Keep Current

Outline

1. Be Honest

2. Keep Current

3. Attack the Problem and Not the Person

4. Act, Don’t React

Proverbs 26:23-26 (NET) - Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart. The one who hates others disguises it with his lips, but he stores up deceit within him. When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations within him. Though his hatred may be concealed by deceit, his evil will be uncovered in the assembly. For there are seven abominations in his heart.

POINT: Undealt with anger eventually destroys the angry one and those with whom they are angry

If there is someone in your life with whom you…

• Are rehearsing that individual’s real or perceived wrongs against you…
• Have developed a view of that individual in which all the individual’s behavior is seen from a negative perspective – you are unwilling to see any good in the person…you are completely right and they are completely wrong...
• Are imagining the day when that person receives some form of payback…
• Have an unwillingness to pray for that person…
• An unwillingness to do meaningful good to the other person…
• You are regularly tempted to, or do gossip about that person and receive gossip about the person…
• You add each subsequent real or perceived wrong, and slanderous comments about that person to a list of wrongs…
• Are behaving awkwardly around the person or avoiding the person…

…then please consider the possibility that you are resentful and have undealt with anger

3 actions to deal with anger that facilitate growth and unity in the body of Christ

I. Be Righteously Angry

“Be angry and do not sin”

A. God is angry

Psalm 7:11 - God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day.

Psalm 2:4-5 - He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury…

B. Christ manifested anger

Mark 3:5 - After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

Mark 10:13-14 - And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

C. Paul manifested anger

Acts 17:16 - Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked (“roused to anger”) within him as he was observing the city full of idols.

2 Corinthians 7:9-11 - I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

Descriptions of righteous anger:

• A passionate, active, moral response of the entire person to a perceived wrong or injustice (FBCM notes)
• Anger is the capacity to be roused to action by the sight of evil. It’s put into us by God. It’s part of being in His image. Therefore, it is a precious thing. (Tim Keller paraphrasing Martin Lloyd Jones)
• Anger is a powerful emotion. But its power to motivate must be used, not abused. This motivating power is used properly when it drives one to begin to rectify any wrong situation between brethren as quickly as possible. It is used biblically when it impels one to become reconciled to his brother immediately. (Jay Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manual)
• (Anger) …should be released under control to destroy problems, not people. (Jay Adams, The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, 394)

Implications:

• Anger is destructive energy (Proverbs 10:12; 20:2; 27:3-4; 29:4) – energy released in defense of something and to attack something
• Anger itself is not sinful, the expression of it can be sinful (quick, uncontrolled) or righteous (slow and controlled)
• It’s your duty to be righteously angry
• Suppression of anger is sinful
• What you are angry about is an indication of what you love
• If you are never angry, you are a lot less like Jesus

II. Solve Problems Quickly

“Do not let the sun go down on your anger”

Matthew 5:21-24 - You have heard that the ancients were told, “You shall not commit murder” and “Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, “You good-for-nothing,” shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, “You fool,” shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

Questions to ask yourself as you prepare to communicate quickly to solve problems biblically:

1. Do I have the facts right?

Proverbs 18:13 - He who gives an answer before he hears, it is folly and shame to him.

2. Should love cover it? Is the offense a possible clear pattern of sin and hindering the individual’s growth?

Proverbs 19:11 - A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.

3. Is my timing right?

Proverbs 15:23 - A man has joy in an apt answer, and how delightful is a timely word!

4. Is my attitude right? Are my words thought through and loving? Am I trying to help the other person?

Ephesians 4:15 - …but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ…

5. Have I prayed for God's help?

James 1:5 - But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

III. Love Instead of Resent

“And do not give the devil an opportunity”

A. Sinful anger destroys self and people (satanic)

B. Loving, righteous anger seeks to destroy that which is destroying people

I was two years old when Jay Adam published Competent to Counsel in 1970.

Three years later Jay published, The Christian Counselor’s Manual.

Dr. Jay Adam was the pioneer of the modern biblical counseling movement.

And as I mentioned in my previous sermon recently, his influence through Faith’s former senior pastor, Dr. Bill Goode, and Dr. Bob Smith helped shaped Faith’s heritage of Biblical Counseling.

As you read these books, you will find what I think are the original embryonic forms of what Faith teaches today as the four rules of communication

1. Be Honest
2. Keep Current
3. Attack the Problem and Not the Person
4. Act, Don’t React.

The rules are not stated exactly that way in the books, but you can see very easily how they came to be in their form we teach today.

As I was preparing for this sermon, I looked back and read the sections related to our topic today.

Jay Adam gives in the Christian Counselor’s Manual what was then, a relatively current example of a tragedy that we find all too common today.

This is an extreme example…but it is the end of the path of what we are talking about today.

In the year before I was born, 1967, a man by the name of Leo Held went on a resentful rage and killed several individuals.

Time Magazine most vividly told the story of “The Revolt of Leo Held”:

There was almost nothing in Leo Held’s life that could have presaged the end of it. Held, 40, a burly (6-foot, 200 pounds), balding lab technician at Lockhaven, Pennsylvania, paper mill, had been a School Board member, Boy Scout leader, secretary of a Fire Brigade, church-goer, and affectionate father. Certainly he bickered occasionally with his neighbors, drove too aggressively over the hilly highways between his Loganton home and the mill, and sometimes fretted about the job that he held for 19 years.

But to most of his neighbors and co-workers he was a paragon of a responsible, respectable citizen. That image was shattered in a well-planned hour of bloodshed when Held decided to mount a one-man revolt against the world he feared and resented. After seeing his wife off to work and their children to school, Held, a proficient marksman, pocketed two pistols, a .45 automatic and a Smith and Weston. 38 and drove his station wagon to the mill.

Parking carefully, he gripped a gun in each fist and stalked into the plant. And he started shooting with a calculated frenzy that filled his fellow-worker victims with two and three bullets apiece, at least 30 shots in all … A hastily formed posse found him in his doorway armed and snarling defiance, “Come and get me; I’m not taking any more of their bull.”

Leo was killed in a shootout with the police.

[This was back in 1967…how many times have we seen this repeated in our day today.?]

Time magazine goes on to report…

… Puzzled officials discovered a tenuous chain of logic behind his actions. [One lady] had quit a car pool, complaining of Held’s driving; many victims at the paper plant were in authority over him or had been promoted while he had not. Held … had feuded {with a neighbor] over smoke from burning leaves.… Held’s stolid surface had massed truculent resentment and rage …

At some points during the unfolding discussion about Held, the question comes up was he mentally sick.

Whether or not Time magazine was intentionally attempting to answer this question or not, the caption under a picture in the article said, “responsible, respectable-and resentful.”

Jay Adams’ and others’ analysis was that Leo Held was filled with undealt with resentment—to the extreme.

While outwardly Leo Held seemed respectable and responsible, something was burning within only to surface in unspeakable violence.

He was an example of not necessarily mental illness, but of how undealt with problems can lead one to intense hatred.

Before there was a DSM about mental illness, the Scriptures said

Proverbs 26:23–26 (NET) Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart. The one who hates others disguises it with his lips, but he stores up deceit within him. When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations within him. Though his hatred may be concealed by deceit, his evil will be uncovered in the assembly. For there are seven abominations in his heart.

POINT: Undealt with anger eventually destroys the angry one and those with whom they are angry.

Faith friends, I know that none of you here today are literally mass murderers.

However, all of us are potential mass murderers and spiritual mass murders in our hearts because of our struggles with unresolved sinful anger.

This is why Christ could say to the Pharisees, who were not literal murderers at the time, “You have heard that it was said, “Thou shall not commit murder, but I say to you, everyone who is angry (sinfully so) with his brother shall be guilty”.

Apart from the redeeming and transforming power of Jesus Christ, we kill our neighbors in our hearts and minds on a regular basis.

But there is a redeeming, and thorough way to deal with your anger and also bring about unity in the Body of Christ

So, before we turn to Scripture

If there is someone in your life with whom you…

• Are rehearsing that individual’s real or perceived wrongs against you…
• Have developed a view of that individual in which all the individual’s behavior is seen from a negative perspective—you are unwilling to see any good in the person…you are completely right and they are completely wrong...
• Are imagining the day when that person receives some form of payback…

Your happiness is dependent upon their unhappiness.. you are rooting for the day they get theirs…

• Have an unwillingness to pray for that person…
• An unwillingness to do meaningful good to the other person…
• You are regularly tempted to, or, do gossip about that person and receive gossip about the person…
• You add each subsequent real or perceived wrong, and slanderous comments about that person to a list of wrongs…
• Are behaving awkwardly around the person or avoiding the person…

…then please consider the possibility that you are resentful and have undealt with anger.

Today let’s look for healing together.

Turn in your bibles to Eph 4:17–27, on page 152 in the back section of the bible in the chair in front of you

Our church’s theme this year is Building on Our Heritage

We are progressing through the book of Ephesians.

And we are at the point in our study where Paul is pointing out all the practical implications that come from all that Christ has done.

We have come to the point in our Ephesians study where the apostle Paul is bringing to the forefront one of the major concerns that he wants to highlight among those at the church of Ephesus.

That concern is one of unity among the saints at Ephesus.

Our world today, not different than the world back then, is plagued with a kind of humanity that has a manner of conduct….

• in C.S. Lewis’s words is “perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where every one has a grievance and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance and resentment.”

And all of this leads to division and separation..in the extreme murderous violence.

God through was creating a new type of humanity in the church…one that solves problems and does not stuff them only to explode someday destroying self and others….

And when the world would look at this new man, who deals with problems in ways that edify, they say…

• “What is this…?
• This is something I have not seen before?
• This is unlike me…
• How are you able to be like this…
• and the response would be, let me tell you about the man who was angry but turned that anger into redemptive grace that saved me….

So, follow along in Eph 4:17

17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,

18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,

21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

24 and put on the new self, which ⁱn the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.

Today we are developing Communication that Unifies — Part 2—Keep Current

Proposition: Three actions to deal with anger that facilitate growth and unity in the body of Christ

The first action is

I. Be Righteously Angry

“Be angry and do not sin”

This is a very surprising statement for a teacher of a major world religion…

You might think that the apostle Paul would say, do not be angry.

Or, you might think that the Christian faith, being meek, gentle and asking its adherence to be lowly would forbid anger, teach passivity, and a Zen quietness of soul by which nothing could ever arouse you.

Certainly in Paul’s days like ours, there were teachers (like the stoics) who would call anger a vice and attempt to teach students not to be angry.

But this is not Christianity….

And this is not God..

God is angry

Psalm 7:11 God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day.

Psalm 2:4-5 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. ⁵Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury….

Christ manifested anger

Mark 3:5 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

Mark 10:13-14 And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

Paul manifested anger

Acts 17:16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked (“roused to anger”) within him as he was observing the city full of idols.

2 Corinthians 7:9-11 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. … ¹¹For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

Why would the scriptures and authentic Christianity NOT forbid anger?

If it did, Scriptures would have to forbid love as well!

For anger is what is aroused when you deeply love something that is threatened. And you are roused to action in order to defend that something and destroy that which is harming that which you love.

What is threatened that you love

and you become angry about is what you love…

If you don’t love then you will never become angry

Furthermore, what you become angry about tells a lot about what you love….

There is no better example of this then a parent who sees a child threatened with actual harm and is provoked to defend the child with his or her own life and then seek for justice for the attacker of that child.

Descriptions of righteous anger:

• · A passionate, active, moral response of the entire person to a perceived wrong or injustice- FBCM notes

• · Anger is the capacity to be roused to action by the sight of evil. It’s put into us by God. It’s part of being in His image. Therefore, it is a precious thing. -Tim Keller paraphrasing Martin Lloyd Jones

• Anger is a powerful emotion. But its power to motivate must be used, not abused. This motivating power is used properly when it drives one to begin to rectify any wrong situation between brethren as quickly as possible. It is used biblically when it impels one to become reconciled to his brother immediately. – Jay Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manual

• · (Anger) …should be released under control to destroy problems, not people. -Jay Adams, The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, 394

Implications:

• · Anger is destructive energy (Prov 10:12; 20:2; 27:3-4; 29:4)—energy released in defense of something and to attack something

Proverbs 10:12 says, Hatred stirs up strife

20:2 says…the terror of a king is like the growling of a lion; he who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life,

Prov 27:3…a stone is heavy…but the provocation of a fool is heavier …wrath is fierce and anger is a flood

Point anger is by designed meant to be destructive….

That is why Paul says, Be angry but don’t sin in that anger

Anger is not the same as other responses….you have never heard the scriptures say..

Be joyful…but don’t sin

Or be glad…but sure you do not become too glad and cross the line into sinning….

Be angry and do not sin….anger is meant to destroy…

• · Anger itself is not sinful, the expression of it can be sinful (quick, uncontrolled) or righteous (slow and controlled)

• · It’s your duty to be righteously angry

Are there things to defend?

Are there things to attack and destroy? yes

Thus…

• · Suppression of anger is sinful

• · What you are angry about is an indication of what you love

And this is one of the ways we determine if our anger is righteous or sinful…is it primarily all about loving me and my rights or love God, His righteousness, and people and being so concerned about injustice and what destroys people that I am moved to action,….

• · If you are never angry, you are lot less like Jesus.

The first action—Be righteously angry

The second action…

II. Solve Problems Quickly

“Do not let the sun go down on your anger”

How many hours are there in a day? 24

How many of those are you sleeping? 8

That means that in the 16 hours you have left you are conducting your daily affairs,

Daily affairs inevitably involve people.

Once you involve your self with people what can potentially happen every day in those 16 hours..

Conflict, injustice, hurt, pain, unkindness….every day….

And in conflict, injustice, hurt, pain, unkindness….every day….there is the possibility of anger every day….

How often does the sun set? Every day.

So how often are human relationship in danger of falling out of repair? Every Day….

God is creating a new kind of humanity that does something unheard of ….I will look at my day and my people interactions…knowing full well every day I get up…there is the potential for problems….and every day….I will seek redemptively reconciliation with my

Spouse

My child

My friend

My church

My co-worker

My boss

What kind of people actually go and solve problems…the kind of people with whom God has solved their ultimate problem of sin….

God’s people, those who have been reconciled to God, are to be a quickly reconciling people….

Marked by unity and harmony….and the opposite of unity and harmony is not necessary divisive but in the extreme is murder….

Notice how Jesus ties all of this together….

Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. 23“Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

Murder results from unresolved and undealt with problems.

Murder destroys someone else.

But the attitude behind it….anger of self-exaltation over another destroys the holder of the selfish anger—guilty enough to go into fiery hell….

Settle your matters before they become murderous….

Jesus’ equivalent to “do not let the sun go down” is “Leave your offering there at the altar….first go be reconciled…”

Jesus statement is almost ridiculous why….

How many alters were there in Israel at which God’s people were to present their gifts? One…at Jerusalem…

So think about it if you have traveled by foot for days from a remote part of the land of Israel and come to the alter to present a gift…Jesus says…leave it there and go back to be reconciled…then come back and present your offering…

What? He is asking me to travel back and then travel again to the alter…yes.

It does matter how inconvenient it is…what is most important is the repair of relationships….

Reconciliation is more important than an act of worshipping God…in fact reconciliation is a sign of love and worshipping God because it is like God—reconciliation and the dealing with potential sin that separates.

“Do not let the sun go down on your anger” provides a divine and redemptive calendar to handle offenses, injustices, evils….

Questions to ask yourself as you prepare to communicate quickly to solve problems biblically.

Do I have the facts right?

Proverbs 18:13 He who gives an answer before he hears, It is folly and shame to him.

As you go are you open to listening to a different version of the story then what is playing in your head to determine if your thoughts and conclusions are correct.

Should love cover it? Is the offense a possible clear pattern of sin and hindering the individual’s growth?

Prov 19:11A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.

With a particular behavior or action….assuming you are looking to the need of the person, the behavior may not be the clearest example, or a concerning pattern that should be dealt with at this time….

Third,

3. Is my timing right?

Proverbs 15:23 A man has joy in an apt answer, And how delightful is a timely word!

But it has to be before the sun goes down right….?

Often some problems can not be solved immediately, but your anger must be channeled into trust in the Lord over an issue, and plan to resolve before going to bed with your anger….

4. Is my attitude right? Are my words thought through and loving? Am I trying to help the other person?

Ephesians 4:15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,

Tim Keller in a sermon pointed out that the only tool outside of faithful prayer that God has given you and me to help one another to mature….the only tool…is singular…speak the truth in love

And as I go….

5. Have I prayed for God's help?

James 1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Murder results from unresolved and undealt with problems

Settle your matters before they become murderous….

Now, let me do a bit of application to husbands and wives here first.

I’m going to start with the wife. Wives, perhaps you have been of the disposition that if I just keep quiet, my husband’s unkind, forcefully coercive, manipulative, and demanding actions will change if I just keep my head down.

I want to exhort you to rethink this. You should be angry at what his sin is doing to his relationship first with God, then to his own soul, and then to you and the family….

You should be most concerned about your husband’s soul which moves you to speak the truth in love to your husband

THIS IS A HARD ASK - I KNOW THAT. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO GET THE HELP AND SUPPORT YOU NEED TO STRENGTHEN YOU TO BE ABLE TO LOVE HIM IN THIS WAY.

And if he is sinning and does not repent, then get help from the pastors and deacons of the church.

Anger over the sin in the husband that is destroying him and others….should move you to appropriate action.

Husbands, now let me speak with you, if you have a wife who is not concerned about the things of the Lord.

Your concern for the account she will give at the judgement seat of Christ should motivate you to speak the truth in love to her.

But in your leadership position, you do not have authority to enforce your direction you provide.

Please note, that God has given

• the state the sword of justice to wield.
• God has given the church, the tool of church discipline,
• God has given parents, the tool of correction….

…but there is no tool that God has given you to enforce your guidance upon your wife. Your first goal should be to love her in her sin like Christ loved you….Your gentleness, your wisdom, your servant leadership should be clearly evident.

AND YOUR WINSOMENESS SHOULD BE WHAT DRAWS HER TO HEAR AND FOLLOW YOU.

And if your wife persists in sin, you should speak to the pastors and deacons….

Seek to solve problems quickly…otherwise death results with resentment….

Divorce is ultimately the death of a marriage and always results from the hardness of heart of one or both marriage partners….

[apply to Parents/kids]

[apply to Church members]

[apply to workers]

Settle matters quickly before things become murderous spiritually, or ultimately physically…

Finally….

III. Love Instead of Resent

“And do not give the devil an opportunity”

You may wonder where did this third point come from?

Going to bed with your unresolved anger means going to bed with the devil….

Anger is a destructive energy meant to destroy problems and sin….

Because of its quality of destruction, going to bed with it unresolved…allows the devil a foothold in your life…allows you to get in bed with the devil….

The phrase giving “the devil an opportunity” is speaking about what our adversary loves to see among people—resentment, divisiveness, and ultimately people being consumed, destroyed, alienated, oppressed, murdered…..

Problems not solved are problems festering in which bitterness and resentment creep up and in.

Sinful anger destroys self and people (satanic)

This is the story of the world without redemption, transformation epitomized by Leo Held and the countless numbers of violence that have followed Leo that actually goes back to Cain and Able

Instead

Loving, righteous anger seeks to destroy that which is destroying people

Folks, how has God used His anger?

What has God done for us?

In God’s anger regarding sin, what did he do?

At the same time, in God’s love for His people what has he done?

He has used that anger to destroy and consume that which was destroying His people—sin.

He provided the satisfaction of His own wrath and bearing that anger upon himself, in Jesus Christ on the cross and thereby, providing the solution for that which separated us from Him.

God has not remained in heaven resenting you….but in his anger has loved you and provided solution to the problem so that He and His people may be reconciled.

He has done in his love what was best for our souls..

Unbeliever: Gospel Appeal

Believer: Application of the Gospel

Tell me…out of this love for us…will you and I do what is best for the soul of another, in our anger, will we be quick to solve problems and be reconciled

Can you imagine a marriage where husband and wife problems are solved regularly, each one humbling looking at their own sin and repenting, on that foundation, what can two do together for the cause of Christ…

Can you imagine a church body that is not filled with division, turmoil, spiritual murder, but is unifying imagine how God can use that body for the cause of Christ……..the reason I think God has used Faith in many ways to impact our community…solving problems biblically.

Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. You may have a great struggle with yourself. But do not rest until you have settled it. You may have to argue it backwards and forwards. Go on I say until you have realized the love of God in Christ to you. Until you have seen Christ bleeding and dying on the cross that you might be forgiven. Dwell on him until it melts your heart until you forgive freely. Then get into your bed and put your head down on the pillow and sleep the sleep of the just. Because you have a right to do so and you will be doing it as the son of God himself did it. You will have acted in your life and in your domain as God acted toward you. -David Martin Llyod Jones https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/book-of-ephesians/sinful-and-righteous-anger/