In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes that our emotions are given to us by God as motivational forces in our lives. Anger, in particular, is described as a hot emotion full of energy and strength to prompt us to do what we ought to do. The speaker references several passages from the book of Proverbs to support this idea, highlighting the importance of controlling our anger and being slow to wrath. The sermon also touches on the concept of self-control, as mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23, emphasizing the need to exercise temperance through the Holy Spirit.

The thing that's so wonderful to me about being a Christian is the family of God. Isn't it wonderful to be part of the family of God and wherever you go, whether it's the United States or Canada or some foreign country or wherever you are, just as soon as you are with God's people, you're home. It doesn't matter where you are, you're home because you're with the family and you sense that closeness. So it's just our desire this morning as members of the same family and brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus, just to share with each other this morning and trust that the Lord will help us to understand a little bit better about ourselves and about what God wants to do in our lives by his Holy Spirit. The text that I want to use is very familiar to you. Galatians 2, I mean 5, pardon me, Galatians 5, verses 22 and 23. I'm just going to pick up one split phrase out of that. Galatians 5, verses 22 and 23, those wonderful verses on the fruit of the Spirit. Just a few words, the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. And, of course, in your King James Version you'll see the word temperance. It doesn't refer necessarily to refraining from alcoholic beverages, though we'd like to include that, but we're not going to talk about that. But it really says the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. And in Revival we're thinking about bringing self to the cross and agreeing with God that it has been slain there in the person of Jesus and accepting his sentence upon it and coming from that place in resurrection power filled with his Spirit. And in that filling with the Holy Spirit there is this matter of self-control. I think that as we come away from times when we've been in great movings of God, times of revival when God has changed our lives, one of the things we expect from ourselves and from one another is self-control. And so I want you to think with me about this morning, and if I were to give a title to this sermon, I guess I would call it How to be Good and Mad. How to be Good and Mad. How about that one? I like to use that title because I get such interesting looks from the audience. You think I've gotten all fouled up theologically, but I haven't, and I'm still writing the scriptures as you'll see in just a few moments. Let's bow our hearts for a word of prayer. Dear Father, what a privilege it is to be together here today as children of God. How wonderful to be saved and washed in the blood of Jesus and to know that there is a life of freedom and victory in the Spirit of God. How wonderful to know that Christ's life, and so many that are here have tasted of the tremendous things you want to do in our lives. Now I pray this morning that your Holy Spirit will teach us. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. I used to know a Christian man who seemed to be angry all the time. Really. And it didn't matter about the situation. Almost any time that you would be in his presence, he seemed to be angry. Even when he was talking about the most casual thing, like the weather. He seemed to be angry. He always spoke with such an emphasis, and a spirit of antagonism seemed to be in him. And so happened he was a board member in the church which I was pastor. And having a very large self-life, I had some serious problems with this good gentleman. He was really born again. Oh, you say, is that possible? Yes, it is possible. It's not only possible, it's true. Because before he was born again, this man's life certainly was far different than what it was then, even. And God had brought great changes in him. And he really loved the Lord Jesus. And thank God today, God has given him a much more victorious life. And he's a very good friend of mine. But at that time he seemed always angry. And in the process of some of his activities, he handled some milk. And I still can't remember whether he milked the cow or not. I was certainly not very familiar with those kind of things. And I don't remember whether he actually did it or handled some of the milk for someone else. But in the process of it, he had to deliver some of it. And so he had to fill up some jars with milk from a big can every morning. And then he just kind of delivered it. And I think he worked a night shift and probably made some money on the side and that kind of thing. So one morning he had his jars all lined up on the kitchen cabinet. And he was filling the bottles up and he had them almost all full lined up down the cabinet. And he came to, I don't know if it was the last one or next to the last one, and he started to fill it and he slipped. And he spilled the milk out all over the cabinet and tipped over that bottle. And in a sudden flash of uncontrollable anger, he took his hand and he said, Spill then! And he just swept the whole thing under the kitchen floor. Oh boy. I don't know whether God laughed or cried. Glass, milk. I wonder how long it took his wife to get it out of everything. She was a sweet woman. And she's still living with him. I know why you're laughing. Because it comes so close to home. Yes, thank you for the amen. Because I would hate to start this sermon with you angry at me. And then talk about anger. I know or knew a young boy one time who was just as bad in a different way. I remember the day when he wanted a hammer from his brother and his brother wouldn't give it to him and he just snatched it away from his brother and hit him over the head with a hammer. And it was just a miracle that he didn't fracture his skull. And then later his younger brother was in a little go-kart that he wanted and it was homemade and the piece of wood in which the steering wheel was was kind of jagged and his little brother wouldn't get out quickly. And so he gave it a kick and rammed that stick into his little brother's chest. On both occasions, of course, he had a board meeting with his father in the woodshed and spent the rest of the day in bed without supper, all of which did not cure him. I really know about that little boy because that was me. But I know the power of Jesus Christ and his cross and the Holy Spirit to set a human being free from that kind of thing. And I wonder this morning if you know the power of the Holy Spirit to set you free and to give you that fruit of the Spirit, which is self-control. Let me ask you a question. Is it wrong to be angry? I've gotten some good answers. Anyone else want to offer an answer? Oh, as long as it's righteous indignation. Yeah. That's an interesting question. And the reason it's such an interesting question is because there's a command in the Bible that says, Be ye angry. Oh, and sin not. I'm glad some of you learned all the verse. Yes, Ephesians 4, 26 says, Be ye angry and sin not. No, it isn't wrong to be angry. And I'm sure that one of the reasons I had such a problem with it as a young Christian and as an older Christian for many years was because that I did not really understand what God's Word had to say on this subject. All I knew was what I had been taught all my life, that it was wrong to be angry, that it was a sin to be angry, and above all things, I should never be angry. And that if I was really filled with the Spirit and lived a holy life, sanctified and holy and separated and godly, and like Jesus, I would never be angry. Of course, that isn't true and that's false and it isn't scriptural. But I was taught that by wonderful Christians who believed the Bible and really thought they were teaching the truth. And so in my early years, I was constantly defeated because I was constantly angry and showing it. And in my later years as an adult Christian, I was also defeated because I was still angry but refusing to show it and saying that I wasn't. And, you know, people like my wife would say, What are you mad about? I say, I'm not mad. No, you'd never do that, would you? You know, the way that lip comes out when you say it? You know, like that? I'm not mad. I'm too holy to be mad. I'm too good of a Christian. I'm too filled with the Spirit. Even if you're carnal enough to show it. Yes. I found some very interesting passages in the Word of God on this subject. And one of them is Psalm 7, verse 11. And when you turn to that, you'll find if your Bible has a center reference and has those little numbers it places on the verses, that that verse isn't translated very good. And they've tried to translate part of it a little better for you in the center reference. Psalms are in the middle of your Bible, just about the middle. And if you land on Job, you're too far to the left to go to the right. And if you land on Proverbs, you're too far to the right to go to the left. If you hit Isaiah, you're way far to the right. Now you just about have it, Psalm 7, verse 11. And if you notice that little center reference in what it says, then you'll also notice there are some words in italics in that verse, which means they are not in the Hebrew, but the translators thought they were needed to make the verse make sense. I always have problems with these translators who are trying to make the Word of God make sense. They usually mess it up. The way this verse really reads is like this in the Hebrew. God is a righteous judge. Aren't you glad he's a righteous judge? Not that he'll judge the righteous, though he will. But God is a righteous judge, is what it says. And God is angry every day. Not angry with the wicked, that's not in the Hebrew. God is a righteous judge. And because he is a righteous judge, he is angry every day. You say, my goodness, is God angry every day? Well, see, God knows more than we know. If I knew everything God knows, and I was anywhere near as righteous as he is, I'd be angry every day, too. Right? It hasn't been too long ago I picked up the newspaper and I read about some of these men in a massage parlor who got a hold of a 12-year-old newspaper boy and dragged him into the massage parlor and tortured him and mutilated his body and threw his nude body out on top of a roof. Does that make you angry? It makes me angry. Oh, you say you're carnal. Nope. That makes me angry. In fact, if it doesn't make you angry, there's something wrong with you. You see, God is a righteous judge and God is angry every day. You say, are you saying we should be angry every day? No. I'm just trying to show you that anger is not a sin. Mark 3, 5. Please turn to the Gospel of Mark. Chapter 3 and verse 5. I think one of the greatest harms that has ever been done to Christianity are some of the foolish hymns that have been written. Thank God for the beautiful ones that have been written that really speak forth the truth of God, but some of them aren't so true. And there's one that says, Blessed Jesus, meek and mild. Is Jesus meek? Anybody else think Jesus is meek? I'm not going to trick you. Jesus said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek. And lowly in heart, ye shall find rest unto your soul. Jesus is meek, but He isn't weak. Amen? The strongest man that ever lived, morally, spiritually. Jesus is meek, but He isn't mild. No picture in the Bible of Jesus is mild. Mark 3, verse 1. And He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched Him. That is, the Pharisees, religious leaders, the legalists, who had no love for men, just had love for religion. And they watched Him, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse Him. They didn't want Him practicing medicine on the Sabbath. Of course, He didn't practice medicine. He practiced divine healing. That's quite different. And He saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth, or arise, stand out in the middle. And He saith unto them, that is, these religious leaders, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil, to save life or to kill? But they held their peace. Of course, they had no answer. And when He had looked round about on them with, say it out loud. Huh. That's Jesus. When He had looked round about on them with anger. You know, I'd like to have seen that look. I think His eyes were blazing, being grieved for the blindness of their hearts. He saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other. Jesus. Angry. Anger is not a sin. Jesus gives us at least one other picture of His anger. When He went into His Father's house. Remember? In Jerusalem. What a picture. Jesus Christ at the height of His manhood, in His early thirties. Been a carpenter all His life. Healthy, rugged. I can see Him in His homespun clothing, striding into the temple with a whip in His hand, cracking the whip, kicking over the moneychanger's table, scattering their money over the floor of the temple and shouting, Get these things out of here! Sounds like anger to me. Jesus was angry. God the Father is angry every day. Jesus was angry. What about the Holy Spirit? Turn to 1 Samuel 11.6. You'll find 1 Samuel way over there before you get to Kings. First part of your Old Testament. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Judges. Almost there. 1 Samuel 11.6. The men of Jabesh-Gilead were about to be treated with terrible, terrible hatred. Their city was surrounded. They were about to have to surrender. Their enemy was going to have them march out and they were going to put out the right eye of every man in that city. They sent out messengers all over Israel to see if anyone could rescue them. And the message came to Saul, who had just been anointed king. He was out in the field plowing and he came in from his farm work and they told him, they said, Saul, this city is in this terrible state. I want you to see this verse, 1 Samuel 11.6. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul when he heard those tidings and his anger was kindled a little greatly. The Holy Spirit came on Saul and when the Holy Spirit came upon him, his anger was kindled greatly. I say, Pastor, you really messed me up this morning. Here all these years I've been thinking anger was a sin. I've been confessing it to God as a sin and having all kinds of problems with it. And now you tell me it isn't a sin that God the Father gets angry, Jesus got angry, and the Holy Spirit causes anger. What about it? I want to say two or three things about it very quickly and then I want to go back to my text. The first thing I want to say is that the emotions that are in our lives were put there by God, that God created us. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and you remember how God made Adam and Eve. And He made them in His own image. Now at each stage of the creation, as God made the creation, He said it was good. And the Lord said it was good and He said it was good. And you hear that repeated again and again in Genesis 1. And then finally after He creates the man and the woman, He says it's very good. And when God created human beings, He created them with emotions. Emotions are not in themselves either sinful or holy. Are you listening? A careful study of the Scriptures will show that emotions are neither sinful nor holy. They are what the theologians would call amoral. They have no morality. They're neither good nor bad. Why? Because emotions are involuntary things. Emotions are things that happen to your feelings. Right? Your feelings just happen. Now you cannot control your feelings directly and immediately. You can control your feelings indirectly by what you think or what you do. Just like our dear brother this morning said when he was depressed, he got before God and he began to praise God for all 20 things that he had in Christ. And as he began to praise God, he changed his thinking and he changed his actions and then his feelings changed. Did you notice that? Pardon me, Irwin, for adding on to your sermon. Feelings are neither sinful nor holy, but it is what we do as a result of our feelings that is either sinful or holy. Oh, brother, are you with me? Anger is not a sin, but what you do when you're angry can be a sin. And that's why in Ephesians 4.26 it says what? Be ye angry and sin not. You see, that's why you can be good and mad. Amen? Oh, they say, a pastor should never get mad at his people. He should occasionally if they're not doing what's right. If you never get angry, I think you're lying to yourself. I doubt you could be that dead. Years ago I used to hear people brag about their marriages and I'd hear somebody say, We've never had a cross word in 40 years. Dead silence for 40 years, huh? No communication. What do most people either do with their anger? I find that most people, when they get angry, do one of two things. They either blow up. None of you would do that. That was a very wise remark my brother just made. Or they clam up. And of course, none of you would be that kind. Sulky. Oh, but you say, that's much more holy than blowing up. Oh, is it now? You see, they're both sin. When we are angry, if we blow up, that is sin. Because we're losing control. Ah, but you say, if I clam up, that isn't sin. I've got control. No, that's sin too, because you don't have the right kind of control. Not the biblical kind. Boy, I can remember a time when I thought it didn't matter how angry I got, or how bitter I felt, or what thoughts, how terrible they were in my mind, just so that I kept a straight face and didn't say anything. I have someone who's very dear to me who used to tell me about how badly she had been treated. She gave me a big, long story about how bad she had been treated and how they'd just really done her dirt and all this kind of thing, and I'd already heard it 50 times. And then she'd say, but I didn't say a word. Oh, I hit somebody that time. Didn't say a word. And I'd say, no, but you've told me about 50 times. Why don't you forgive them? Oh, I forgave them. Oh, I never held a thing in my heart against them. Boy, you've got a terrific memory for somebody that forgave them. Up in Canada we say, eh? I really don't do that yet. What about this business of blowing up? You say, oh, well, you know, all of our men in the behavioristic sciences today tell us that we ought to get it out. And when you're angry, you know, let it all hang out. Get it out of your system so you don't get ulcers. It'll give you ulcers just as quick getting it out as it will holding it in. And it may give you a fit of apoplexy along with it. And besides, somebody may punch you in the nose. What does God's Word say about bringing this anger out? Oh, you say, but they tell us that if we get it out of our system and we just speak our mind. And you know, you hear people say, I really gave him a piece of my mind. Well, I've never met anybody yet that had enough mind to do that. Say, I just, you know, that's one thing about me. Boy, you can just expect it. I'll tell you right now, of course, I don't hold a thing against you. And as soon as I've told you off, everything's fine. What does God's Word say? Oh, it has a great deal to say about this, about controlling our anger. You say, well, if it's a sin to blow up and it's a sin to clam up, what are we supposed to do? Okay, I'm going to tell you. Just sit right there. Remember, I have three hours to tell you. Now, turn with me, will you, to Proverbs. Marvelous book. Proverbs is one of the philosophy books of the Bible. If you're going to read philosophy, why not read Proverbs? You'll really learn something about life because it's God who's writing the book. Proverbs 14. Now, we're going to turn to a number of passages in Proverbs. Proverbs 14, verses 17 and 29 is what I want. Proverbs 14, verses 17 and 29. Now, you're going to have to turn fast so we can move along here. You have it? Come on, come on, hurry. Proverbs 14, 17. He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly, and a man of wicked devices is hated. Verse 29. He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding, but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. See, those people who just blow up quickly, spout all over, exalt folly. Proverbs 19. Turn to the 19th chapter. Verses 11 and 19. Verse 11. The discretion of a man deferreth his anger, or holds it in. We say that's clamming up. No, it isn't. Now, stay with me. It's a difference. The discretion of a man deferreth his anger. That is, he waits. He holds it in. He gets control of it. And it is his glory to pass over a transgression. Verse 19. A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment, for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again. Right? Yes. He's talking about controlling your anger, getting it under control. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control. The fruit of the Spirit doesn't destroy the emotions in a man. The fruit of the Spirit helps that man to get his emotional life under control and to get his actions under control. That's what God's talking about. It's not a sin to be angry, but it's a sin to react wrongly when we're angry. Control it. Control our actions. Turn with me to the 22nd chapter, Proverbs 22, verses 24 and 25. Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul. Don't choose a man who has a bad temper, an explosive temper for your bosom companion. You'll learn his ways. He'll get you into trouble. Chapter 25, verse 28. He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls. See, God's talking about ruling our spirit. Not that it's a sin to be angry, but it's a sin to lose control when we're angry. It's a sin to blow up, to explode, to lose control of our tongue and of our actions and of our attitudes when we are angry. One more passage. Chapter 29, verses 11 and 22. A fool uttereth all his mind, and that stands to reason because a man who could utter all his mind wouldn't have much mind. A fool uttereth all his mind, but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. You say, well, listen, when I get angry, I get so angry I don't dare to say anything. All right, fine, fine, good. Defer it. Hold it in. Control it. Cool it. But don't clam up. I will deal with that in a moment. What God wants to do in my life and yours by the mighty power of the cross and by the mighty indwelling of the Holy Ghost is to give us such self-control that when we are angry, we can control our tongue and our actions and our attitudes. And we can defer it and hold it in and keep it till afterwards until we can deal with it in a godly manner that will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? Well, I'm glad you said amen. I'd hate for you to be getting angry at me. You say, well, you know, I've prayed and prayed about that. I've gone to God and I've said, Lord, take away my temper. Now, what do you want God to do? See, God would have to perform brain surgery on some of us to take away our temper. Besides, you'd turn out to be a milk toast if He did. Huh? What if you didn't have any emotions? You'd just be a blob, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you hate to live in a world with people without any emotions? I enjoy my emotions. Do you believe it? I didn't used to. Oh, it's wonderful to have the Lord set you free so that you can enjoy what God's given you. I enjoy my anger now. I hope other people do. You say, I can't possibly control what I've prayed and I've asked God to take it away and I've said, oh, God, help me just keep my mouth shut. Well, you should have said, help me to keep it shut just temporarily. Or you say, I can't do it. I don't believe it. Or you say, I can't do it. I've tried. I don't believe it. Or you say, you just don't know my problem. I just can't do it. I don't believe it. Now, let me prove it to you. Here's a young housewife and she's expecting company that night for supper. And she didn't hear the dog barking and didn't let him out and he messed on the living room rug. And the washing machine broke down and the baby spilled his oatmeal in the dining room instead of the kitchen. And her husband scolded her before he left for work and she's just about had it. And finally, one more thing happens and she just blows up and explodes all over the place. And she's doing a Mount Vesuvius with lava and ash and fire and everything else. And the windows are rattling and the kids are hiding under the bed. And she's right at the height of her most beautiful tantrum. And the telephone rings. And she picks up the phone and says, Hello, Mrs. Jones. Yeah, can't control it, huh? That just depends. Oh, we make a lot of excuses for ourselves that God doesn't accept. Our problem is that we form bad habits of not controlling ourselves and we don't really want to. And if we would come to God with a real want to and really surrender our pride to Him and ask Him to deliver us from the flesh so we didn't have to live in the grip and power of the flesh, and let the Holy Spirit really have His way, we would be able to control that anger and to defer it and to hold it until afterwards and to cool it and get control of it and channel it so that it would bring glory to God instead of dishonoring His name. Ephesians 4.26 says, Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. And someone says, Well, if I am not to just let it go, if I am to control it and get it under control, what am I supposed to do with it? Now listen to me very carefully because this is right at the heart of this message this morning. Our emotions are given to us by God as motivational forces in our life. Now let me repeat that. Our emotions are given to us of God as motivational forces in our life to get us to do the things that we ought to do. And anger is a hot emotion full of energy and strength to get us to do the things we ought to do. Isn't that right? Any of you ever found you could work better when you're angry? Some of you ladies, you get angry at your husband before he goes to work, and man, you can clean the whole house that day. Just tear to it. Full of energy. You can manage your wife and go out and cut the whole lawn, trim the hedge, everything. You say, isn't that better than blowing up? I suppose it is, but it isn't God's answer because God has put that emotion within you to give you the motivation to do something about the problem. And we as Christians are ignoring the problems in our lives, and we're ignoring the problems in our relationships. We're ignoring the problems in our marriages and in our relationships between parents and children and between church members in the church, and we think we're too holy to blow up, but we're unholy enough to clam up and refuse to speak the truth in love and deal with the problem. My, what a revival would sweep over the church if all Christians would begin to understand what God's Word means when it says, Speak the truth in love. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. And what God wants us to do is to get that anger under control of the Holy Spirit and lift our hearts to God and say, O Lord, I'm angry. Do I have cause to be angry? Is it just my own selfishness, my own pettiness, my own flesh? Or is it right for me to be angry about this? And if it is, O God, show me what You want me to do about this problem. And give me the grace and the power by the Holy Spirit to do it, whatever it is. You know, it's not a bit wrong for a husband to say to his wife, Honey, I'm angry. Say, I'm glad to hear that because I do it all the time. Well, I wonder how you do it. Ephesians 4, that same passage, down there below, 26 a little ways. What is it, 29? Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Amen? Is the communication that comes out of your mouth when you're angry corrupt? Is it rotten? Is it death-dealing, destructive? Or is it edifying? Does it build up the other life and minister grace to that other person? Huh? God wants us to channel that anger by the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. He wants it to be a motivational force in us to get us to do something about the problem that exists, whether it's between me and my wife or me and my son or me and the church member or the pastor or my neighbor or the man I work with or whatever the problem is. It finally dawned on me that I ought to write letters instead of just sputtering about it and telling somebody how mad I am. Huh? What? You know, why read the newspaper and then go out and read the riot act to your wife? Why not sit down and write a letter to somebody and in the name of Jesus with godly language, express what's in your heart, your righteous indignation, and call for holiness and repentance at the highest level? Huh? Why not write to your government? Why not write to the television station? Why not go and speak to men? God wants us to deal with our anger. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control to control and to use it to deal with the problem. We're always attacking other people instead of attacking the problem. Amen? Nobody does anything with a problem. You know, there's too many Christians who have a practice of let sleeping dogs lie. You ever hear that? I said, did you ever hear that? No. Huh. The only trouble with letting sleeping dogs lie is that after a while, the whole place is covered with sleeping dogs. You can't even walk through the place. You fall and break your neck and if you stumble over one of them, they may wake up and bite you. You say, what should I do, kick him? No, just kind of shake him gently and tell him it's time to go outside. Oh. You say, boy, I shouldn't have come to this conference. Here I came thinking I was going to get blessed and I'm in so much trouble already. I'm going to have to go home and start being honest with my wife and my kids and my preacher. I don't know what I'm going to do. Speak the truth in love. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed in the day of redemption. That's the next verse. And then it tells you all these things to put away. Be kind, tenderhearted. What's the next word? What is it? Say it louder. Forgiving one another. I still think I should just climb up and not say anything. Look at verse 26 again, will you? Be ye angry and sin not. Let not, what? The sun go where? Down upon what? Your wrath. What does that mean? Don't go to bed angry. Oh. What does God want you to do? He wants you to deal with it every day. Climbing up isn't the answer. I want to show you a passage of Scripture that I think some of us have forgotten. It's in the Bible. It's the words of Jesus. Turn to Matthew 12. Matthew 12. Matthew 12, verse 34 and 35. Jesus speaking. O generation of vipers, that's snakes, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. You ever hear anybody say, oh, he has a rough mouth, but he's really good at heart. You never heard that. You have heard that. I thought you had. He has a bad mouth, but you know, he's really good at heart. Do anything for it. Good at heart. That's a lie. Jesus said out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. And I checked some of these words out to see what Jesus was really saying. And treasure, literally in the Greek, means something stored up. Something stored up. And abundance means to be full. And what Jesus was saying is something that's stored up in the heart until the heart is full will come out of the mouth. Right? What happens when we just clam up and we don't deal with our anger and we don't channel our anger and we don't let the Holy Spirit control it to deal with the problem and to speak the truth in love and to minister to one another? What happens? Well, what happens is that we store up that anger in our heart and it turns to resentment and then it rots a little bit and begins to stink and it turns to bitterness. And then the next time we get angry we clam up and we dump that in on top of it and it turns to more bitterness and then we get angry again and we don't deal with that and we go to bed that night and we don't deal with it and we do it another night and another and another and it just keeps piling in and piling in until we have filled up our heart to overflowing, stored up to overflowing our heart full of bitterness. And then it just takes some little thing and it all comes spewing forth in a cataract. And we say, how could that little thing have caused that explosion? It wasn't that little thing. It was a hundred little things. Jesus speaking about the things that are stored up in the heart. They must be dealt with. They must be dealt with honestly, openly, lovingly, so that our hearts are clean every night when we go to bed. Amen? Anger is a bad bedfellow for marriages, isn't it? Man, you say, if we did that in our home we'd be sitting up until two o'clock every morning. Well, bless God, that'd be better than what you are doing. No amens? Because after a while you begin to get some things settled and you'd be able to really sleep when you went to bed. What is the answer? The answer is twofold. It's to deal with it and it is to forgive. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath what? Has God forgiven you, brother, sister? Let me see your hand. Has He forgiven you? Isn't that wonderful? I just think that thrills God to see those hands. Isn't it wonderful to be forgiven? Amen? Marvelous. How does God forgive? He says, forgive even as God forgives. God forgives two ways and this is the last thing I want to say to you. However, it's going to take some time. Don't get excited. Isn't it fun to be a Christian? Amen. I tell you, Christians have more fun than anybody. We just had such a good time on our trip down. Well, I'm going to tell you about that. We had so much fun. God forgives in two ways. God forgives us through Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins, right? Which means that God in the person of Christ on Calvary accepted the hurt that we had done to Him. Because our sins are basically against God even though we sin against men also and against ourselves. But we sin against God with every sin. David said, Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou judgest. Our sins are against God. We have hurt Him. We have damaged Him. We owe Him a debt that we cannot pay. And God accepts it and He pays the debt Himself. He suffers the loss. He takes the hurt. And He lets us go free. Hallelujah! That is good news. And then Jesus told the parable of Matthew 18. You know about the servant that owed his Lord ten million dollars? That's a lot of money. Right? Like the old fellow man said, what would you do if you had a million dollars? He said, I'd spend it on my debts as far as it would go. Well, this poor man, he owed ten million dollars. And he said, have patience and I'll pay thee all. That is manifest nonsense. That's like a man saying to God, be patient with me and I'll even the score. No, no, no. There's no hope. It's absolutely hopeless. That's our condition. And then God steps in and He pays it. You know, any man who would forgive a man that owed him ten million dollars, that man suffered a terrible loss. I don't care how big his business was. He suffered an awful loss personally. Ten million dollars. And He said to the man, you're free. Now, that's what Jesus has done for you and me. And this man went out and he found his fellow servant that owed him 22 bucks. And he grabbed him by the throat and said, pay me. And the man said, have patience and I'll pay you all. And he could have. But he wouldn't forgive him. You see, when God forgives us, He bears the hurt and lets us go free and says we don't have to even the score. We don't have to have revenge. You're free. You're totally free. I paid the debt. You're free. Don't ever have to. Get even. How many of us are going around and we've stored anger up in our hearts and we haven't dealt with it and we haven't forgiven. And we're just hoping, in fact, we even pray for God to even the score for us sometimes. We say... Now, you wouldn't say it in these words. We're much too holy for that. But we say, Lord, get him. Always wonder about... Oh, never mind. You know, I grew up knowing that I belonged to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I just thought if anybody did me any wrong, God would get him somewhere. You know, I don't even want God to get him now. I just want God to love him so their hearts will break and they'll know his forgiveness. Amen? And you see, that's the kind of forgiveness God wants us to manifest. That's the first part of it. By the way, Jesus said to that man, in effect, since you haven't forgiven your fellow servant, you're going to be delivered to the tormentors and you won't come out until you pay the last farthing. And you say, that means he was sent to hell. I don't know that it means that. I do know what it means. It means that the man who won't forgive will be tormented until he does. You believe that? Forgiveness is something good you do for yourself. You say, that's not biblical. Yes, it is. Because God said... Let me read the words to you that God said, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins. Forgiveness is something good you do for yourself as well as the other person, because if you do not forgive, that bitterness will be stored up in your heart and it will torment you to the last day you live if you don't forgive. Good grief, I thought you were going to preach a revival message. Oh, brother, am I ever preaching a revival message? And what's the other side of it? How does God forgive? God said, not only will I blot out your transgressions, I'm just going to blot it out. You don't have to pay the debt. I will not remember thy sins. Now, God didn't say, I'll forget your sins. He said, that's my problem. You see, I have forgiven, but I can't forget it. Now, why don't you just quit worrying about forgetting? If you were going to forget it instantly, God would have to do an operation on your brain and blot out part of your memory system. Right? I said, isn't that true? I don't want God to do that to me. See, I need all I've got. Little enough. Well, you say, what does it mean? It means just what it says. God said, and will not. The will is involved in forgiveness. You say, I thought that forgiveness was to just pray that God would take all this bad feeling out of my heart. Now you're living by your feelings again. You're back in the flesh. Forgiveness is an act of the will. Forgiveness is a decision I make before Almighty God. I make a decision that I will forgive that man. And that means that I accept the hurt he has done to me and I let him go free. And I refuse to remember it. I will not remember it. It doesn't mean I forget it. It means that I choose not to remember it. Well, you say, but it comes back to my mind. That's all right. If it comes back to your mind, all you'll have to do is say, O God, in Jesus' name, I have forgiven that brother. I've forgiven my wife. I forgave my son, my daughter. I forgave my neighbor. In Jesus' name, they're forgiven. I refuse to think about it. They're forgiven. And God will give you victory. You don't have to think about it. You don't have to talk about it. That's the problem. We get in a little scrap and we say, Oh, forgive me. And the other person says, Oh, yes, I forgive you. And they don't have any idea what they mean when they say, I forgive you. What they mean is they're never going to bring it up again. Amen? Oh, that's a weak amen. And then something comes up. This happens in marriages all the time. Then something comes up. And what do we do? All you married people know what I'm talking about. And then we drag up the whole business that we said we forgave and we drag it all up. Not only the present thing, but all the past things that we said we've forgiven. That's not forgiveness. I'm so glad that God never does that with me. Has He ever done that with you? When I sin and I go to the Lord and I say, Lord, I have sinned. He doesn't say to me, You sure have. Now, just sit still and I'm going to tell you all the other things you've done all past life. Huh? No. That's all under the blood. That's gone. Absolutely. God said, I will not remember it against you. I will not. I will not. Decision of the will in God. He says, For my own sake, I brought it out, your sin. I paid the debt and I will not remember it. I refuse to think or talk about it. And if you ever are haunted by your past sins that have been put under the blood, it's not God, it's the devil. He has a good memory too. But God said, I will not. We need to learn how to forgive. How to channel our anger into godly action. To deal with the problem in Jesus' name. To speak the truth in love. And to don't let the sun go down. Don't finish one day and pray and get into that bed with unresolved anger in your life. Deal with it every day before God and before man. And when you forgive, forgive for your own sake and never bring it up again. It is gone.