is strong enough to say I can travel with the wrong crowd and it will not have an effect on me. God says it will. And he says don't make friends with an angry person because you'll be like them and you'll get a snare to your soul.

So one of the results and consequences of anger is that it leads to isolation. Well I'm glad you've been with us for the broadcast today. We hope that you'll make it a habit of listening every day at this same time as we bring messages from God's word. Until this same time tomorrow this it was Sarah Bradley Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. Praising my Savior, Praising my Savior, Praising my Savior. All the day long.