Our Minds and our Hotheadedness

Thank you all for your endurance. It is always good to give your audience something to look forward to, so there is pizza later on. Jonah and Chapter 4. The Little Book of Jonah and Chapter 4. Now you all know where we are when we come to Chapter 4, so I won't go into the details of the past.

God has spared Nineveh, and in verse number 1 it says, But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish. For I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.

What a thing to say to God. Imagine that. That Jonah knew that God was gracious, and merciful, and of great kindness, and repented him of the evil.

Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me. So Jonah is one of the half dozen people in the Old Testament who would have welcomed death. Interesting that in the Old Testament they welcomed death because of depression, because of discouragement.

And the two men in the New Testament that were looking forward to death were looking forward to it because of what lay before them. Simeon and, of course, Paul. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me.

For it is better for me to die than to live. Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry? And Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city. And there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

And the Lord prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be shadowed over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm, when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

And it came to pass, when the sun did rise, that God prepared a veminent east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not labored.

Neither madest it grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons, that cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and also much cattle? Strange way for a book to end. It's one of the two books that I think in our Bible that ends with a question.

And in a very strange way that Jonah seems to end. Now God will bless the reading of his word along with what we will mention from other parts of the word of God as we go through this subject. Now before us is the idea of our minds and hot-headedness.

Our minds and anger. Now maybe some of you are sitting here wondering, you know, why in the world take up a subject like anger in a company like this with a group of Christians? Who needs it? Don't get angry with me, but a lot of people need it. Anger is far more prevalent maybe than you realize.

I am not pointing fingers. I do not know the majority of people here. But there are people who, in their homes, unseen by you, are noted by anger.

Their children would tell you if they were allowed. Spouses would tell you if they were allowed. But anger is the atmosphere of the home.

And I'll tell you honestly, as I was preparing for this, one day I was cut off while driving. And you know what started to well up in me? And I had to think about what I was actually looking at here in this book. So anger is a very prevalent problem.

But maybe also a problem is that we accept it. You know, your mind, as I am talking about anger, undoubtedly there are at least a dozen people here whose minds are going to Ephesians chapter 4 and justifying anger, saying, well, the Scripture does say, be ye angry and sin not. So I guess it's okay to be angry as long as you don't sin.

And some are probably thinking about the fact that God is angry with the wicked every day. And others may be thinking of the Lord Jesus in Mark chapter 5 when He looked round about upon them with anger. And in your mind is the idea that anger is okay.

It's part of the human makeup. And God is angry and Christ was angry, so I can be angry. The difficulty you have with all of that is when you come to Galatians 5, it does say, the works of the flesh.

Anger. And when I come to Scripture, I have a hard time finding an example of a man who is angry without sin. So be very careful labeling something as righteous anger.

We like to use that term. And we like to tell ourselves that our anger is righteous. Someone cuts us off.

Someone cheats us. Someone says something about us. And we immediately justify our response by calling it righteous anger.

Those words may well be an oxymoron. Be very careful using them. Because anger is a work of the flesh.

And in Colossians 3, Paul tells us to put off anger. In Ephesians, he tells us to put off anger. And so you're hard pressed.

The preponderance of Scripture comes down against anger. So not only its prevalence, but our excuses that we make for it. And then couple that with the fact that it's caused tremendous destruction within homes and families.

And it is so linked with our thought life that I thought it valuable to consider it and to draw our attention to it. So if it doesn't apply to you, if this is not something that you have either dealt with yourself or dealt with another person and tried to be a help, then this is a good time for a nap. And wake up at 4.30 in time for food and that will be fine.

But if you have an interest in listening, then listen on. Because I think there are tremendous lessons to be learned as we look at Jonah. Now, Jonah 4 has far more in it than just these lessons relative to anger.

God is dealing with Jonah. God is just as concerned with what he is doing with his messenger as what Nineveh did with a message. God is bringing Jonah to realize the same grace that saved him would save Nineveh.

God was molding and teaching his messenger through all the trials of chapters 1, 2, and 3. But I'll just put that aside for now and just look at chapter 4 together in the moments we have and consider the issue of anger. As your outline says, we want to look at the birth that incites it. What are the things that go into the birth of this creature called anger? Well, I want you to think of the ingredients, the incidences which give rise to it or that trigger it, and then the iniquity which marks it.

The ingredients that go into it. The incidents which trigger it. And the iniquity which marks it.

Now, what do we mean by the ingredients? Well, if you look at chapter 4 of Jonah, what do you see? The first thing you see, obviously, is a man marked by self-centeredness. If you were to go back over that chapter and start underlining, I, me, my, I, me, my, I think it's probably at least a dozen times where he's totally self-occupied. I thought, this is what I said, and this is why I didn't want to.

And it's a man who is totally absorbed in himself. He's lost sight of others. He's lost sight of God.

He's lost sight of everything that God was seeking to do. He's just occupied with himself. Self-centered.

But then the next thing is self-pity. Thou hast had, concerning the gourd, God says to him, Thou hast had pity on the gourd for which you haven't labored, neither makes it grow. You're just wallowing in self-pity.

And just thinking of yourself. And here's this man, and all he can think of is himself, and his circumstances, and how cruel life has been to him, and how unfair it has been. There he is, sitting under an eastern sun with a gourd that once kept him in the shade, and now it's gone, and life is so unfair, and life is so cruel.

Did you ever think that way? Did you ever begin playing a little recording in your mind about how unfair life is, and how everything is always against you, and the recording just plays. And pretty soon, you're just wallowing in self-pity. That's where this man was.

You will see as well, not so much from here. Let me take you to another man for just a moment. Not just self-centeredness, and pride, and self-pity.

Unresolved guilt. Unresolved guilt. There was a prophet that came in before David.

David, there was a certain rich man that was taking a journey, and you know the whole story, don't you? And David explodes in a rage. Why did David explode? Just a man that took another man's little lamb, and, you know, David, isn't that somewhat out of proportion? It was unresolved guilt. There was guilt in David that was festering, and he had been turned into the drought of summer, he tells us elsewhere.

The thing was there burdening him and ready to explode, and as soon as he saw that sin in someone else, his anger let loose. Unresolved guilt. When you see an angry person many, many times, you know what's behind it? Unresolved guilt.

They have decided that the best defense is a good offense, you know? Just blow them away the moment they get near you, because there's this thing working in the back, this sense of guilt, and don't let anyone get near, don't let anyone touch it. Unresolved guilt. But then, of course, in the end, really, what we're looking at is the flesh, and how it expresses itself in every life.

Anger is never a position of strength. Anger is always a confession of weakness. It is weakness in the face of entitlement.

I think I deserve it, I'm not getting it, and I lash out to get it. It's never a position of strength. It's always a position of weakness.

It's always a mark of weakness if I'm angry. It's always a sense that I can't get what I want, I'm not getting what I deserve, and I can't get it, and I am going to respond in anger. So it is never the idea of strength.

We try to pass it off as strength. I've noticed, if you ever notice in, maybe you're young Christians, this is giving away secrets. If you ever notice in a Bible reading, I have called it the law of the decibel.

The amount of doctrine that I actually know is inversely reported to the decibels with which I give it. If I'm not sure, I get louder and louder in my proclamation of what it is. You know, it kind of varies.

And so, you know, you're not sure, so you say it a little bit louder, a little more forcefully. Anger, expressing itself, works of the flesh. Let me talk about the incidents that trigger it.

This isn't complete, but this is just as I view it, as I see it in Scripture. Anything which is a threat to my person, my popularity, my position, my place, I could respond with anger. Anything which is a threat to my person.

Anything which is a thwarting of my expectations. Anything which puts an end to my expectations. There's the potential for me to respond in anger.

We have examples in Scripture of that, don't we? You think of David, and he sends to Nabal to get food for his soldiers, and he expects it to come, and they don't come, and David rises up in anger, and he's going to wipe out the whole family indiscriminately because his expectations were not met. You see as well when you come to Scripture, a taunting of my beliefs. I could respond in anger.

You think I'm a Naaman? Why are you wroth? I thought that Abaddon and Phopher were far better than all the rivers of Damascus. Why is he making light of my rivers back home and our gods at home? And so if a man's beliefs are taunted and trifled with, he could respond in anger. And then there's that trespassing on my territory.

You know, territorial imperatives. We've all got our territory staked out, and anybody that trespasses, you know, so whether you're driving in your car and somebody gets into your lane, you know, you've got your territory. Territorial incursions.

All of that could lead to anger. Now, if you've been listening, I said could lead to it because whether you know it or not, anger is a choice. Anger is a choice you make.

No one can make you angry. You might say, you don't know the people I live with. I don't.

But no one can make you angry. Now, if you want me to just show you that scripturally, it's just very simply this. If anger is a sin, according to Galatians 5, Colossians 3, Ephesians 4, if it is actual iniquity and sin, then it must involve the will.

Sin always involves our wills. So that means it's a choice. People can do pretty nasty things to you, but you allow it to make you angry.

You're not a puppet. The moment you say, I can't help it, they make me angry, you've become their puppet. They can just pull the strings and you get angry with whatever they want to do.

No one can make you angry. You choose to get angry. You allow yourself to become angry as a response.

So just for a moment, banish all ideas about just can't help it. It's the way I'm made. It's just natural.

Yes, that's the whole problem. It's natural. It's the way you're made.

It's the choice you've made. You are not someone who must respond with anger. You don't have to.

Whatever the situation, you do not have to respond. It's a choice that is made. That's why I have spoken of it as the iniquity which marks it.

Anger is a choice. I choose to get angry. The provocation may be great.

And the circumstances may be what we would call ideal to generate anger in me. But you cannot make me angry. I can allow what you do to make me angry.

But I make that choice. You don't. I do.

And I stand responsible before God for my anger. So I can't blame someone else. I can't blame my wife.

I can't blame my children. I can't blame my boss. I can't blame my employees.

I choose to be angry. And God says he labels it as sin. I'm also going to say something else.

And I'm going to come back to it in a moment. And you are going to disagree with me at first. But I hope I can show you from Scripture.

Ultimately, ultimately, virtually all anger is really directed against God. Now, that's a big statement. And you're going to say, prove it.

We will. From Scripture. Let me just give you one example.

The very first instance of anger in our Bibles, you know where it was. And you know who it was. Cain was wroth.

Who was he angry with? Oh, he was angry with Abel. That's why he went out and killed Abel. No, he wasn't.

He was angry with God. But he couldn't get to God, so he killed Abel. That was the closest one.

He would have killed God if he could have. But instead, he had to kill Abel. You go through Scripture.

You will find that ultimately, it may express itself on a visible plane with another person, with circumstances, with issues. But ultimately, anger is directed towards God. And we'll come back to that in a moment.

But at least the first instance of anger in our Bible should alert us to this. Anger is a tremendously destructive thing. And anger directed against God that is frustrated because it cannot get at God will lash out at others to vent itself in life.

So, notice then just the iniquity that marks it. But not only the birth that incites it, but the blindness that imparts. Did you ever see somebody angry? Certainly not your spouse or yourself, but some stranger.

And you say, look, calm down. You're awfully angry. I am not angry.

And the more you say it, the louder they get. I am not angry. How blind we become to our own anger.

It blinds us to reality. And we think that somehow we are not angry. When we are raging within over a person or over a circumstance.

But it imparts a blindness to us. We deny it altogether. That we're angry.

Not only that, but how deceitful it is. Because it makes us do the most heinous of deeds with a sense that they're right. We began in Genesis.

Come to the end of Genesis for just a moment. And there are two men. And it says, in their anger they slew.

You know who I mean. Simeon and Levi. Instruments of cruelty are in their hands.

Oh my soul, come not thou unto their secret counsel. And so on. In their anger they lied and deceived.

Used that solemn divine sign of circumcision as a way to get those men into a condition where they couldn't fight. And then they slew the city. And they said, well, what do you expect after the way they dealt with our sister? Anger made those men think that the most awful and godless honoring of deeds was the right thing to do.

It's tremendous the deceitfulness that anger can cause. As our anger level rises, we can begin to justify anything. We can begin to justify another Christian's fall, couldn't we? Would you be happy if someone who has done you wrong, someone who has hurt you, someone who has insulted you, someone who has caused you grief.

Would you be happy if they had a fall? Would you be happy if something happened to them in their Christian life? And you would say, right, deserve it. Good. Retribution.

Really? The deceitfulness of anger. It can make us begin to think that the most awful things are the most right things. Jonah, with his anger, just sat back there and waited for God to wipe out.

We are told at the end of Jonah 4 that there were six score thousand, 120,000 children and much cattle. The God of compassion for children and for cattle. Those who were innocent and those who did not know their right hand from their left and all of those beasts.

God in long suffering. And yet Jonah just wanted to sit there and wait for thunderbolts and hail and fire to descend to wipe them out to make him look good. And to justify him and vindicate him before those people.

The deceitfulness that anger can lead to. But also, not only it's denial and deceitfulness, but what about its darkness? You know what happens when you and I are in circumstances and we become angry? We miss. We miss what God is trying to teach us in that set of circumstances.

That's where Jonah is in chapter 4. God has been dealing with Jonah. God has been working with his messenger. Trying to bring him to an appreciation of the heart of God.

Trying to bring him to an understanding of the character of God. And Jonah's anger totally blinds him to all that God is doing. To all of God's grace and mercy.

When adversity comes. When difficulties arise. When people oppose us.

When reversals occur in life. We can get angry. We can rage.

But if we do, what we are missing. What we will fail to grasp is not what God is doing in all of this. What's God doing with me? What is God doing through me in all of this? How can I learn God amidst these circumstances? Amidst what seems to be so inexplicable in all of its grief and in all of its reversals.

How can I learn God in this? I know you may say, how are you going to apply that to getting cut off in traffic one day? Well, if nothing else, I learned patience and long-suffering. Because those are lessons I need to constantly learn. But you will understand I'm looking at a big picture.

A bigger picture than that of life and the things that we rage about in our lives. What about the burden that it imposes? There is a burden linked with anger. The wise man of Proverbs 27.

Was that still Solomon then? Or is that one of the others? But anyway, the wise man of Proverbs 27 tells us that a stone is heavy. And a sand is weighty. But a fool's wrath is heavier than both.

It's a tremendous burden to carry anger through life. It's a tremendous weight to carry anger through life. Anger at another Christian.

Anger at life in general of what life has dealt you. Anger at circumstances. Anger at all of the events of life that are all around you.

Just seething with anger. The burden it imposes. But not only the burden, the barrier it erects.

Because Matthew 5 tells us that a man who is angry with his brother. Now I know you're going to say, it does say without cause, but I've got cause. There is no cause for you to be angry with your brother.

The Lord Jesus isn't saying there, if you're angry at your brother and you have a cause, then it's okay. No. There is no cause to be angry with your brother is what the Lord Jesus is saying.

He that is angry at his brother without a cause. There is no cause for a Christian to rage in anger against a brother or sister. Go to him.

Make the issue right. Anger doesn't have to dwell. They may be angry.

They may hold the anger, but you don't have to. No need for you to do it. The Lord Jesus is saying you've created a barrier.

Not just between you and your brother, but between you and the altar. An angry man can't worship. Oh, he can get up on Sunday morning.

He can say all the right words on Sunday morning. Men and women may join in saying amen to what he has to say at the end, but he's not worshiping. The Lord Jesus said you can't come to the altar if you're angry with your brother.

So it creates not only a burden, but a barrier. But more than that, it brings you into bondage. You become a slave.

You become a slave to your anger and to the person you're angry with. You know what happens? 24-7 all you do is run back the tape of what happens. That's all you can think about.

And all you can think about is when you can get your revenge. When you can get even. When you can put that person in their place.

When you can put them down. When everyone will know what they've done to you. And you become a slave.

You're in bondage to your own anger and to your own feelings. Just imagine. Just imagine.

Rewrite the life of Joseph. Had he spent 22 years stewing about brothers. 10 brothers that sold him as a slave down to Egypt.

Just rewrite the story. It would be hardly any story to rewrite. It would be a write-off.

Is that the way you want to live your life? Just rerunning the tape of what some Christian did to you. Just rerunning the tape of self-pity about how life has been so unfair. Others have husbands.

Others have wives. Others have children. Others have homes.

Others have careers. Others have this. Others have that.

What do I have? And you just stew about that. Life being so unfair. The tremendous bondage that it brings you into.

Just to be so preoccupied. It hardly needs to be said, does it? That a man preoccupied with that isn't going to be thinking about being a help. About growing.

About his gift. About increasing in his appreciation of Christ. He's got one thing in mind.

One priority. Everything else takes its place from it. And that is he's got to get even.

He's got to get his anger out someday. Anyone like that here? Tragic to be in bondage. But not only that.

Anger creates a tremendous blight. In lives. In marriages.

In families. In assemblies. What a blight.

What a blight anger has been. It can ruin everything. Anger kept Esau and Jacob apart for years.

Anger led to Jacob never seeing his mother again. Alive. On earth.

Tremendous blight. Tremendous price he paid for anger. Anger brought shame upon the name of Jacob because of his two sons, Simeon and Levi.

You have made my name to stink among the Gentiles. Among the nations. Dragged his name in the gutter because of their anger.

The tremendous blight that anger brings. Anger ruins families. It divides homes.

It marks children for their life. As a result of parental anger and temper and outrage that would constantly show itself in the home. Just in case there is any father here.

And I trust there's not. Just in case. Just in case you think that the way to make your children listen and to respect you is by outbursts of anger.

And keeping them on the edge of terror every moment of their lives. Just you remember. That's not the way your father treats you.

Not the way your father treats you. So don't you treat your children that way. Don't you have them live in an atmosphere of terror.

An atmosphere of fear. And just in case there's any husband who thinks that's the way to manage his wife. We didn't have time to mention it.

Let me mention it here. Because it has impressed me in my own marriage and spoken to me. When Paul is speaking about a husband's love for his wife.

He obviously uses the high standard of Christ's love for his church. Now none of us will ever equal that either in character or kind. But it's our standard.

I had thought I had understood that in all of its dimensions. But there was one that recently impressed itself upon me. There is never a day.

There is never a day that a Christian awakens wondering. I wonder if the Lord will love me today. I wonder if I fail, if He's going to disown me and not love me and be angry with me.

There should never be a moment that I give any cause for my wife to question my love. She should be absolutely as secure in my love as I am in Christ's love. High standard.

But that's what husbands love your wife even as Christ loved the church. You secure in Christ's love? Then you make sure you give no ground for any suspicion to your wife. That your love is anything but constant and unconditional and continuous.

She should never have to question, never have to wonder. It should be absolutely guaranteed. So there should not be a reign of terror in the home.

There should not be a sense in which somehow everything is on pins and needles here and we've got to be careful because if not, you know what his temper is like and he... No. That shouldn't be what should characterize a Christian home. There should be absolute security in love because of the blight that anger can create.

But what a behavior involved. How do we deal with anger generating circumstances, situations? I'm going to suggest to you scripturally that there are perhaps four different ways that are mentioned as ways in which people can deal with anger. Stuffing it, venting it, transferring it, and confronting it.

Or if you want it another way, repressing, expressing, transgressing, and addressing. Now what do I mean? Some people think the way you deal with it is you just stuff it, you know? Just don't mention it. Yeah.

Getting pretty angry. But you just keep it in. Problem with that is reality is it only stays in for so long.

And depending on how long it stays in then determines what kind of eruption comes when it comes. Whether it's Mount Vesuvius or just a little trickle. You remember Jacob? The day came when finally he vented all of his anger and frustration with Laban.

I've served you for twenty years and you've changed my wages ten times and you've done this and you've done that. And I just want to... He was venting twenty years worth of frustration all in one day. Stuffing it.

Now you might say, well isn't that the spiritual thing to do? You know, just take it meekly and quietly and don't let it bother... But it is bothering you. But if you can only stuff things for so... You can only cram so much in until it begins to come out again. So, stuffing it.

But what about venting it, you know? The person who just right away, out it comes. Well, look at Rachel. And she confronts Jacob.

Leah's bearing children like, you know, apples on a tree. No difficulty. And here is Rachel and she is green with envy and angry.

Give me children or I die. And what happens is, Jacob answers in anger to her. Who am I? I'm not in God's stead to give you children.

And, you know, it's all vented right there. Tragic thing is, give me children or I die. She got children and she died.

So be careful what you say. God gave her children and the second one she died with it. So, venting it, you know, there is a premium placed upon, you know, letting it all hang out, just being up front, letting, you know.

But is that the scriptural way to handle it? Is that the way to do it? And then, of course, there is the idea of transferring it. And we are, most of us, pretty good at that. You know, you are angry at work.

People get you upset at work. And you are frustrated at work. And, you know, you can't very well get angry at the boss.

So who do you get angry with? You know, you walk through the door and the kids or the wife and some little thing happens and it all gets transferred to them, gets downloaded on them. Or you are driving home and traffic is horrible. And, you know, I don't know what it's like here.

Maybe you don't get hit with this here. But, you know, you are an hour through traffic and all the crazy drivers out there who don't know how to drive as well as you. And, you know, remember Frank Piercy, he said, you know, he was talking about women drivers and he said, you know, women drivers were bad.

He was with somebody once and he was behind a car and he said, it's a woman driver. And as they passed the person, it happened to be a man. So the fellow said to Frank, well, now what? His mother taught him.

So he was never at a loss. But, you know, and you are boiling and you come through the door and maybe one of the children leave a skate somewhere or your wife doesn't have dinner ready and you are in a hurry and, you know, you transfer all of your frustration and anger upon that person. That's what Cain did, wasn't it? He transferred his anger that was directed towards God and he transferred it to Abel.

He could get at Abel even though he couldn't get at God. He transferred it. We find it safe to transfer our anger at times.

So much easier because we know our wife probably isn't going to walk out. And we know the kids aren't going to call the youth and family service and report us. And so we transfer our anger there.

But confronting it, confronting, confronting occasions, confronting situations, confronting individuals who are doing things that could incite us to anger. When there's a problem, confronting, addressing and dealing with something are the scriptural ways of handling things. If thy brother has trespassed against thee, go to him.

Don't stew about it. Don't sit and wonder how you can get even. Don't tell yourself in your super spirituality, I'm just going to take it and never let it bother me.

I'm not speaking about a minor thing like a failure to shake hands or somebody who doesn't say hello to you or somebody who has all the Christians over and forgets to invite you. I'm talking about things that can affect fellowship between, things that could lead to anger if you allowed it to. Confronting it and addressing it.

Just as Paul did with Peter as he goes to him and deals with it. Just as Abraham does when he addresses Lot and says there's strife amongst us and there's strife between our herdsmen and the Canaanites in the land. Let's deal with this.

Let's get this taken care of and let's confront it and address it and I'm willing to take the loss. You choose what you want. Confronting and addressing.

Now that applies to spouses. There are things that sometimes a spouse can do that could be very upsetting to another. Thoughtlessness and mindlessness at times in some of the things that we do and not understanding how significant it could be to our spouses.

And there needs to be an addressing of that. Not a burying of it as though it never existed because it does and it will eventually surface. If you've never had it, you'll have it happen someday where someone in the heat of a disagreement brings up something that happened ten years ago.

And you haven't given that a single thought for ten years and you find out they've been thinking about that, had that buried for ten years and suddenly with tremendous ability bring it out again and you're stunned because it was never really dealt with. Deal with things. Confront them.

That's why I said earlier that the loving thing is sometimes the most difficult thing to do. The loving thing is to confront it, to deal with it, to address it, to seek to resolve it so that it doesn't continue to be an issue and doesn't become something which festers and creates greater anger. Let me come then to belief.

The belief that instructs us as to how to act. Okay. The first thing is responsibility.

I've got to take responsibility for my own anger. Can't blame you for making me angry. Can't blame circumstances.

Can't blame my lineage. Can't blame my nationality. Can't blame anything except I've got to take responsibility.

I am responsible. Anger is a choice that I make. Anger is a decision that I make when I am confronted with certain things.

And I can blame no one else but myself. I am not a victim. I am an actor.

I am a player. I'm not a victim in life. I play my role.

And sometimes the role I like to play is the victim role. But that's not allowed. Can't hide behind a victim mentality.

I am the player. I choose to become angry. I choose to lose my temper.

It may happen in a nanosecond and I may say I couldn't help it but I can. So the first thing is taking responsibility. Now you could add to this list.

I am just going to give you some suggestions. As I mentioned the four things that I have talked about that can lead to the anger generating situations. These I think are things now that will balance those and help me.

And it comes back again to my mind. So the first thing is taking responsibility. Second thing is a recognition of my worth.

Now what do we mean by that? You can try to put me down and do a pretty good job of it. But if I am really moving and living in the good of the consciousness of what I mean to God, then you really can't put me down. Understand what I'm saying? If I recognize before God my worth, then you can try to put me down.

You can say things that would really begin to press me into the earth. But in the end if I recognize my worth before God, then I am not bothered when people try to put me down. Or you might say is this a course in self-esteem? No it's not.

I don't believe in self-esteem. But I do believe in worth. Every human being, saved or unsaved, has worth.

Want me to prove that to you? In Genesis 8 when God committed to Noah, government on the earth, God told Noah, Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, because in the image of God made he him. Did you get that? That hasn't been rescinded. I'm not here to talk about capital punishment, but God says man is of value because he was made in the image of God.

Even that unsaved drunkard that lays on the ground in New York City, over the vents of the heating systems that keep warm, of worth to God. Inherent worth as made in the image of God. But then there is potential worth.

You look at some of these boys and girls. Look at some of the unsaved children moving amongst us. And we would covet them for God because of the potential worth there is there.

To think of what God could do with a generation of boys and girls saved, living for Him, tremendous potential worth. But then, look around at all the redeemed here. And every one of us has conferred worth.

Conferred worth. Worth conferred because we've been redeemed with precious blood. Worth conferred because we are now children of God.

Worth conferred because we have become God's special treasure. We sing poor, weak, and worthless though I am, and we'll keep singing it. But you'll understand me when I say that every human being has worth.

Inherent, potential, and redemptive. And it's not a matter of patting myself on the back. Not a matter of walking around saying, what a wonderful person I am.

How great I am. But it's a matter of as I move in fellowship with God, a deep appreciation, that no matter what others might think of me, what He thinks of me is what really counts. You know, our problem is really, it's what you think of me that really counts.

That's my difficulty. If I could live in the reality that it's what He thinks of me that really counts, I would not disdain or despise your opinion. But certainly the great thing would be what He thinks of me.

And it would be difficult to put me down. You know, if I come for meetings like this, there's usually a one, two, three punch that I'm hit with. You know, thanks for coming.

When are you leaving? When's your brother coming? And I've kind of gotten used to that. You know, and at first, you know, you kind of squirm under it. And, you know, thanks.

You know, I'll send him as soon as I can. But, you know, you kind of get used to it. But in the end, if we realize that what really counts is not what others think.

And I don't think we should move as though we're indifferent or careless about others and the fellowship we enjoy with them. But what really matters in the end is what God thinks of me. So as far as someone putting me down, then I can leave that with God.

An appreciation, a recognition of my worth. A reliance upon God. A confidence in God in every situation.

I mentioned at the beginning that all anger or virtually all anger is really directed against God. We need to take things into our own hands. Life has been unfair.

These circumstances are wrong. What has happened to me is unfair. It's unjust.

It's wrong. And I am the one that has to somehow right the situation. I am the one that must take things into my hands and actually take action and do something about it.

I don't deserve what I'm getting or I'm not getting what I deserve. And you can begin to think, can't you, of all the things that we say that we use to justify our anger. Now you take all of those things.

You take them every one. In the end, get past the people involved, get past the individual circumstances. In the end, what we are talking about is that somehow God is no longer in control.

God is no longer the one who is the God of my life, as David says in Psalm 27. And now we become Lord of our lives. And we've got to right everything.

We've got to grab everything. We have to assert everything. Because God is no longer in control.

That's why anger, eventually, ultimately, is directed against God. God has left me alone to take care of this myself. I'm the one that has to take care of it.

You remember 1 Samuel 24. David goes into a cave. And along comes Saul within spear's breadth of David.

And instead of anger, instead of malice, instead of rage, you remember what David does. Just cuts the skirt. Spares his life.

Chapter 24. Chapter 26. It seems like David is learning the same lesson all over again.

Saul and Abner down in the valley, behind the wagons. A deep sleep from God falls upon them. And David goes down and takes the spear and the bolster and so on.

And departs. It seems strange that David had to learn the same lesson again. Chapter 24.

David, you graduated from that school. That school of controlled anger and rage. And God is putting you through the test again in Chapter 26.

The problem was, Chapter 25 comes in between. And in Chapter 25, David lost it. That's the chapter where, instead of a king that's against him, it's just a petty lord by the name of Nabal.

And David rises in rage. The man that could control himself with years of frustration with a saw. Suddenly it all vents itself on a Nabal.

And he and his men go off to battle. And only the intervention of an Abigail preserves him from bloodshed and a blot upon his testimony. And God has to put him through the school all over again in Chapter 26.

David, you've got to learn again. I am the God of your life. I will take care of circumstances.

I will take care of when you come to the throne. I will take care of vindicating you. David, you don't have to take life by the throat and somehow wrest from it what you think you deserve.

David, you can leave your life with me. Now, that does not breed passive type of behavior or fatalism. No, we are responsible.

We've already said to confront, to address, to deal with things where we can deal with them. To diffuse, to address the anger situation. But we are not responsible to rectify.

Not responsible to wreak vengeance. Vengeance is mine. So whenever I take things into my own hands, whenever as a result of my anger I am trying to get even or put someone down, you know what I'm doing? I'm taking God's place.

I am usurping God's authority and God's position. I am the one now who must take care of it. God can't.

That's why it's always against God. So anger is no minor thing. Anger is no little human trait that's part of our personalities that we just have to bear with.

Not a minor infirmity to be lived with along life's journey, but a tremendously destructive force and a tremendously God dishonoring force in our lives that reveals our failure to trust God. To have absolute confidence in His ability to take care of my life. To control the circumstances of my life.

To be able to mold me amidst all of those circumstances for His glory. Let me just mention two things in closing then. The release from anger.

The opposite of anger is actually meekness. Meekness. Anger springs from weakness.

Meekness springs from strength. I recognize that my strength is actually in God and I can leave things there. Someone else far more eloquent than I has said that meekness is being at home in the will of God.

That whatever God brings into my life, whatever He allows, I bow to and feel perfectly at home. Now I have not known adversity like some, so I speak carefully and I speak with a recognition of how limited my experiences have been. But meekness is just accepting from God His will for my life.

Not raging against it. Not forcing it and struggling to make it something else. Yes, I am responsible to make my life all it can be and to grow and develop.

But as far as what God allows with my life and from my life and around my life to yield to Him, my strength is in God. No need to retell it. So meekness and then forgiveness.

Yes, amidst all of the circumstances to learn to forgive, to confront, address and forgive, that we may not be marked by that awful work of the flesh called anger, but rather the fruit of the Spirit of God developed in our life. That love, joy, peace and temperance and so on. All of that lovely fruit springing from a life that has lived in fellowship with God.

Because our minds are right. We have absolute confidence in God. We are willing to allow Him to control our lives.

Willing to allow Him to be the God that rectifies our situations in life. And willing to allow Him to be, as David says, the God of my life. May the Lord bless His word.

Shall we speak to God in prayer? Now again, thank you very much for staying. We'll just try to be as brief as I can be. One question that has been turned in.

What strategies would you recommend to help combat the double-click temptations of internet pornography? I think as with any other behavior that needs to be dealt with, boundaries and accountability are vital. Now what I mean by that is, and again I don't know the individual, I don't want to know the individual circumstances, but if it's in a home, it may be that the computer is not turned on and only one person is in the room. That it must be that the individual is there with the spouse when the computer is used, and when that spouse is not there, the computer is not used.

Boundaries. There are of course filters and servers you can get that will filter through some of the pornography. But in the end, the ultimate control lies with the person.

You are the best on and off switch, and that's where accountability must be. But also making yourself accountable to others. Now that's a very, very sensitive area.

You'd have to pick someone you have absolute confidence in. Someone you can go to and tell them your difficulty and ask them to allow you to be accountable to them for how you're spending your time. And that person to pray for you and to be available to you when there is potential difficulty.

So boundaries, accountability, and it may have to be that if there is no other way, as archaic as it sounds, you may have to recognize no computer. Now that sounds pretty extreme, and I use, I have at least three computers between office, home, and laptops and so on, and it may sound extreme to say no computer, but if that's the choice you have to make, you may have to make it. Or at least just have a computer at work with accountability there.

Make sure everyone can see your computer so they know exactly what you're looking at. Things such as that. Do all you can to avoid the temptation.

Don't wait to be alone at night with a computer and then hope to have the willpower not to turn it on and use it. Make yourself accountable, establish boundaries, and if necessary, even do without, if that is the only thing that you can do. In your opinion as a physician, from what you have seen, if a person submitted to the teaching of the Word of God, would they also need medication, such as antidepressants, for short-term or long-term use, or in crisis, and so on? That is a very good question, and a very important one.

There are certain conditions, such as what's called bipolar depression and some other conditions, mental conditions, schizophrenia and so on, which do require lifelong medication. And I don't think there's any question, and there is no issue there that's raised. These people need replacement medication to be able to function.

More difficult is the issue that some Christians face with being depressed or being overly anxious, and what do you do there? And, of course, most of us were taught that if you're enjoying the Lord and you're living as you ought to live, then you won't get depressed. Good Christians don't get depressed. The problem with that is what do you do when you are depressed? You just add another layer of burden and guilt to that person, because not only are they depressed, but they must not be a good Christian, because good Christians don't get depressed.

And on and on it goes. I think we need to be sensitive and to be aware, and I think we need to recognize that these individuals do need help. James chapter 5, where the individual is sick and calls for the elders of the assembly.

Now, James 5 is a special case, I realize, probably an individual recognizing that they are under the discipline of God. But nevertheless, it does say there that they would anoint them with oil and that they would pray for them and that God would raise them up. They were using the medicinal treatments available.

The Samaritan, as he found the man upon the Jericho road, poured in oil and wine, because he was using the medicine that was available to him in his day. There is nothing wrong. The Lord Jesus did not condemn physicians.

He said, they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. So that the use of a physician, the resorting to a physician for medication is not something the Bible condemns. God has given us richly all things.

The technology that has developed everything from vaccines to medications is all the result of knowledge that God has given to men. So, we should not somehow feel as though we are dishonoring God by availing ourselves of help when it's necessary. If any of you have dealt with anyone who is depressed, you will know, and we'll talk about this a bit tomorrow, when we talk about hopelessness and our minds, you will know how negative the mindset becomes and how self-perpetuating the negativity becomes.

And it's like a snowball going downhill. All medication does. Medication does not alter a person.

It does not play games with their brain. It simply enables them to return to normal. So we are not talking about escapism.

We are not talking about drug addiction. We are not talking about resorting to some strange way of... We're talking about people returning to normal. And so whether it's for a brief time or a longer time, medications can be of great help.

And I have no reason to feel that somehow we are dishonoring God by resorting to medications where they are necessary. And I think that... All I can say is if you have never, never in your life been depressed for even a day, God bless you. God bless you.

But if you've ever been plagued with depression, you will know why you would wish for death rather than life. And for us as believers to sit in self-righteous, pompous judgment on believers who are going through that kind of turmoil and agony is very un-Christlike. We may think we're being spiritual and being helpful, but it can destroy a person to treat them in that way.

We need to have care and sympathy. And once they are better, then we can begin the process of changing thought patterns which may have led to depression. But to understand that when they're there is not the time to try to intervene like that.

Wait until they're able to begin looking at things in a more objective way, and we'll see that tomorrow if God gives help as we look at the life of Elijah. Linked with that is kind of a sister question. How do you know if you are relying on the will of God or just using God-given intelligence concerning things such as having insurance, the size of your family, vaccinations, and I would assume medication are all linked here together.

Well, whether it's the will of God or God-given intelligence, it seems like they're both from God. But I think to answer that question, again, we need to recognize individual exercise, individual conscience. I should never override the conscience of another person because if whatsoever they do is not of faith, it's sin.

So I've got to be careful with another person's conscience. But I also have to try to be faithful with what I feel the Word of God teaches. So to sit back and say, you know, medication and vaccinations and prevention of disease is wrong.

We are going to trust God to preserve our family. Why is that different from locking your door at night and saying, I'm just going to trust God that no one will break in? I mean, we take natural precautions because we know natural events. We know that certain actions lead to certain ends.

We know that certain things cause certain effects. And God has given us an awareness of that. And so there is a fine line, and I want to be careful here because I don't want to offend anyone.

There is a fine line between trusting God and tempting God. If God has given me a lock to put on the door of my home to keep burglars out, then to willfully keep that door unlocked is to just put God to the test and to tempt Him. If He has given me the ability to do something, then I am responsible to do it.

If He has given me the knowledge of how something happens, for me to sit back and say self-righteously, I am not going to do that because God is going to take care of it. I find God intervening at men's extremity. When God has given men knowledge and awareness and the ability, God expects men to do it.

When men cannot do it, God can intervene and do it. Now that does not take life out of God's hands. It just means there are things that are obvious and clear and to me simple.

And so I think that where God has given us these things, then we are responsible to use them, use them wisely, use them carefully, but still to use them in light of the knowledge that God has given us. There are two other questions. Let me take them.

They are difficult questions, but I think they are very necessary questions. A question about homosexuality. Is it always wrong? Are people born that way? And so on.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 6. Verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God, be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminates, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. Abusers of themselves with males. 1 Timothy 1. Verse 8. We know the law is good if a man use it lawfully.

Knowing this, the law is not made for the righteous, not made for those who are saved, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly, for sinners, unholy and profane, murderers of fathers, murderers of mothers and manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with men. You cannot escape it. Despite all the mental gymnastics that men have tried to do to say that this Bible justifies same-sex relationships, the Scripture is clear.

The Scripture is unmistakable. The Scripture is without question. Acts of same-sex relationships are sinful.

Just as sinful as adultery. Just as sinful as fornication. Just as sinful as premarital relationships.

It is clear. It is unmistakable. The act.

Now, I'm being careful. What about the tendency? What about someone who finds themselves growing up and feeling a tendency that way? The Bible doesn't say anything about that. It's not mine to judge a person's tendency.

Scripture puts its finger upon acts. Well, you might say, suppose they have that tendency. Is it genetic and aren't they supposed to express it? Remember what we talked about last night? The subtle but diabolical shift from desires to needs.

That what is a desire is now redefined as a need and therefore it's right to express it. Listen, there are in this room today undoubtedly many single women that have natural desires for physical intimacy, but they don't express it. And that intimacy would be with men.

You'll understand what I'm saying. Natural, physical desires that are proper, but they don't express it. Why? Word of God forbids it.

It's only in a heterosexual marriage that God allows that relationship to be expressed. Because it is not a need, it's a desire. And God allows that desire to be fulfilled.

So if an individual has a tendency that way, then just like an unmarried sister, unmarried brother with normal heterosexual desires, his is to sacrifice that, hers is to sacrifice that upon the altar of obedience to the Word of God. Oh, you say, that sounds awfully hard. Really? How many Christians have lived, gone through life and in obedience to the Word of God have made that sacrifice? What's happened is our society has trumpeted it as a need that must be fulfilled.

And you've got every right to fulfill that need. Let me just address though another issue, a tangent of that, maybe young Christians might ask, supposing somehow it's proven that this is an inherent genetic biochemical issue and they can't help it. Even if, and I'm going to put a big if, because I'll come back to it, even if it could be proven, that single sister, that single brother with heterosexual desires, they were born with it, it's genetic, what are they doing with it? They're controlling it.

They're keeping it. They're not expressing it. Because of obedience to God and His Word.

So even if, even if it could be proven, and there's a big if, there are billions of dollars of research being championed by the different gay rights groups trying to establish that this gender identification business is all genetic and we can't blame people for it. And they have yet to come up with definitive proof. Every once in a while something comes out, trumpeted that here it is and soon it's falling by the way.

Hasn't been proven. But even if it were, while I can show compassion and tolerance for the individual, God condemns the act. God condemns the act.

There is no mincing of it. It is sin. Just as premarital intercourse, just as adultery, just as fornication, just as idolatry.

Sin. But we do need to recognize that if an individual has a tendency but is able to not express it, able like every other single individual to just yield it to God in light of the Word of God, then there should be not the slightest, not the slightest hesitation to receive that person with open arms as a brother or sister in Christ. You understand what I'm saying? No second rate Christianity.

There's no economy class in God's plane to heaven. It's all first class. We're all going first class.

So don't put them back with the cattle. Put them up front if they're able to. Now one other question, which is a huge, huge question and could be a weekend of ministry in itself.

You mentioned our need or our mode of keeping your heart or mind with all diligence should not primarily be policing our thoughts but rather a positive approach. In a world of constant barrage of defiling images and talk, how do we practically make that transition? That's an excellent question. And I think it's an issue that every believer has struggled with and has dealt with in their life who has any exercise of pleasing God and has any exercise about purity of life.

About a year ago I was in Canada and a young sister came up to me and said, I have to ask you a question. Is it right that the Christian life should just be one frustration after another? Is that what the Christian life is like? Because every time I try to overcome something, I'm just hit again with the fact that my mind has these thoughts or these desires as just one frustration after another. Is that the way I should live? When I come to John 15, I've entitled it, Fruitful or Frustrated? And John 15 along with Romans 6 and others to me seems to be the key.

Let me just take you for just a moment. Look at Galatians 5 for just a moment. And I don't want to keep you.

I promise whether I'm done or not, five o'clock we will be done and off. Is that okay? Galatians 5 and 24. All they that are Christ.

Galatians 5 and 24. All they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit.

When did that happen? When did you crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts? You know when you did that? When you got saved. You took sides with God against your flesh. Essentially when you were converted, what you said in your conversion, in your acceptance of Christ was, the flesh is hopeless.

Write it off. It can do nothing to please God. That hasn't changed one iota from the day you were saved.

Your flesh and my flesh is still absolutely hopeless. It can do nothing. And it will never change.

You could be saved 70 years and the flesh will still show itself. I said to someone during lunch, I should have used the illustration. I'll use it now.

Every once in a while, you go up into the attic, into the toys that your children had when they were small. You've kept them up there for some unknown reason. And you pick up this box.

And you younger kids who have your computer games have no idea what these things are all about. But we used to call it a jack-in-the-box. And it could have been laying there for 20 years.

And you just turn the handle, up it pops. There it is. Like it was ready every moment.

That's just what our flesh is like. Just turn the handle, and out it comes. The right image, the right thought, the right word, the right deed, and out it comes.

God wrote your flesh off and mine at Calvary. Useless. Never going to improve.

Don't try to improve your flesh. Don't work on somehow improving your flesh so it no longer thinks those horrible thoughts, those awful things don't come to your mind, those wicked thoughts don't come to your mind. You cannot improve your flesh.

All you can do is begin to feed the spiritual part of your life. To feed and make available to the spiritual part of your life the Word of God. So dwelling in the vine means really dwelling in Christ.

Enjoying fellowship with Him. Allowing His Word to abide in you and you abide in Him. And that Word abiding in you simply means that your values, your vision is all shaped by what His Word says.

And you begin to see things differently. Now it's not an overnight cure. And as I said, you could go that way for 20 years and all of a sudden out jumps the jack-in-the-box again.

And it's there and you're overwhelmed that it's still there. Don't get overwhelmed. God knows exactly how corrupt your flesh is.

He knows how corrupt mine is. He's not interested in it. He's done with it.

Just confess it and move on. It might sound like a broken record. It's another whole meeting.

But let me just say this. Guilt has only one purpose. As unbelievers, guilt was to drive us to Christ.

As believers, guilt has only one purpose. To drive us back to God. And when it has done that, it's done.

Don't live with guilt. Don't try to atone for your sin by feeling guilty. Don't feel as though if somehow I've got to confess, feeling morose because of those horrible thoughts I had or what I just said or what I just did.

When guilt has done its work, let it go. God isn't interested in it. All you're doing is returning to penance again.

That's what we're doing. We're trying to do penance for our sins with our guilt complexes. Let it go.

It's not a matter of being arrogant or being indifferent. It's a matter of recognizing God has done with it. I should be done with it.

May the Lord help us. It's very hurried and I apologize for taking longer.