A Biblical Response To Anger

We are going to put a pause on Mark today. We'll come back, Lord willing, when I return from Missouri. But if you'd open your Bibles please to Proverbs 19.

In the last month or so, I've had at least three brothers that have stated that they've had some anger issues in their life. And that's been on my mind. So I'm wanting to address that subject.

A biblical response to anger. And so this passage is going to be a diving board. This is a topical study.

We're not going to be doing any deep exegesis or anything here. But Proverbs 19 v. 11. Good sense makes one slow to anger.

And it is His glory to overlook an offense. Father, we are thankful to have Your Word and we're thankful. Lord, just thank You for the songs of Zion.

Thank You for singing truth and what it does to our souls. And Lord, just reaching back to the previous hour, yes, Lord, thank You. Thank You for changing our chooser.

Lord, we were choosing only that which was pleasing to ourselves and dishonoring to You. Lord, as our brother has stated, all the boasting belongs to You, Lord. Boasting in what You've done for us.

We know what we'd be and where we'd be at without You. So thank You for saving our souls. And yet, we're in this fallen world and we have these members about us that are at war with us.

And we pray, Lord, this hour would prove to be helpful and profitable as we look into Your Word and what it has to say on this subject of anger. So help us, I pray. Meet with us by Your Spirit.

Grant liberty and, Lord, Christ would be exalted and would You be pleased to do it in the lives of Your people. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, so Tim's already primed the pump.

We've got some older folks here. You're probably going to have to be in your 50's or so. I'm dating myself.

How many of you have seen the sitcom? The television sitcom. This was back in the 70's and 80's it was running. The Jeffersons.

I've got more laughter than I thought I would. Well, for those of you that haven't, it was actually a spin-off from a sitcom called All in the Family starring Archie Bunker. I'm sure you've probably heard of him.

But the Jeffersons were next door neighbors to them. The Jeffersons, if you don't know, the stars of that program was George and Louise. And George would call her Wheezy.

And they had moved from Queens to Manhattan from the west side to the east side because George was a business owner. He owned some dry cleaning businesses. And it was quite successful.

He was experiencing some income increase, so he's moving to the east side. A little jingle there at the beginning is we're moving on up to the east side. So, unlike here, the east side there would have been like the north side, right? They're moving up on the higher scale side of town.

So George and Wheezy were quite the interesting couple. George was kind of this hot-head guy of the two, but they both were quite vocal in letting you know what they thought of each other. And they often were bickering back and forth and insults.

And I can't remember where the housekeeper, she had some witty comments she'd throw in there. But there was one particular episode where their neighbor friends were trying to help them with their marriage because they were having some issues and particularly anger issues. And so they started off trying to switch roles.

And so George would talk to Wheezy like she normally would talk to him and vice versa. And that became just a hilarious disaster. And so they introduced something, this couple, they introduced actually something that was beginning to be a practice in that day.

It's coming into its own. And trying to deal with anger. They introduced this foam bat or club therapy.

And the idea was whenever you get angry with your spouse, you just haul off and smack them with this foam club. And that's supposed to just kind of release all this pent up anger and release it from you. And that's how it's going to be dealt with and you'd be delivered from this problem with anger.

And that's exactly what happened. They were kind of apprehensive at first. Before you know it, they're swinging at each other and chasing each other around the house.

They end up laughing on the couch. And essentially the message was you do this and everything's just going to be hunky dory and your anger problem is going to be resolved. And it is a funny episode, but even though the Jeffersons were able to make people laugh, when we look at the subject here of anger in Scripture, we don't find it's actually a laughing matter at all.

In fact, we find its root and solution are far different from what the writers of the Jeffersons were asserting. Which is, brethren, essentially not much different than what's still being asserted today. I mean, if you think that this sitcom from yesteryear was just some far off thing and it doesn't really apply, there's no, this is no, obviously foam bats are no serious approach to trying to solve anger issues.

I actually, you know, I thought I'm going to scour the internet and look at the, hear the modern wisdom of this world. And I found it hasn't changed much. I found a video of a woman saying, first off, there's nothing wrong with anger.

Anger is a natural human emotion. Now that's very true. She goes on to say, I think we have demonized anger today.

And we think, well, you know, I must be a bad person because I feel angry about something. No, she says, being angry is valid. Now that also can be true.

But you see, as the devil is good at doing, he takes some truth and then he adds a lie to it. And when you take a truth and you take a lie and you mix them together, what do you end up with? Yes, a lie. She goes on to say, we need to learn to release anger in healthy ways.

Keep that in mind. We need to release anger in healthy ways so that you don't harm yourself or others. And then she begins to list these healthy ways.

These are healthy ways to release anger. Violently punching a pillow, screaming into a pillow, rolling up the windows in the car and screaming at the top of your lungs, do an intense workout, shake your body violently to get the anger out. It's a serious individual, expert in how to deal with anger.

That's the wisdom of this world. We were just reading there in 1 Corinthians 1. See, you depart from Scripture and you end up with all kinds of strange and bizarre, foolish ideas in attempting to resolve sin. And let me tell you about this subject of anger.

It has the world's attention. They're seeking answers. They're looking for answers for this thing because it's widely recognized.

This is a growing problem in our world today, especially in our country. When I went to Nepal last year, one of the things that jumped out to me more than anything, Isai, he's a pastor over there and he has a publishing ministry. He came over to the house to pick me up on his motorcycle.

So I jumped on the back of his motorcycle. We went to the other side of Kathmandu. We had to navigate to that whole city to where his office was.

I'm on the back of this motorcycle. There's more motorcycles than there are cars. And brethren, it is chaotic.

It's just this cluster of bikes and there's in and out. And you don't have traffic signs. You don't have any lights.

It's just like you're going and dodging and you're weaving in and out. And they just kind of beep and let each other know. And all that chaos.

Not one time. I'm just taking this in. I did not see one person get upset.

Not once. Not somebody laying their horn. The things I was witnessing, I thought if I was in America, oh my, you would have heard all manner of cussing and running people off the road and getting off their bikes and fists would be flying.

There would be blood in the road. I mean, I'm not joking. There would have been massive road rage.

And all this traffic and it's jammed. In fact, there was a wedding party coming and a parade. And they just kind of walked through the bikes.

Just kind of split the sea of bikes. It was just like... It was bizarre. But it worked.

They made it work. Nobody was anxious. Nobody was angry.

Nobody was upset. Brethren, we become so impatient and so intolerant to the least little wrinkle in our plan or our schedule. Listen, road rage was a non-existent term when I started driving as a teenager.

It was. It came into its own just in the last 25-30 years. Anger management therapy.

Another worldly solution. That also came into being around the same time frame. 30 plus years ago.

And now it's worked its way into programs for employers and the court systems and prisoners. And you well know, this day and age of the Internet and social media, they have put the anger of man on full open display for all the world to see. Yes, it's grieving.

We see it, right? Daily. At an epidemic rate. It seems like never before, Americans are just so predisposed to being provoked by anger for the smallest little matter.

Have you noticed this? Or is this just me? Have you experienced this? Why are we such angry people? I'm sure there's a number of variables at play. I think impatience means one, but entitlement and ingratitude are at the top of the list. But I think this growing trend is much linked to a well-ingrained, unbiblical mindset about life, let alone anger.

And I say that because we've been told and conditioned for years, really for decades now, that we're all victims of one sort or another. That is, you think the way you think and you do the bad things that you do because essentially your parents were terrible parents. Or your relative did this to you.

Or you didn't have the privileges that this person over here had. Or you were simply born that way, but society's trying to cram you into some kind of mold that doesn't really fit you. And you've suffered this great trauma.

That's the catchphrase of the day. Everybody has some kind of trauma they've suffered. And just because you had this trauma, you should never expect to think right or live right.

A normal life, you're a victim. You're a victim of a bad environment. And before you start amening that, you should realize that the church is not void of the impact of that satanic brainwashing.

That's exactly what it is. Blame shifting, finger pointing at other people and other things that lie outside of me. You see, that's the reason for your troubles.

That's the reason for your difficulties in your life. And that's a lie. That's the lie.

A lie that has significantly saturated the minds of our current day. And brother, I've seen this counseling and speaking to people in this church. A mindset that gravitates toward blaming others or things outside of you.

Blaming others for my lack of love. Blaming others for my own unforgiving heart. For my own bitterness.

For my lack of contentment. It's her fault. She's not this.

Or he's not that. You see, my Christianity is pathetic because my wife is this, that, or the other. You see, my Christianity is pathetic because my pastors are not giving me what I need.

Or the body hasn't responded to me in this particular situation in my life like I think they should have. I'm not removing myself from this equation. I think we all to some extent have absorbed this kind of victim-like mentality.

And as I assess things, the younger you are, the more you've been conditioned to this prevalent mentality in our country, in our culture. And I suggest it's more than you think so. And yes, we can talk about being a new creation.

And we will in a moment. And how that changes things. But listen, churches are made up of people.

And people that make up those churches are people in the culture in which they live. And yes, the Gospel aims and works at removing the sinful, Christless part of our cultural influence upon us. Yes, we are influenced, Jeff, by the things around us.

But we need to recognize what we're up against. And by God's grace, seek to fight against any kind of unbiblical thinking that seeks to solve anger or any other sin by way of godless solutions that are not anchored in Scripture, but with the wisdom of this fallen world. Solutions that typically end up in some form or fashion justifying or excusing our sin.

Or perpetuating it by thinking venting the sinful anger is going to somehow take it away. Like the bat screaming at the pillow. But like I said, the Jefferson sitcom, unlike the Jefferson sitcom, anger is no joke in Scripture.

In fact, it's so serious. Think about it, brethren. It's so serious.

One outburst from Moses barred him from the promised land. And we will see this in a moment. Once we get to the New Testament, we find out that one outburst of anger is enough to send people straight to hell.

However, let me first mention this about Scripture. This might be a no-brainer, but it's still important to point out. Not all anger is sinful.

In fact, the statement the woman made in that video, anger is a natural human emotion, it's very true. God designed us and wired us with every emotion that we have because those emotions reflect who God is. Our emotions are really part of what make us made in the image of God.

Listen, we ought to be angry over injustice as God's people. We ought to be angry over babies being murdered under the guise of free choice. We should be upset about that.

We ought to be angry when Christ's name is dragged through the mud and God's name is openly defied. We ought to be angry at sin and sinful behavior, and we ought to be so because God is Himself. Do you realize that the word anger or angry, it shows up some 350 times in Scripture.

I didn't put a number or percentage to it, but by far, the majority of those occurrences is speaking about God, not us. By far. And God's anger is perfectly righteous, perfectly holy, and perfectly good.

We're gonna come back to this because actually God's anger is what we want to be mimicking in our lives. But as you are all aware, we have this thing called sin. And sin takes these God-designed and God-given emotions of ours and turns them into sinful attitudes and behavior.

Yes, Christians are very capable of exhibiting and experiencing righteous anger, but sadly, brethren, we're far too often exhibiting an anger that's not righteous at all. In fact, we can so easily allow our emotions to rule our spirit that even if and when it starts out as a righteous anger, we can easily turn it into that which is not. And Paul recognizes this, and so he exhorts the Ephesians accordingly, and he quotes from Psalm 4.4, be angry and sin not.

There are sinful attitudes and actions to be angry about, but don't let that anger be turned into something that's sinful. So I wanted to begin establishing that there are two types of anger, righteous and unrighteous. And if you're wondering, how do I know which is which? Well, it's not really as complicated as we might be inclined to make it, but righteous anger is God-centered anger.

And unrighteous anger is self-centered anger. God-centered anger flows from a heart that values and exalts the worth and glory of God. And a self-centered anger, it flows from a heart that's preoccupied with self.

With what self wants. And what self expects. It flows from a frustration.

I'm not getting what I want, or I'm getting what I don't want. It's an anger where God's glory and worth are removed from the picture. Things aren't happening the way I want them to happen.

People are not being and doing what accords with my will, my way, my agenda, my timing. And so moving forward in discussing anger, if I use the term, I'll be referring to sinful anger of man unless I otherwise note it. Because that's the problem we all face.

Our fallen flesh turning our God-given emotions into sinful emotions. And as you might expect, the Proverbs are full of such wisdom regarding this subject. We already read it in Proverbs 19.11. Now I'm going to quote some passages.

I'm not going to stay long on any of these. You can follow or just listen. Proverbs 12, verse 16, the vexation of a fool is known at once.

Pretty obvious when people are angry. But the prudent ignores an insult. Proverbs 14.17, a man of quick temper acts foolishly.

Proverbs 14.29, whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. Proverbs 15.18, a hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention. Proverbs 16.32, whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, but he who rules his spirit, and he who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.

Proverbs 29.22, a man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression. But it's not just the Proverbs. Ecclesiastes 7.9 says, be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.

Jesus addresses anger in His Sermon on the Mount. Paul addresses anger in multiple letters. James, we saw this in Tim's series.

He addresses it in chapter 1. He's going to get to it again in chapter 4. He's addressing Christians quarreling and fighting with all these uncontrolled passions within them. But it's not just isolated to James' audience. There's anger addressed to the Corinthians.

The Christians in Corinth. There's anger addressed to the churches at Galatia. There's anger addressed to Christians in Ephesus.

There's anger addressed to Timothy. I thought God's people were happy people. And it's true, the least angry people in the world ought to be Christians, right? So what are we angry about? You remember what the Lord said to Jonah? Do you do well to be angry? What was Jonah angry about? What was at the root of his anger? What was that? He didn't want to do what God told him to do, right? At the root of his anger was self.

Selfishness, right? He was completely self-centered. He wasn't concerned about what brought honor and glory to the Lord. He was concerned about his own selfish will.

So what's the cause of sinful anger? I think that passage I just quoted in Ecclesiastes is helpful in a couple ways. One, it identifies the root issue behind anger. Anger lodges in the heart.

Solomon says it's a heart problem. In fact, the heart of every problem is a problem with the heart. Really.

Secondly, it really identifies the two ways in which we sinfully handle anger. Being not quick in your spirit, lodging it in our heart. Now that verse seems to be suggesting that if we are given to being quick in our spirit, just blowing up in anger, we're actually making a home for sinful anger in our heart.

But this whole idea of lodging, I think it really represents well the second way in which we handle anger. Because you might be sitting there thinking, well, I never lose my cool. My husband might or my wife.

I never blow up. Therefore, I don't have a problem with anger. Well, the second way, and I think for Christians, this is probably the most prominent way we fall into sinful anger, is by suppressing it and holding on to it.

Sort of let it brew and simmer. You know, we put the cover on it and put it in the back and then put it on a low boil. Those are the two ways we sin in anger.

We externalize it by way of exploding, or we internalize it by keeping it in and holding on to it. We either explode like a volcano or we simmer like a stew on the stove top, which really ends up leading to bitterness and resentment. And in some cases, as that thing's brewing, it might explode eventually.

But neither of these two responses addresses the root problem. At the root in both of them is a heart of selfishness. And there's an element of pride that just suggests, how dare you do that to me? How dare you say that to me? How dare you treat me that way? This should not be happening to me.

Why aren't you complying with what I want here? Anger. Anger flows from a self-centered disposition. And that's why it results in either a volcanic eruption or just a simmering stew of unhappiness.

Because it's focused on the wrong thing. You. When you are the real reason for your anger, you see, foam clubs and screaming into pillows does nothing to solve the real problem.

In fact, it actually does exactly what Solomon says it will do. It creates a lodging place for anger in the heart. It sets up a nice little comfortable room for anger to dwell there and you end up making the problem even worse.

Which is why we need to cut against the grain of our culturally conditioned response of excusing it and justifying it and looking to blame it on something outside of ourself. It's a problem with our heart. We don't want to be downplaying it like, oh, you know, my dad was that way.

I've heard it. My dad's that way, so that's the way I am. It's just the way I'm going to be.

You know, nobody's perfect. Christians shouldn't talk that way. That's a cop-out.

Nobody's helped with that kind of mentality. They're not. It's just foolish denial.

I'll grant you, you did inherit it, but it wasn't through your dad or his dad. It was through Adam. And guess what? Adam's not responsible for your personal sin.

You are. And it's not something or someone outside of you. What's Jesus say? We're going to get there soon in Matthew 7. He says, there's nothing outside a person.

Nothing outside a person that defiles them. But what is it? It's what comes out of a person. That's what defiles them.

Comes out of what? Their heart. So the first thing we want to do with anger is properly identify it and own the source of it. You.

Your own heart. Don't tolerate it. Don't excuse it.

Own it. Own it. Calling it what God calls it.

Sin. And immediately repent of it. Otherwise, it's only going to get worse.

It's only going to set up house, so to speak, and take the place over. It's going to turn into bitterness and hatred. It's going to affect all your horizontal relationships in your life.

And you know what it's also going to do? It's likely going to cause you physical problems. There's a lot of people who have physical problems that are directly related to this. People with anger issues, they have high blood pressure.

They have ulcers. They have anxiety and depression. I'm sure you nurses and Jamie probably could add to the list.

Generally, just feeling miserable all the time. Angry people are miserable people. Listen, you cannot be happy in Christ Jesus and enjoy His fellowship and spiritual fruitfulness in your life if you've got anger lodging in your heart.

It's impossible. There's no room for Jesus when that monster is filling up the room. I mean, if there's one emotion that indicates a disturbance in our fellowship with God, it's anger.

Because it affects us in so many ways. And so, brethren, we can't afford to ignore it or justify it and treat it like it's a welcome gift. We need to treat it and regard it just like God does.

It's immoral. It's unchrist-like. And it's murderous.

That's how God sees it. Remember Jesus? I mentioned Him in the Sermon on the Mount. You can turn there if you wanted to, but I'm just going to read there briefly.

Matthew 5. Sermon on the Mount. You should be very familiar with that passage. If you're not, that's where Jesus is primarily asserting the character makeup of those who are part of His kingdom.

And what righteousness in His kingdom looks like and what it does not look like. And after He introduces these beatitudes, He makes a few preliminary statements, and He kind of sets up the rest of His message under the heading, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of God. Serious statement.

And the following is what the righteousness of my kingdom dwellers looks like. That's what Jesus preaches on from that point forward. And the very first sin He begins with is anger.

Matthew 5, verse 21, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder. And whoever murders will be liable to judgment. They knew that.

You murder, you kill. It's the breaking of the Ten Commandments. But I say to you, that everyone who's angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.

Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. Now, I'm not going to dig into the context of that.

But one clear takeaway from Jesus' statements here is they're about anger. God equates sinful anger to murder. And that's because both of them aim at the very same thing.

The very same thing. Defying God. It's an expression of rebellion against God.

It's an attack against God. Against the image of God. It's the opposite of love, brother.

It's the opposite of the overarching theme of what a Christian should be is an expression of the love of God. Jesus says that you'll know them, my people, by their love toward one another. The expression of love.

Not their expression of anger. Not because of their hot temper or angry grudges that they're holding. Not by that which so clearly represents this fallen world.

But by Christ-like love. By their obedience to Christ. As obedience puts that sinful anger to death.

Properly handling anger, it begins and ends right there with obedience. Which begins with a proper understanding as a Christian that I am actually able by the grace of God to put away sinful anger. Do you believe that? As a Christian, that you are able to do that.

I hope so, because the Bible teaches that we can. And the Bible's instructed you to do that very thing. We can talk all day long about being new creations.

And well, we should because we are if we're born-again Christians, which happen to be the only Christians there are. But as such, we're called to a life, brethren, of putting off and putting on. Putting off and putting on.

In fact, the new self that we are to put on is that which was born in us when we were born again. Paul writes to the Ephesians 4.31, he says, "...let all anger be put away from you." Not some. Not 90%.

Not 95%. All anger put away from you. Put it off.

Put it away. He says the same thing to the Colossians. Colossians 3.8 You must put away anger.

It's the first thing he lists. And then he says, "...seeing..." This is why. "...you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator." Paul's saying, you're a new person, Christian.

A new person who's been drafted into this sanctification program that's going to make you more and more like Jesus Christ and less like you were when God saved you. The old you has passed away. Therefore, the practices of the old you must also pass away.

You say, well, I've always been an angry person. Scripture says, yeah, that's the old person. If you're a Christian, that's the old man.

The old person. That's the old self. It's not the new self.

That's not that which has been born anew and afresh and is the work of the Spirit of God in your life. You need to be in the business of becoming what you are. A Christian.

That's what we are as Christians. We're becoming like Christ. Therefore, he mentions a few verses earlier there in Colossians, put to death what is earthly in you.

Sinful anger is earthly. If we don't put off our earthly, fleshly tendencies, we will disarm ourselves of the ability to put on. Put on anything in terms of righteousness.

And Christian, you have to believe you're able to do so. And you must, because God never commands His people to do what He doesn't give the grace to do. And He has clearly commanded us to put away anger.

This really is a faith-trust issue. There's no excuses. Well, you see, I'm an Italian or Irish or whatever.

I guess as we were looking up that survey, the Lebanese are the number one most angry group in the world. Where's Demi at? Demi, you're not off the hook. That might be true, but not for kingdom dwellers, it's not.

James says there, the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. And whatever does not produce righteousness in the life of a Christian, guess what? It's got to go. Period.

It's got to go. And let me tell you, Christian, you are far more capable of putting away your anger than you think you are. I think John Piper just nails it when he illustrates how people are very, very capable of not viewing porn if they're convinced the consequences of doing so are extremely high.

And he illustrates it with a mother or a relative being held with a knife at their throat. And the one holding the knife is looking at the porn act and saying, you click on that, I'm going to slit the throat. Nobody in their right mind is going to click it.

Right? The cost is too great. And that illustration points out that our behavior is governed by what we value most. Because mom is valued the most in that scenario, he doesn't pursue his sin.

He puts it away. Now obviously, that doesn't mean the guy's heart could still be filled with lust. I understand that.

But the point is, he stopped that sinful pursuit because he valued his mother more than that. At that moment, he realized the cost. But you see, when he thinks it doesn't cost him something near as severe, he just gives place to his sin.

Now he deceives himself in thinking there's not a great cost in pursuing his sin. He deceives his own soul. This is a soul issue.

This is an eternity issue. We're talking about our sin and giving place to it and walking in it. But the illustration proves that he does possess the ability to not do something that his flesh is tempting and driving him to do if he's rightly motivated.

That's true for all of us, brethren. It is. And you know it is.

You pursue a sin, you're thinking at that moment there's value in it. You're thinking that it's not going to cost you what it really is going to cost you. The same principle is true with anger.

Even with lost people. At least in the expression of it. I remember this.

We first started going to church when I was a tween or something. Eleven, twelve years old. I think we first started going to church.

Didn't attend before that. And my mom and dad were lost. There were times of just fireworks on the way to this church building, this meeting.

Just at each other. Fighting. You know what? It got rowdy at times.

You know what happened? We get up to the church building and all of a sudden, boom! They just switched into a gear and it's like plastic faces and smiles and it's like you wouldn't have known anything was going on. They just shut it down just like that. Get into the church parking lot and boom! You ever done that? I venture to say, and I don't want to pick on the mothers here, but the scenario seems in my mind, I can imagine a lot of things happening in the day of a mother, but equally true for fathers.

But you can imagine mothers. I'm sure you've had that day from hell, so to speak, where everything just seemed to go wrong and maybe it was that time of the month and then the washer breaks down and you drop your phone on the floor and the screen cracks and you just finish mopping the floor and Junior comes in with mud all over his shoes and the baby won't stop crying and the two little ones are over there and you've had to tell them and correct them for the upteenth time of the day and all of a sudden, they're pulling each other's hair and fighting and screaming and you just suddenly blow your top in anger. And right as you're doing that, the phone rings.

And it's an important call. It's the washer repairman. You've got to answer the call.

And as you do it, what happens? You go right from just letting Junior, the troublemaker in the situation, really have it to suddenly picking up the phone and saying, Hello, today's the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad. I mean, you're probably not saying that, but it's a total shift.

See, you demonstrate right there you're able to shut it down. Right? You prove that you can control your emotion when you think it's necessary to do so. And sadly, what that really proves is the value you've placed on the individual who's at the receiving end of your outburst.

You feel you can treat them worse than the stranger on the phone you just picked up. Paul says, put that away. Put it away.

Far away. Put it to death. Put to death what's earthly in you.

And Scripture doesn't stop there. It's a two-fold command. Put off your sin and put on, Paul says, compassionate hearts.

Kindness. Humility. Meekness.

Patience. Bearing with one another. Paul tells the Ephesians, be kind to one another.

Tenderhearted. Forgiving one another. That is what we're told to put on, brethren.

And you know what? You're not able to do that when you're fixated on you and your circumstances. But you are when you're fixated on Christ. We were just standing here a few minutes ago, right? Tim's going through all these things on the wisdom of Christ and the righteousness and sanctification.

You're ready to partake. Your heart's on Christ. You're worshiping Him.

Thank You, Lord. Thank You for what You've done for us. It's just refreshing all the realities that Christ has purchased for us and done for us.

Our mind was on Him. And it produces a mindset of worship. But if your mind is all about you and all in this muck and mire of the world and it's all about your circumstances, your eyes are not on Christ, your mind's not on Him, you're not thinking about Him, you're not going to be able to put off anything.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul says, and make no provision for the flesh. What's the power to stop the provision of the flesh? Putting on Christ. See, it's not a matter of ability because you have Christ to put on as a Christian.

And with Him, you're able to do all things, Scripture says. It's really a matter of your priority and your will. Do you desire to kill your anger? Do you desire to put that thing to death? That work begins before the anger arises.

Paul says, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet, not I. Not I. But Christ lives in me.

It's Christ. He's the one running the show now. He's the one ordering the events of my life now.

He's the one whose glory and agenda I'm seeking to live for. It's no longer me. You see, sinful anger expresses, I'm still alive and kicking.

My will is still competing with Jesus' will for me. I've got to die so the life of Christ and His wonderful grace can enable me to slay sinful anger when it rises up from within. I've got to die in order for my righteousness to exceed that of dead religion.

I've got to die so I can handle anger like God handles it. Now, did you notice what phrase most frequently showed up in those passages I read out of Proverbs? It's also showed up in the passage we read at the beginning. Proverbs 19.11. It's the phrase, slow to anger.

And if you recall back in James 1.19, James uses that phrase. Be quick to hear and slow to speak, slow to anger. Then he goes on and says, for the anger of man has not produced the righteousness of God.

Obviously, he's talking about sinful anger. And what does it produce? It produces unrighteousness. And so he commands a Christian, be slow to anger.

And I grab that because James says the same thing that Solomon sets forth as a virtuous response. Why do you suppose we're commanded to be slow to anger? Because that's exactly what God is. That's why.

In fact, that most repeated phrase in Scripture where God discloses His character to us, it begins with Moses right there and Moses and Exodus. But then it's repeated like eight or nine other times. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

The Lord would have us know He is slow to anger. And we looked at this almost two years ago when we were looking at the fruit of patience in Galatians. And we discovered there that the primary word for patience in Hebrew is actually what gets translated slow to anger in our Bibles.

And the explanation had to do with it being a Hebrew idiom. An idiom that from the surface seems totally disjointed from our English minds. You know, an idiom is an expression or it's a phrase that is expressing something.

It has a figurative meaning. Not a literal meaning. The Hebrew compound word, that Hebrew compound word actually is long and nose.

Or long of nose. Lengthening of nose. Which is, yes, hard for us to grasp because when I think of lengthening of nose, I think of Pinocchio.

What do you know about Pinocchio? He's a liar, right? We don't think of lengthening nose patience or bearing long with someone. It just doesn't even compute. See, Hebrew lacks the kind of adjectives that English has.

And so Hebrew words tend to paint vivid pictures when seeking to be descriptive. The expression, God's anger burned, which is usually aimed at Israel, is an expression in the Hebrew. It's a Hebrew word.

It means His nose burned hot. That's the typical Hebrew expression of anger. His nose burned hot.

And we find that. I quoted that I think in that message. Well, I did.

Genesis 39.19. That's when Potiphar responds to his wife after he finds out the accusation that Joseph tried to rape her. And it says, as soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, this is the way your servant treated me, his anger was kindled, or his nose burned hot. That's how Hebrews often expressed anger.

Nose and heat. Basically expressing what takes place when someone's burning with anger, right? Their face gets flushed and red, but instead of saying red face, they would refer to it as hot-nosed. Therefore, God's anger is one whose nose gets hot.

Burns up, as it were. But when He's slow to anger, He suffers long, and His nose is made long towards the object of His compassion. So that when it burns, it takes a very long time for it to completely burn up.

That's the idiomatic idea behind the expression slow to anger in the Old Testament. It's gauged. It's not quick and hasty.

It's not unhinged and out of control. It's in control. It's patient.

And guess what? It's aimed at the root of the problem. It's aimed at sin. It's always aimed at sin.

Yes, we could say the sinner. And that would be true. And that's where God differs from us because He's sinless.

It's God's prerogative whether to exercise justice or exercise mercy on people. But His justice is not an example of being slow to anger. An example of God being slow to anger is found in the Gospel.

In fact, His command for us to be slow to anger is very much parallel with how He in the Gospel is towards those whom He saves. You see, the Lord is very much just and right to burn with anger that drops down fire and brimstone on Asaddam and Gomorrah. That's right.

That's just. He's very much just and right in His wrath to burn hot against Korah and his company and for the ground to open up and swallow them whole. He's very much just and right to strike down Uzzah as He puts out His hand to touch the ark.

That's God's anger burning hot towards them. But God exercises being slow to anger and not doing so, brethren, to you and I. To the ones He has given His Son to save. Not treating us like we really deserve to be treated.

Oh, there's righteous anger for sure. But it's an anger that is patient, that has stayed back, that is waiting for His Son back in the Old Testament. Waiting for His Son to satisfy that anger.

It's an anger that is not poured out against the perpetrator, but towards the problem of sin. And that's exactly what Jesus did. That's exactly how our anger is to function.

Not being directed toward the offenders, but directed toward solving the problem. You see, blowing your top, kicking the dog, throwing a hammer across the garage and punching the wall and hitting your wife or husband with a foam bat or screaming into a pillow. None of that does anything toward solving the problem behind anger which is a heart problem, right? Righteous anger aims its energy toward resolving the problem of sin for the glory and honor of God.

Unrighteous anger is all about me. Its energy is aimed at those who have made me unhappy. Be it man or God.

God says, Christian, be like Me. Be slow to anger. First check and see if it even is righteous anger.

Because if it's not, it's not like Me. And if it is, use that emotion to solve the problem at hand. Don't create a worse one.

If it's unrighteous anger that rises up from within, don't vent it. Don't bottle it up inside. No, put it away.

Kill it. Instantly deliver the death blow to it. Put it off.

Foam bats and pillow screaming doesn't put anything off. In fact, it just keeps it intact, keeps it alive. It keeps alive the very thing God says needs to go and die.

Brethren, if you're a Christian, you've fallen into the sin of anger, you know what? Christ died for that sin. Put it to death. That's what He commands you to do.

Not get immune to its presence. Not get all depressed and discouraged thinking there's never going to be any change in your life. That's a lie.

It's not true. Not cave the mentality, this is just the way I am. That's not true if you're a Christian.

In fact, Paul says in that very daunting list there we looked at in Galatians 5 of those who will not inherit the kingdom of God, you know what's in the midst of that list? Fits of anger. That's sobering. It's one thing for a Christian to struggle with anger from here and there.

But if your life is one of fits of anger, you need to really examine yourself. Because Scripture is very plain. You will not enter the kingdom of God.

I don't care what else you say. That's not to say a Christian could not have some measure of struggle for a manner of time, but brother or sister, consider yourselves dead to that sin and kill it. That's the biblical approach on how to handle our anger or any sin for that matter.

Kill it. Don't make room for it because it no longer is a part of what you are and what you're becoming. So, as we close, how should this teach us to handle our anger? Number one, identify what has aroused the emotion.

Is this truly something that's aimed toward the glory of God? Or is it just all about me? Is it related to me? And number two, if it's related to me, brother, sister, admit it. Just admit it. Own it.

Repent of it. Seek forgiveness from God and seek forgiveness from the ones who've been on the receiving end of your anger. It's that simple.

You humble yourself, God's going to extend the grace to give you grace to overcome it. To kill it. To put it away.

Thirdly, this is huge I think, see God's hand in the very thing that's making you angry. Oh, brethren, sometimes it's like something happens and Christians just lose sight of God. Listen, I don't care what's happened in your life.

How horrific and bad. Listen, I don't mean to sound insensitive because there's horrific and bad things that happened in our life. Brother, sister, God's in it.

He's very, very much in it. In all the details. He's purposed it for a reason.

Do you believe that God is sovereign? Prove it by acknowledging His providence and His character. He's actually working good in that thing. He is.

He even uses bad things in our life for my good. Trust Him for that. Like I said, I really think anger is linked.

It's attached to a breakdown in trust. Trusting the Lord. And lastly, even when something extremely evil happens against you, you know, the Bible says, vengeance is mine.

I will repay. We can be angry, but we're not to play God. We're taught to return evil with what? Good, right? Our opening verse there, Proverbs 19.11, good sense makes one slow to anger and it is His glory to overlook an offense.

It's not a glory to strike back and get even. Right? To escalate. To chase the wife around with a club, you know, and smack her.

But you know what? It's absolutely glorious in the eyes of God for you to let it go. Be one who lives in the light that God has been very, very long-nosed towards you. I like that imagery.

It makes me remind me. God's been very long-nosed towards you. Are you going to turn around and be short-nosed with others? Or are you going to pour the cold water of love and patience and kindness and mercy on the fire of your sinful anger? That's what God's called us to do.

Father, Lord, thank You. Thank You for being slow to anger with us. Oh, there's so many times, Lord, we're having to be reminded over and over again of how You've treated us.

Lord, that's the basis of how we're to interact with others. Lord, I pray You'd help the brethren to see Your grace is sufficient. You have enabled us to truly put to death what's earthly in us.

And You've enabled us, all these wonderful characteristics and virtues of the Lord Jesus Christ to put on in our own life. And I pray You'd help us to do just that. Lord, even in a week that lies before us where there's going to be tendency likely to be very much stirred in anger, Lord, help us.

Let our anger be righteous in Your sight. Lord, deliver us from that which dishonors You. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.