Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Our first passage we'll be in Tonight is Proverbs 20:22, if you'd like to flip there.
[00:00:12] In the movie the Hateful Eight, there is a few really interesting characters.
[00:00:21] One of them is supposedly a hangman. He is somebody who hangs people, and that was his supposed job. And in this movie, this character, he is speaking to a woman being brought to a town by a bounty hunter for crimes that she's committed. And presumably for the awful crime she's done. She will hang once the blizzard has passed. And while they stay in this little convenience store during the blizzard, he at one point says these words that I find interesting.
[00:00:56] He says to her, the man who pulls the lever that breaks your neck will be a dispassionate man. And that dispassion is the very essence of justice. For justice delivered without dispassion is always in danger of not being justice.
[00:01:16] I find this interesting because our passions can be hard to control.
[00:01:23] Passions are those feelings that we have that guide us, that are impulsive, that are driven by our emotions.
[00:01:32] If the hangman is guided by his passions, then he is in danger of being not just, but vengeful and wrathful. He is potentially going to be internally corrupted if he is not dispassionate.
[00:01:51] And so this is very problematic. That's why even today, often executions are carried about with someone wearing something to cover their head and their face. Because it's not the individual exacting vengeance on somebody, but it's somebody who is working on behalf of the law which is enacting justice. Because people too often have sinful passions that drive them.
[00:02:19] God is different than us. He is not like this. Charles Bridges says that God is without passions. We are blinded by our selfish lusts. He is just without partiality. We are prejudiced on our own side.
[00:02:38] What presumption for the angry worm to entrench upon his prerogative? Revenge is indeed a cherished lust of the flesh. I think Bridges is right. God is not controlled by passions. He is perfectly self controlled. Thus, when he exercises wrath, it is always just, never wrong.
[00:03:04] But when we exercise wrath and have wrathfulness towards another person, it will always be tainted by our sinful passions.
[00:03:15] So what is the biblical way to look at and handle wrath? Well, Proverbs provides a great summary of the biblical data on wrath. And I hope we get a good understanding of what this book says about the topic, because there's plenty in there. Now, as we study this topic too, we want to remember how this book works. We need to remember the context, the lay of the land of this book. First, in order to truly live out this book in a life giving way, not in a way that leads us to exhaustion, we need to fear the Lord and pursue Christ. Remember those important verses in Proverbs 3 or in Proverbs 1, that the beginning of wisdom is know the Lord. We need to God and pursue Christ, who is the wisdom of God. If we don't start here, we exhaust ourselves, we put the burden of perfection on our back and we live outside of the grace of the cross.
[00:04:16] Second, knowing that Christ is the wisdom of God, we should rely on his help to apply the proverbs to our lives.
[00:04:25] We need to use wisdom from all of Scripture and we need to use the Helper, the Holy Spirit, as we interpret and try to apply these things to our lives.
[00:04:35] Third, as we apply the Proverbs, we must remember that proverbs are short general truths drawn from observations in the world. They are short general truths drawn from observations in the in the world. What this means is they apply differently in different contexts. They are not prescriptions. Now, prescription means that you must do this action in this particular way all the time. Like when you get medicine from the pharmacy, a prescription, there are instructions on the bottle. Take one pill twice daily with food.
[00:05:14] You must do it that way or you probably won't feel good or the infection will come back, or whatever it might be. The proverbs are a bit different in that the instructions can depend on the situation. Thus, wrath, the topic today is different for some people than others.
[00:05:33] Some people might need to really watch it more than others. And it is certainly different for God, who exercises wrath but is not sinful like we often are.
[00:05:44] Now, the main idea is wrath belongs to God, wrath belongs to God. So we should avoid pursuing and enjoying wrath toward others.
[00:06:00] Because wrath belongs to God, we should avoid pursuing and enjoying wrath toward others.
[00:06:06] Our main passages that we'll look at, of which we have a few, they bring us three points. Point number one, don't seek wrath.
[00:06:18] Don't seek wrath.
[00:06:22] And then look at Proverbs 20:22.
[00:06:26] Do not say, I will repay evil.
[00:06:30] Wait for the Lord and he will deliver you.
[00:06:35] The wise man tells us to not say, or I will repay evil. You might not realize it because you might not utter those words day to day, but this is such an easy attitude to adopt. It comes as passions consume you.
[00:06:53] I'm sure many of us can relate to having a sibling that has taken something from us, or bothered us, or hit us, or annoyed us in some other way. How often have you immediately wanted to get him back or get her back. How often do you plot revenge over them? This is a simple way that we can probably all have memories of doing this with our siblings.
[00:07:17] See, this command doesn't only apply in very serious and dire occasions with wrath, it applies to your everyday life when you respond in anger to someone else instead of exercising mercy and patience.
[00:07:32] So really it applies all the time. Now, one of the more difficult aspects of this is that we just are completely ruled by passions. Far too often if we examine our lives, and if you do now, I trust that you will notice more places the more you look that you are driven by your passions, by uncontrollable emotion.
[00:07:57] Passions are difficult. They come over us quickly. They don't give a warning. It is your knee jerk reaction to being wronged. I feel this sometimes, even when my wife might even bother me in some way, whether she really is doing anything wrong or not. I feel immediately sometimes a passion that I am upset.
[00:08:27] And now this is a terrible reaction.
[00:08:30] We can easily downplay this, like, oh, well, that got on my nerves. No, this is sin. That is sin. When we do that I should never have or act on such feelings. Instead, when we experience these quick knee jerk reactions and sin, we need to slow down and pray. We need to take a moment to consider where we are and then God can help us to avoid acting on sinful passions.
[00:09:03] Another difficult aspect is that wrathfulness doesn't have to be violent.
[00:09:11] We've already kind of seen this through the examples I've given, but I think often we assume that wrath is violence. We can be wrathful in many, many ways.
[00:09:22] Someone named Jonathan Akin, he writes, some people respond to an insult from someone else by crafting a great comeback. Some lash out by gossiping about others.
[00:09:39] People try to get even by constantly bringing up the past wrongs done to them and refusing to let them go.
[00:09:47] Some just blow up in a fury and lose their temper by saying things they should not say and do not really mean.
[00:09:55] So as I read that, are any of those ringing a bell? Are any of those ways that you show wrathfulness? Do you show wrath by having a witty comeback and always having the last word? Do you show wrath by gossiping or slandering? Do you show wrath by blowing up or bringing up past wrongs and never truly letting go, even when you say you've forgiven someone?
[00:10:22] These are all ways in which we are wrathful every day.
[00:10:29] But look, merely preventing yourself from acting on these sinful passions, which is, is a great goal that we should do it's not even what's being said in this verse. If you look, we read, do not say I will repay evil.
[00:10:47] The sin occurs in your heart first, even before the evil is repaid. Saying, expressing the desire to repay is sin.
[00:11:01] So the moment that I might become irritated at somebody, I am in the wrong no matter what they've done.
[00:11:09] The moment when you beware revenge over your sibling, you sin. When someone takes a dirty shot at you in a sport and you think of ways, I'm going to hit him back.
[00:11:19] That even is sin. We should not seek wrath even in our hearts. That's where it all springs from.
[00:11:29] And so keep a close watch over your actions, but keep a closer watch over your heart.
[00:11:37] This is the spring from which all of our actions and our words flow.
[00:11:43] We must do this. And we must, as the verse says, wait on the Lord and truth that he will deliver us.
[00:11:52] We do not need to exact our own revenge and exercise wrath. We don't need to even crave that in our heart. We should wait on the Lord in faith.
[00:12:05] Point number two.
[00:12:07] Don't rejoice over wrath. So don't seek wrath, but don't even rejoice over it.
[00:12:15] Flip over a couple Pages to Proverbs 24, Proverbs 24, 17, 18.
[00:12:27] Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.
[00:12:40] Don't rejoice over wrath. Sometimes you might find yourself able to withstand these selfish passions. And sometimes, though not always, you will see the wicked fall, your enemy fall.
[00:12:54] But even then, what we're learning is you ought not gloat over them.
[00:13:00] You ought not rejoice over this. And in a lot of ways, I think this might be more difficult.
[00:13:08] It doesn't happen as often in my experience, but it might be more difficult to not glory and rejoice over an enemy's failure.
[00:13:22] But now we should remember that there are many passages of Scripture which maybe appear to do this, though not actually do this. Look at Psalm. Or just listen as I read Psalm 109. Just a few verses from Psalm 109.
[00:13:40] He says, Appoint a wicked man against him that is an enemy. Let an accuser stand at his right hand when he is tried. Let him come forth guilty. Let his prayer be counted as sin. May his days be few. May another take his office. May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
[00:14:04] Those are very serious, very serious words. How can the psalmist say these things when we're told to not rejoice over wrath toward the wicked.
[00:14:18] First, Proverbs is prohibiting something specific, I believe. I think it's prohibiting a prideful gloating over the fall of the wicked.
[00:14:29] God finds such gloating morally repulsive.
[00:14:34] So much so that in verse 18 of our passage here, we see that the Lord would rather turn his wrath away from the wicked. When he sees people pridefully gloating over their fall, he would rather turn away altogether because ultimately it's his justice, his wrath to be exercised, not yours to gloat over.
[00:14:58] Second, Psalm 109 is trusting God in the end to perform justice. Though he asks for justice in these specific ways, he is also trusting that God would do it in his own way and timing. He says in Psalm 109, with my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord. I will praise him in the midst of the throng. His worship is not dependent on God doing exactly as he desires to his enemies. He will worship and glorify God no matter what, because he trusts and knows that God will in the end be proven just and righteous.
[00:15:41] Third, Psalm 109 is also foretelling something very specific.
[00:15:47] It's foretelling the destiny of Judas Iscariot, the betrayer. See Acts 1:20 quotes 1 of these verses, and it also quotes Psalm 69, which is another very similar Psalm.
[00:16:02] And Acts 1:20 says, for it is written in the book of Psalms, may his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it, and let another take his office. So they replaced him.
[00:16:17] So Psalm 109 is pointing to this betrayal, this wicked of all wicked betrayals, this infinitely horrific betrayal of the Lord Jesus. And Psalm 69 also points to Jesus.
[00:16:33] This Psalm, very similar to 109, points to Jesus. After Jesus cleanses the temple from greedy people, in John 2 we read, his disciples remembered that it was written, the rule for your house will consume me. So why am I pointing out these connections between wrathfulness, revenge, and these imprecatory psalms praying for justice and judgment towards the wicked?
[00:17:00] We must be careful that we do not have a heart that gloats over the fall of evil people, but glories in God's justice and his timing.
[00:17:12] If you're ever to pray for wickedness to be judged, you must be certain that this person is the wicked. Remember, one of these psalms is pointing forward to Judas Iscariot.
[00:17:27] Are you willing to bet that the person you are at war against is as wicked as Judas Iscariot?
[00:17:37] We must let God decide their fate and trust him now, there are times where wicked people fall or die and we can soberly praise God.
[00:17:52] Recently, for example, Cecile Richards died.
[00:17:58] You may not know who that is. She was the president of planned parenthood for 12 years.
[00:18:04] In a news article I read, I read this quote. I don't know the deepest motivations of her heart, but I know she has helped usher in indescribable evil via her corporation's slaughter of nearly 4 million babies.
[00:18:22] During her tenure as president, she also denied Planned Parenthood's cover up of child sexual abuse, its Medicaid fraud and its sale of baby body parts. Her work has led to incredible human suffering and destruction.
[00:18:40] I would argue we can thank God for justice done, that people will be saved by someone's passing.
[00:18:49] But we must examine ourselves first, even in these cases, and pray that we might not gloat, but lift up God and glorify him for the justice he brings.
[00:19:02] And this is where the Proverbs are now leading us. We don't seek wrath. We don't gloat and rejoice over the fall of others.
[00:19:12] Our third point, we trust in God's wrath.
[00:19:17] Trust in God's wrath.
[00:19:23] Going to turn a few more Pages to Proverbs 29 and look at verse 8, Proverbs 29. Eight scoffers set a city aflame. But the wise turn away wrath.
[00:19:40] The wise turn away wrath.
[00:19:43] By the power of Christ, knowing Him, and by faith in Christ, you can be wise and turn away wrath.
[00:19:51] Instead of striking down his captors and the guards that whipped and murdered him, Jesus Christ showed no wrath toward them in that moment.
[00:20:05] And as we trust in Christ, we can follow that example.
[00:20:11] He shows no wrath towards his oppressors. Instead, radically this Jesus became the receiver of divine wrath. He was the receiver of wrath. Though innocent, God poured out his wrath on his only Son. And thus all who have faith in him have had their sins laid out on his shoulders and burned up in that wrath that he endured.
[00:20:39] So your sins, if you trust in Christ, have been paid for already.
[00:20:43] There's no wrath to come for you. There's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. It's been paid. There is no more wrath reserved for you because Christ took it already. And God is not unjust. He doesn't pour wrath out on the same sin twice.
[00:21:02] Therefore, you can trust in God's wrath because he's holy and righteous and just.
[00:21:10] Further, God's wrath brings a number of benefits to us, to us in Christ, I should say. First, God's Wrath protects us from needing to seek revenge.
[00:21:25] We don't need to be the executioners of judgment. We don't need to.
[00:21:31] And remember that this is a marvelous truth. As people so easily driven and controlled by our passions, we can rest and trust that Christ has it in his hands.
[00:21:44] The Lord says, vengeance is mine. I will repay.
[00:21:49] Whereas we would sin in exacting vengeance. God is able to exact vengeance without any measure of sin, no mixture of it. And so trust him with your oppressions and afflictions.
[00:22:04] Trust him with your life.
[00:22:07] The remedy to our passions, according to Charles Bridges, is in humility and faith. Lay our matters before the Lord, put them in his hands, wait on him, and he shall save us.
[00:22:24] Revenge rises only because we have no faith.
[00:22:30] I'll say that again. Revenge rises only because we have no faith. For did we believe that God would take up our cause. Should we not leave ourselves implicitly in his hands, Be satisfied with his management?
[00:22:45] So be humble and have faith in Jesus Christ, the perfect judge. Lay your troubles in his hands and trust him.
[00:22:54] When you seek wrath yourself, you're revealing a lack of faith every time, even in those small cases. Remember the gossiping or the bringing up past things, or having comebacks, having the last word, even in small ways. When we show wrath, we reveal a lack of faith.
[00:23:15] The second benefit of God's wrath is that God's wrath repays evil and compensates the righteous. In our first verse, we read Proverbs 20:22. It is said that if one waits for the Lord, he will deliver you. And the Lord says, I will repay evil.
[00:23:36] We can trust that God will repay evil. He's not going to let sin go by without being paid. There will not be one sin that is not punished by God's wrath. If you don't truly believe in the gospel, then you bear your own sins. They're laid on your back and God's wrath will burn them up. But if you're found in Jesus, and as we said before, he has already borne them, he is satisfied. God's wrath against those sins on behalf of you out of love.
[00:24:11] And not only can we trust that God will repay evil, we can trust that God will deliver us in Christ.
[00:24:19] Whatever loss or injury or oppression you endure will be more than made up in an eternity of bliss. In the presence of our God, all of this goes away.
[00:24:31] It will be repaid eternally.
[00:24:35] Third benefit. God's wrath rights wrongs eternally.
[00:24:40] God's wrath rights wrongs eternally. If you try to get revenge, at best, it lasts for a lifetime.
[00:24:48] God's revenge is eternal. His justice is forever.
[00:24:53] Fourth benefit God's wrath reminds us that all sins are done against Him.
[00:25:00] His wrath reminds us all sins are done against Him.
[00:25:04] See, you don't have a right to seek revenge for the wrongs done against you, because ultimately those wrongs are done against God.
[00:25:14] You too are a sinful human. It's arrogant and prideful to think that we deserve favorable treatment. It's arrogant and prideful to assume that we must have revenge if we are wronged.
[00:25:26] You too are a sinner who sins against holy, righteous God.
[00:25:32] We don't deserve any special treatment. We don't deserve special comfort. We don't deserve any special happiness. We don't deserve anything necessarily good that we might desire. Not even Christ, God's own Son, lived without suffering.
[00:25:48] In fact, his sufferings paved the way for hours.
[00:25:52] In Christ you will suffer.
[00:25:56] But we must remember that our oppressions are not against us, it is against our Lord.
[00:26:03] 1 Peter 2:19 23 says, for this is a gracious thing when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.
[00:26:17] For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?
[00:26:24] But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure. This is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
[00:26:56] We endure suffering because Christ did and he didn't deserve it.
[00:27:02] He entrusted himself to him who judges justly. Ought we not entrust ourselves to the good and perfect Judge even when we are reviled and when we suffer, God's wrath reminds us that all sins are done against Him. The fourth benefit God's wrath allows us to rely on his wisdom. God's wrath allows us to rely on his wisdom.
[00:27:33] He gives us the luxury of just needing to trust Him.
[00:27:38] It is simple. You just trust him. Trust in and lean on God's wisdom and his understanding.
[00:27:48] Proverbs 3 Remember, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways. Acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3, 5, 6 Trust in and lean on God's wisdom and understanding.
[00:28:05] That is the key.
[00:28:08] In Romans 12:16, 21 gives us some more insight. Paul writes, never be Wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all, if possible, so far as it depends on you. Live peaceably with all, beloved. Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine I will repay, says the Lord to the contrary. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
[00:28:58] Never be wise in your own sight. Is this not one of the major themes of Proverbs? Do not be wise in your own sight. Seek Christ, who is the wisdom of God. When your wisdom fails. This means that we will avoid seeking vengeance because vengeance belongs to God, it doesn't belong to us.
[00:29:20] Instead, we should do what Paul instructs. Here. In this passage, he actually quotes from Proverbs 25, 21, 22, which says, if your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink. For you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.
[00:29:40] Show radical love because Jesus did.
[00:29:45] You might wonder when you read that verse, why would we want to heap burning coals on somebody's head? Out of love? And I think that's a fair question. I don't think that is necessarily what I would do is literally heap burning coals on someone's head.
[00:30:02] But here's what this means.
[00:30:04] When you return love for someone's hate, you bring naturally shame to them.
[00:30:13] And shame can be used by God for good purposes.
[00:30:18] Now we want to talk about shame a lot. I hear a lot of talk about shame and avoiding shame and trying to flee from shame. And this can be good. But to a large extent, shame is natural when we do something wrong, because God built us this way. When we dishonor him and dishonor his beloved creatures made in his image, it is normal for us to be ashamed of that, because that's wrong.
[00:30:45] And God can use these negative feelings to drive people to Christ. So the kindness shown to the oppressor will bring him shame. But that shame just might help him realize that he should turn to Christ.
[00:31:01] It might be that tipping point, or just another. Another notch in the right direction. So when we return love, when we are hated, we do this because we want everyone, even our enemies, to know and love Christ and to be delivered from their sins.
[00:31:19] So trust in God's righteous wrath. Don't rejoice over his wrath towards others. Don't seek it out yourself. As we said earlier, wrath belongs to God. So we should avoid pursuing and enjoying wrath towards others.
[00:31:36] Trust in the wisdom and righteousness of God. And if you're sitting there now realizing that you actually deserve such wrath, you feel shame for your sin. I invite you to turn away from your sins and your pride and trust in Jesus Christ who bore God's wrath for sinners. Trust him in faith. Now let's pray.
[00:32:02] Father God, we praise you for your justice and your righteousness. Lord, we trust that you are just and the justifier God. We pray that you would grant those in the room that don't know you faith that they would turn to you today, turn from their sins and trust you. God, help us to see reveal to us all the ways in which we are wrathful in our day to day life.
[00:32:29] Convict us of this. God give us shame even when we feel this, that we can know that something is not right. Drive us to the cross. Drive us to confession and holiness. O God and Lord, may our friends in the church be helpers to us in this manner. God, we pray and ask that we would trust your wrath to do what you would have it do. That justice would ultimately be done as you see fit. We pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.
