Anger - Righteous and Sinful 2/3

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

This is Lasere Bradley, Jr., welcoming you to another broadcast to the Baptist Bible Hour. For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, For the love which from our birth, over and around us lies, Christ our God to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise. For the wonder of each hour, of the day and of the night, Hill and vale and tree and floor, sun and moon and stars of light, Christ our God to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise. For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mind, Christ our God to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise. For thy Church, that evermore lifteth holy hands above, Offering upon every shore, where pure sacrifice of love, Christ our God to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise. We have now started with what will be the second message on the subject of anger.

This we discuss the difference between righteous and sinful anger. We hope that the study will be a blessing to you and if it is we'd like to hear from you. Now you can send us a note by going to our website at baptistbiblehour.org and you'll find many features there that I hope will be a help to you. Search me, O God, and know my heart today. Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts I pray.

See if there be some wicked way in me. Fence me from every sin and set me free. I praise thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin. O, fill thy wood and make me pure within.

Fill me with fire where once I burned with shame. Grant my desire to magnify thy name. Holy Ghost, revival comes from thee. Send a revival, start a work in me. Thy word declares, thou wilt supply our need.

For our blessing now, O Lord, I humbly plead. Righteous anger then can be seen by the fact that God is angry with the wicked every day, was angry with his people Israel and dealt with them in anger, that Jesus was angry with those who desecrated the temple. And further to clearly see what righteous anger is, what it must be if it's going to be defined in that category, it is anger under control.

Now somebody might fly into a rage and use all kinds of inappropriate words and say this is righteous indignation when it's nothing more than the old corrupt human nature just let go. Let's look at the book of Proverbs and we'll be looking a lot at this book as we deal with this subject because there is frequent reference to anger throughout. Proverbs chapter 14 verse 29, He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding. But he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. Slow to wrath. Ever hear anybody try to excuse themselves and say well I just come from a family of people that all have short fuses, you just have to watch out, we just blow up periodically and everybody will have to duck when the shrapnel flies. That's just the way I am. Does the word of God give us an excuse to say ever so often my depravity is just going to have to work its way to the top.

Too bad if you happen to get in the path when it's going off. No, he that is slow to wrath is of great understanding. Righteous indignation is not rage, not a desire to seek revenge, not to harm, not to hurt, not to get even, but righteous anger is directed against not the person but against the action, against the sin, against the corruption that a positive change might be made. Let's give an example. You might go down the road and see somebody which happens with greater frequency it seems in this day and time, finish their meal that they just ate in the car having secured it from a drive-in restaurant and when they're finished they throw all of the trash out on the highway. Now it's understandable that your reaction to that is anger because you know that your tax dollars are going to have to pay somebody to come out there and pick it up. Now you could go into a rage over that, call up somebody at city hall and tell them off and use a few choice words and tell them what you think of them when they're not the ones that threw the paper out the window to start with.

See you've lost control. You're saying things you shouldn't say, you're blaming people you shouldn't blame, you're just letting off steam. You could go around complaining about that to everybody that you see. You know it just galls me, I'm just so upset, I'm just so angry every time I see somebody littering the highways. Now on the other hand if somebody litters the street in front of your house instead of frothing and foaming at the mouth you're angry enough to get out there and pick it up because you're probably not going to find those people that threw it out and ask them to do it. So anger under control means I'm going to use it for a positive purpose. I'm not going to sit here and stew over it until I get ulcers.

I'm not going to wait until a dozen more people have thrown it out and my house looks like the city dump. I'm going to do something positive. I'm angry but I'm going to go out there and clean it up, I'm going to pick it up. See it's under control. It is directed toward the problem.

You're going to try to do something that's positive. Not saying I'm going to harm the person, you've got to remember God says vengeance is mine. See when you get over into the category of saying I'm going to help you Lord, I feel like maybe you're behind schedule on getting vengeance on people and I want to sign up, I want to be on the vengeance task force and I've got a list of people that really been needing it and I'm going after them.

See you're out of place. God hasn't asked for any volunteers. He hasn't moved aside and turned it over to you and said you can go after them. Vengeance is mine, I will repay. It belongs to God, not to anybody else. You're going in your anger that is righteous and that by which you're going to refrain from sin to try to do something positive about the situation and that's right in our text back in Ephesians chapter 4. Verse 29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. What's the first thing that happens when you get mad? You like expressing it don't you, saying a few things and if it's out of control you're going to say things you wish you hadn't said, you're going to say things that are going to harm people, you're going to say things that will be divisive, you're going to say things that are going to create a situation that may be long lasting if they're not soon resolved. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but in contrast that which is good to the use of edifying, I'll tell you right now preacher if I'm angry at somebody I'm not inclined to edify them, edify means to build up, no sir I don't want to build them up I want to tear them down and that demonstrates that what you have is not righteous indignation it's just plain old human anger that is sinful. You see if it's righteous indignation then you want to deal with the problem in a positive way. Not getting even, not harming them, but to edify that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Now the next time you're angry and you get ready to talk, ask yourself because there's a lot said in the book of Proverbs that will confirm the old idea that you need to count to ten before you speak, those exact words aren't in there but the essence of it is there and some people need to count to fifty, ten isn't enough. So you're thinking about what you're going to say and you ask yourself in advance is this going to minister grace to the hearer? Well grace is not the top word that comes to mind when you're angry. Edifying somebody, building them up, helping them is not what you thought about. But if it's righteous anger it's anger under control and it's anger that is going to build up.

You see he says here that it may minister grace unto the hearers, it's talking about using edifying words that are in keeping with the problem. There is a problem. There's been an infraction of the rules, there's been an imposition, there's been sinful behavior. There is a problem then, it must be dealt with, it must be addressed. So the words that I'm to use are to address that problem. Ever hear young people use that term, boy he really cut him down didn't he? Well that's become a way of life with some people.

They're constantly cutting other people down, chewing them up, spitting them out in little pieces. That's not righteous anger. The words that are to be employed are to be related to the problem at hand. In other words the focus is not on the problem itself but on the solution.

Solution oriented. What does he say in Galatians chapter 6? If a brother be overtaken in a fault, either a spirit shall restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. So here is someone who has offended you or someone who has dishonored God, someone who has sinned woefully, someone who has broken the rules, someone who is out of line.

What's to be your concern about them? To punish them? To retaliate? To seek vengeance?

No. To restore them. So you're going to seek to use edifying words that will bring about a conviction that brings about repentance on their part, restores the relationship and has them moving forward in a God honoring way. Now you can see already that most of the thoughts that we entertain in our own human nature and most of the ideas that are prevalent about anger in today's society are not biblically sound. A lot more can be said on this aspect of it but we may make some other references to it as we go along as to seeing what it is to have righteous anger.

But now let's think about the other side of it. Sinful anger. Let's go back to the book of Proverbs and look at a number of these admonitions regarding anger. So we can begin to get a picture in our mind of just what the Word of God does say with regard to the admonitions against giving way to our anger and what this anger is when it's handled sinfully and when we're displeasing God and harming others. Proverbs 19 verse 11, the discretion of a man defereth his anger and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. First thing then it says that we are to defer anger. You say this person hurt my feelings, this person upset me, this person said something I didn't like. I'm entitled to be angry.

What's the text say? It's the discretion of a man to defer anger. Maybe the person was wrong. Maybe they were in the wrong spirit.

Maybe they said the wrong thing and said it in the wrong way but with the grace of God I'm going to defer anger. It's the glory of man to pass over a transgression. Now does that mean that you become weak and never stand for anything?

No. But the scripture says love covers a multitude of sins. No husband and wife can maintain a successful marriage without understanding that principle. Love covers a multitude of sins. If you make a mountain out of a molehill, if you become upset about every single thing your mate says or does that doesn't please you 100%, you never pass over anything. You point out every fault, every weakness, you're going to have World War III going on on an ongoing basis. Now there are some things that are significant enough that must be talked about, must be dealt with. But let's look at an example here. The wife has told her husband no less than a thousand times that after you use the toothpaste you put the top back on.

Now he's had adequate instruction in that. There's no excuse. She walks in the bathroom one morning and there is that toothpaste squeezed in the wrong place and the lid laying there, not on the tube. She goes into a rage. It's because this thing has been long term, it's gone on, she's talked about a thousand times before, nothing's ever been done about.

Well what's this reveal? They reveal that the man is very selfish, self-centered and inconsiderate. He knows that this upsets his wife in irritation and he's made no effort to make a change in his conduct. Husbands are to love their wives even as Christ loved the church and if it seemed like an insignificant thing to the man to put the cap back on the toothpaste, if it pleases his wife, he's going to be happy to do it.

See how easy these things get all out of proportion. But when there's a lot of little items like that that keep building and finally the point comes that the wife says I can't take it anymore and the road can be reversed and the husband is upset because of something that the wife does or doesn't do and the matter's not being resolved. Now if it's an issue that has been discussed and maybe the husband has committed himself a number of times to say I'm going to do better and he never does, now some more discussion in this is in order. But look at it from another standpoint.

Man leaves the top off the toothpaste and this is only the second time it's ever happened. Now would it not be in order here for love to cover a multitude of sins? Would it not be in order here to defer anger?

She doesn't like it, she's upset by it, it bothers her. But she realizes he was running late, he's normally a considerate man and I'm not going to make an issue out of this. I know I'm using little insignificant things here but you know they're the things that often develop into big major issues. When anger is not dealt with biblically, terrible things can follow. So it's an honorable thing to pass over a transgression if it's something that's trivial and insignificant and you don't allow yourself to become a fault finder, it's the only way that people in a family relationship, in a business relationship, in a church relationship can live together in peace and harmony and the scriptures say as much as lies within you live peaceably with all men. That includes your husband or your wife and your children.

See some people think that applies to everybody else. I know I've got to behave myself when it comes to people at work, people at church, other people but I can behave myself however I choose at home. They're the ones to whom you have the greatest obligation and to whom you ought to live on the principle of love and kindness and graciousness. So first we read here in the book of Proverbs that we are to defer anger. Now we turn to the book of Psalms. We turn to Psalm 37 verse 8, cease from anger and forsake wrath, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Cease from anger. Now while there is a place for righteous indignation the anger that's under consideration here, that sinful anger that's allowed to fester and becomes destructive is displeasing to God and harmful to others around us, we're to cease from it. Cease from anger. Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

This is the Fretter's Psalms, it begins in verse 1. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Some people who are angry become fretful, they're constantly fretting about something. Now it may seem in order here that if I'm fretting about evildoers then I'm justified.

But if you have allowed your anger to become deep-seated and your spirit is not right and you're making complaints that are inappropriate, you're to cease from anger, forsake wrath. God set his son, they called him Jesus, he came to love, heal and forgive. He lived and died to buy my pardon, an empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. Because he lives I can face tomorrow, because he lives all fear is gone. Because I know he holds a future and life is worth the living just because he lives. Yes, my life is worth the living just because he lives.

Because he lives. Glad you've been with us today. We'd appreciate hearing from you. Our mailing address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Till we greet you at the same time tomorrow, this is Lisera Bradley, Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. Praising my Savior! Praising my Savior! Alleluia! Alleluia!