Anger - Examples of It - 1/2

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, Thou for His love, my God and King, Thou triumphs of His grace. This is little Sarah Bradley, Jr. welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. Our bondage here shall end, by and by, by and by, Our grief shall vanish then, with our threescore years and tin, And bright glory crown the day, And bright glory, and bright glory crown the day, By and by, by and by, And when to Jordan's flood, We are come, we are come, Jehovah rules the tide, And the waters will divide, While the ransom host shall shout, While the ransom, while the ransom host shall shout, We are come, we are come. Today we continue with our series of messages on the subject of anger, and we're talking about examples of it that are found in scripture. If the message is a help to you and you want us to continue on this station, we'd love to hear from you. Our mailing address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217.

Or you can go to our website, you can send us a message from there, or you can make a donation at BaptistBibleHour.org. Sometimes the best understanding we can gain is from an illustration, from a picture that is painted, a biblical picture that lays out before us in very vivid terms, what it means to be angry or if another lesson is in view, what we may learn from observing those individuals that have walked in a particular course of action. The first of these examples we look at is in the book of Genesis chapter 4. This is early in the history of man, following the fall of Adam as he transgressed, sinned against God and brought condemnation upon himself and his posterity. And in the fourth chapter and the fifth verse, two brothers in this first family. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.

Now Abel had brought of the firstling of the flock as the Lord had commanded him to, and God had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and his offering he had not respect, and Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. Here's an example of sinful anger. Cain was upset. He was very upset. He was extremely angry and his countenance fell. He was angry because his offering was not accepted.

Angry because he didn't get his way. He knew just as well as Abel did what was required, that he was to bring the firstling of the flock. Only by the offering of a blood sacrifice could the picture be painted concerning the Lamb of God who would ultimately come to save sinners.

Cain, being a tiller of the soil, wanted to bring the fruit of his labors. And so he selects a sacrifice that he's satisfied with, but it's not what God has designated. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

If you do not well, sin lies at the door. There's going to be a tremendous inclination to respond sinfully. And that's exactly what Cain was doing. He was jealous of his brother. His brother's offering was accepted, his was not.

And so often when a person is angry, they put the blame where it doesn't belong. Whose fault was this situation of Cain's offering being rejected? Was it Abel's fault? Abel had done the right thing. Abel had done the godly thing. Abel had obeyed God. But Cain was jealous of his brother as though it was his brother's fault. The brother has been accepted.

I have not. He's angry. People look about them and observe some of their human relationships. Brothers, sisters, friends, fellow workers, whoever it is. Here's somebody that seems to be accepted and they're not. They've gained a position that they haven't been able to attain. And they blame that person. They're jealous. They're angry. The person toward whom that jealousy is directed is not responsible for their anger.

It's the person who has not done the right thing or who has reacted to a situation in the wrong way. And then it says he was angry, very rough, and his countenance fell. You could see it in his face. He was angry and he looked angry. As a matter of fact, he was depressed.

Many times in the scriptures when the term is used about one's countenance being fallen or observing their countenance in a negative light, it indicates a person being depressed. He's upset. He's disappointed. He's depressed because he was not accepted. He was not approved. His offering was not received by God.

Now this would be an interesting place for a little self-examination. When you look back over your life, can you remember a few times when you've been depressed and been wallowing in self-pity and you didn't want to really admit what the whole trouble was, but when you got down to the bottom line, you were angry. You were angry because you weren't approved. You weren't accepted. Somebody didn't make over you. Somebody didn't appreciate you. Somebody didn't give you what you wanted. And consequently, you were depressed.

Now, I understand there are many forms of depression and that depression can come about for a variety of reasons. And I'm not trying to put everything into the same category, but I'm saying here is one classic example of a man being depressed because he himself had refused to obey God, had not done the right thing. Now, he's blaming his problem on God and on his brother and he's depressed.

He is very rough. And Cain talked with Abel his brother and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. Now, that shows you the ultimate of where anger can take you.

Jesus, as a matter of fact, strengthened what the Old Testament had said about murder and said if you hate your brother in your heart, you're guilty of murder. The hatred starts in the heart. A person is angry. They're upset. They're bitter. They're resentful.

They're jealous. And it ultimately led here to murder. Vivid example, is it not? It certainly indicates what a dreadful sin, anger is.

When it is sinful anger, when it is out of control, when it is controlling the individual, rather than that individual controlling the anger and turning it into a channel that will result in something positive and worthwhile. Now the next example is in the book of 1 Kings chapter 21. King Ahab is the character in view and you can learn an awful lot about human depravity and about anger and how it affects people in this one Bible example. 1 Kings chapter 21 of the first verse. And it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. Naboth is the next door neighbor to king Ahab. He has a vineyard and Ahab spake unto Naboth saying, give me thy vineyard that I may have it for a garden of herbs.

It's handy. It's right here next door. I'd like for you to move. I want to put me a garden of herbs out there. I like tasty food. I want things to be improved back in the kitchen.

I've got a new chef and I want to see that he's got good supply here. I want to put an herb garden over there where your vineyard is. Now he's intending to be fair about it. He says, give me thy vineyard that I may have it for a garden of herbs because it is near unto my house and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it. I'm not going to just take it away from you.

I'll give you one better than what you've got. Or if it seemed good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, the Lord forbid me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.

Naboth is sentimental. He says, this land has been in my family for generations. We've been here on this spot before you ever became king. I like this place.

It's convenient. I want to stay here. And the answer is no. It doesn't matter what kind of trade you want to make. It doesn't matter how much money you want to give me for it. Some people feel that there's a price for everything. But there are people who can't be bought. And Naboth says, you can't buy me out.

I like where I am. I'm going to stay put. And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth, the Jezreelite, had spoken to him. For he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed and turned away his face and would eat no bread. Now here is the king of Israel pitching a temper fit.

I mean, he is upset. A lot of things come to mind here. You remember when the people said, we want a king.

We want to be like other nations. They hadn't envisioned some of the complications of that arrangement. They didn't appreciate what it was for God to be their king. They said, we want a king.

Now they got one. And the king feels like he's important enough that if he wants your vineyard, you ought to pack up and move. Get out of his way.

This was an early example of eminent domain. We're going to take your property. We'll reimburse you for it, but you move on. Naboth says, no, I want to stay put. So Ahab comes home and he is heavy and displeased. He is very upset.

I'm sure that when the servants saw him walk in the house, they could tell by looking at him, there's something wrong. You know, if you get to know somebody real well, they don't have to write it out for you. They don't have to announce it. I'm upset. You just look at them. You know they're upset. You can tell the way they walk across the room. You can tell the way they hold their body.

You can tell the way they glare. Now, sometimes you may approach them and say, what's wrong? Who? Me? Nothing wrong with me.

Nothing wrong. No, I'm not upset. Ahab was upset. He was displeased. Why was he upset? He didn't get what he wanted.

Understand that, don't you? You know, he was probably one of these individuals when he was a kid. He got just about what he wanted. He learned when you're with your mother at the grocery store, pitch a fit and she'll be afraid to correct you because they may lock you up. So he learned just how to handle things at home.

Now he's a big grown up man, king of Israel, and he's still behaving like a three year old. Comes home displeased and goes to bed. I don't want to have anything to do with anybody. Don't want to see anybody.

Don't talk to anybody. And he turned his face over and would not eat bread. Going to have a hunger strike. Just don't bring me dinner.

I'm upset. I don't want to eat. No, I don't want to eat.

Ever seen anybody like that? Come home mad and say, here's dinner. I don't want to eat. I don't want to eat tonight. Going to bed. Not going to talk to anybody. No, nothing wrong with me. I'm fine. Just get out of my way.

I'm not going to talk to you. I couldn't help but be a little amused when some of the students at the college up above us here had announced a hunger strike and it went on for several days. And they finally announced that it was going to end because nobody had paid any attention to them. Now, initially they said, we're in this for the duration. We're ready to die if necessary.

But when they didn't get any publicity they said it's all over. I have a hard time sympathizing with people that have hunger strikes. I figure whatever the consequences just have to suffer it. Well, King Ahab is going to have him a hunger strike.

I'm not going to eat. No, I'm just upset. I'm mad. But he had learned, perhaps when he was a child, and he had certainly learned in his relationship with his wife, that I can manipulate people.

I can control things by my anger. I'm sure by this time that there were servants in the palace tiptoeing around saying, Ooh, he'll lay low. Just to stay out of the king's way. He's, ooh, you know we've seen him mad before, but he is upset tonight. Somebody says, you think I ought to take food up there?

No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't go to his room. He doesn't want any food. But see, he had played this game with his wife before, no doubt. In fact, you read the preceding chapter, he was having another one of these fits right in the preceding chapter.

So this wasn't the first one he'd ever had. So he knew how to work his wife. See, he's a weak man to start with. If there's any dirty work to be done, he doesn't want to do it.

He just wants to get somebody to do it. So he's up here pouting and knows that if he just stays there long enough, his little wife's going to come up and say, Aww, now honey, what's wrong? Tell me what's bothering you. Are you really upset? I hate to see you like this.

And he, you know, banter with her a little bit. No, I'm not going to tell you, not going to tell you. Well, come on. Now you tell me. Mom will make it all right.

You just tell me. So, charming little Jezebel comes up to his room after a little while and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad that thou eatest no bread? Now, this isn't the way to be. I'm concerned about you. I'm concerned about your health. I want you to eat a supper here before you go to sleep tonight.

What's the problem anyway? And he said unto her, Because of what Naboth said, I wanted his vineyard so I could plant me an herb garden. And he said, No.

And I'm upset. So for the sake of having lost the opportunity to plant an herb garden, he's going to give up eating. Now, isn't that ridiculous? You know, we've looked at several lessons recently to show how when people are in the wrong frame of mind and out of communion and fellowship with God, their thinking is terribly distorted.

I absolutely come to some of the most preposterous conclusions that anybody could ever imagine. So here's a man that's willing to give up eating for the sake of being disappointed over not being able to plant an herb garden next door. Well, Jezebel his wife said, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Aren't you the king?

Shouldn't you have your way? Arise and eat bread and let thine heart be merry. I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth. Now, come on. Supper's waiting on you, honey.

You just come on down here at the rest of us and join in. Everything's going to be fine. You're going to have your way. That's all he wanted to start with. That's why he's upset. That's why he's angry. He didn't get his way.

So he's mad. She says, all right, I'm going to get you what you want. Now, see, everything is beginning to work out just as he would desire it. He doesn't have to get his hands dirty. He doesn't have to come up with any plots or schemes. He doesn't have to be an immediate part of it, but he knows this wicked wife of his will stop at nothing.

And when she says, I will give you that vineyard, it's as good as done. And he's one of these weak individuals that doesn't want to know the details. You notice he didn't ask his wife, well, honey, what on earth are you going to do?

He doesn't want to know. Because he's seen enough out of her to know that she can handle it. He's weak. She's strong willed, strong minded, and she'll stop at nothing. You see, weakness will ultimately lead to wickedness. The weak individual may not lay the plot, work out the scheme, implement the plan, do the dirty work, but they'll manipulate somebody else so that they'll do it. Sometimes we'll hear people say, whatever you're going to do, just don't tell me about it.

If you've got to do it, just go ahead and do it, but don't tell me. Clearly indicating that they know what's going to be done is a little shady. They're about to do something dishonest. They're about to do something that's going to harm somebody else.

I don't want to give you my full blessing in it, in fact I'd just as soon not know, but you just go ahead and do it. See, that's weakness. And I want you to know that in spite of the fact it was not Ahab's plan, he's not the one that laid out the plan that's implemented here, that God held him responsible. So old Queen Jezebel says, I'll handle that. She wrote letters according to verse 8, in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in the letter, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people, and set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Vow'd its blaspheme God and the king, and then carry him out and stone him that he may die.

She says, we'll take care of him. She writes letters, signs the king's name, puts his signet on it, says, I want you to bring Naboth out, we're going to have a day of fast, and I want you to bring people there who are going to accuse him of blaspheming God, plotting against the king, and I want you to gather enough people that they're going to be witnesses. And do you know there were people who were willing to do that? Now remember, this was in the nation of Israel. A people favored of God. A people chosen and blasphemed above every other nation on the earth. And they've got a wicked king, and a queen that's even more wicked than her husband, and people in the kingdom who are willing to lie just in order to please the queen, and people who will attest to this accusation and say, yes, we heard him. So, verse 13 says, it came in the two men, the children of Belial, and sat down before him, and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, and the presence of the people saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king, then they carried him forth out of the city and stoned him with stones that he died. And then Jezebel comes in and says, got good news for you, honey.

You know you want to plant that little herb garden next door? It's all yours. Naboth's dead. He's gone.

You go over there and claim it. Not one word said about Ahab being distraught. He didn't confront his wife and say, how could you do such a terrible thing? Why, I couldn't even accept that parcel of land on the basis of how it was secured.

None of that. He was a wicked man himself who was perfectly willing for his wife to lay out this plan, carry out this scheme, because he wanted his way. That's what happened when he gave in to anger. He was so angry at Naboth, simply because Naboth said no, he didn't care what happened to him. And when the news came, Naboth is dead. They lied against him.

Witnesses testified that it's so. They stoned him to death according to the law. Now the king goes out and claims that ground. But one thing Ahab hadn't accounted for. His wife might be a schemer.

She might be mean enough to carry out any kind of an ungodly plot imaginable. He might be able to get by with such activities as far as others in the kingdom were concerned. But friends, there's a God in heaven that knows about everything. There's a God in heaven that says, vengeance is mine, I will repay. And Ahab's over here looking at this little plot of ground. And God sends the prophet to him. Lets him know that if you think what you've done has gone unnoticed, God has observed the whole scene. He knows about you as a spineless, no good king who will not stand up to his ungodly wife and even manipulate her to do the dirty work for him.

God has seen all of it and said in the very place where they stoned Naboth to death, the dogs are going to lick up your blood. Vengeance is mine, I will repay. Well I'm glad you've been with us for the program today.

I hope it's been helpful to you. If you would like to help keep the broadcast on your station, you can make a donation by going to BaptistBibleHour.org. Till we greet you at this same time tomorrow, this is LeSaire Bradley Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. It is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior, Praising my Savior, Praising my Savior all the day long.