0:13 Would you turn your Bibles with me to Genesis chapter 4. Genesis chapter 4. We know the story here in this passage 0:35 that Cain and Abel went to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. And we read here that Cain brought an offering. It's not just the 0:55 best, but just an offering to the Lord, the fruit of the ground. And Abel on his part also brought the firstlings of his flock. This is the firstlings that he brings, not just an offering. And 1:14 of the fat portions, and the Lord regarded had regard for Abel and his offering. But for Cain and for his offering, he had no regard. So, Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. 1:33 The same passage says in reads like this in the Living Bible that verse, but um This made Cain both dejected and very angry, and his face grew dark with fury. 1:52 Many people think that even I also for a number of years thought that because Cain brought vegetables and Abel brought lamb, the fat portions of the lamb 2:12 God had regard for it as as if God is non-vegetarian. And we know that even in the book of Leviticus God accepts grain offering and so on. So, it's not because Abel brought um 2:31 animal sacrifice and Cain brought just fruit of the land. But if we read it carefully you'll understand that first of all, God had regard for Abel and for his offering. 2:50 That's number one. God had regard for Abel first and then his offering. So also, God didn't have regard for Cain and then he didn't have regard for his offering. So, that is very important. It is not 3:07 the offering that the Lord accepted, but it is the man first and then he accepted the offering. And it says that he became very um sad 3:24 angry. His face grew dark with fury, it says. You know, whenever whenever we get angry, the same thing happens to us, too. There won't be any cheer on our face, no smile on our face, but that you know, scowl 3:44 and that dark knotted face furious-looking face. People can make out that this man is something wrong with him by looking at your face. Like some people say face is the index of a man's heart. 4:03 So, when you look at a person's face, you know whether the fellow is composed and calm and quiet or is all disturbed and agitated inside. So, anger is something that I would like to speak upon this morning. 4:22 Anger is not just a feeling, although it is a feeling. It is not just a feeling, it is also like the Bible says, it is one of the deeds of the flesh. Anger is one of the deeds of the flesh. 4:39 And a person who gets you angry conquers you. Like somebody said, anger is temporary madness. And that is true. When we are angry, we speak something and we regret about it later on. 4:59 And we will have to apologize for that. Like somebody said when you are angry, go home and speak. That's the best sermon that you can give which you will regret the rest of your life. I mean, not that you should give a sermon when you are angry, but 5:16 you will regret about it the rest of your life. That you will think about the consequence of your anger. And here this anger that produced in Cain ultimately made him a murderer. 5:35 That's why Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, he who is angry with his brother is like a murderer. Anger is like murder. Murder begins Now, the next passage you see here, I mean next verse you see in verse six, the Lord said to 5:55 Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your face fallen? Or why has your countenance fallen?" And the Lord gives a solution here to Cain. He says, "If you do well, or in another translation it says, "If 6:14 you intend well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door." You know what is crouching? You seen um Discovery in Discovery Channel, Animal 6:33 Planet, and Nat Geo, and all these wild animals, specially these big cats, lions, tigers, leopards, how when they have to catch a prey, they ambush. They don't they don't face them head on. They ambush and hide. 6:53 And then they crouch to the ground. And then they don't make any noise, come crawling close to the prey. It may be a deer or whatever. Comes close and then pounces on it and kills it. That is what 7:12 the word is used here. Sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is for you, but you must master it. See, in the first book, the fourth chapter itself, the Lord said, "You must master sin. You must conquer. You must be a conqueror. Don't 7:30 let sin conquer you and make you its slave. But you conquer it. And we need to take this matter of anger very seriously, brothers and sisters. If we don't take this seriously, 7:49 we will continue in that, and we will never have victory over it. I'm sure all of us, from our birth, we have faced this problem of anger 8:06 to a smaller or greater degree. Some are temperamentally very quick to get angry. Some are not so. They are introverts and very serene and calm, quiet people. But they also have it. Sometimes it can simmer 8:25 in our heart, and that may not be seen by outsiders. But when we are provoked, that comes out. So, that is where we need to deal with. We need to first deal with the root, like the 8:44 uh like John the Baptist said, the axe is laid to the root of the tree. If you don't lay your axe at the root of the tree of this anger, which ultimately will lead you to murder, then it becomes very difficult. Once the 9:02 tree becomes bigger, it's very difficult to uproot it. When it is small plant, if you can do deal with it, it's it's very helpful. And you know, anger is one thing that God has tempered our personality with. 9:21 It's a temper. Temper is not necessarily anger. Temper is our makeup. It can be a calm, composed, serene makeup, or sometimes it can be a little agitated, and then it can be uh our is good, 9:38 but you should not lose it. If you lose your temper, then it'll, you know, lead us into so many sins, one after another. And, in fact, the Bible 9:54 tells us, "Be e angry." You know that verse in Ephesians, "Be e angry, but do not sin. Let not your anger, uh, remain till the sunset." That means, before you go to bed, settle it. That is 10:14 what uh, the Bible says in Ephesians 4:26, "Let not your anger go down with the sun." "Be angry, but do not sin." And James also says about anger, 10:34 "Be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger." See, the Bible gives, uh, an uh, makes an allowance for us to be angry. You can be angry, but see that you don't 10:51 sin in your anger. "Be angry, but be slow to anger." That is scripture. And some of you parents may be feeling guilty because of the way you discipline your children, and you may come under condemnation. You don't need to, 11:10 because that's the only language that children understand, a raised voice, or a little firmness in your tone, and discipline when it is required. Only they understand those languages. And you need to be firm with your children, so don't come under 11:30 condemnation because you discipline your children. But see that you don't discipline them in your anger. When your anger subsides, you can discipline them. Or if you have um disciplined them out of anger, maybe 11:48 you can later on put your arms around them and tell, "See, I don't have any pleasure in disciplining you, scolding you, but I had to do it as a father for your good." No discipline is the Bible says no discipline is enjoyable at the moment. 12:08 But afterwards, it yields fruit of righteousness, fruit of peace. So, we need to first of all recognize that anger, if it is misused or abused, can be fatal. 12:28 Just like we have we all have electricity at home. And we know the usefulness of electricity. And also we know the dangers of electricity if we abuse it or misuse it, it can kill you or it can burn your 12:47 house. So, we use it wisely. And we use it when it is required under control. We keep it. And if that anger controls you, then you are a slave to it. 13:05 And you become you keep sinning more and more. One thing leads to another and another and another like that. You know, one of the first things that God wants us to get rid of is written in Colossians chapter 3. 13:25 Colossians chapter 3 verse 8 Colossians 3:8 It says, "But now you also 13:45 put them all aside." Put off all these things. What is the first thing there? anger And then wrath. Wrath is another higher step of anger. wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech 14:04 from your mouth, etc. The first thing that is mentioned here that put off Put them all aside. Anger and all the other things because there has been a renewal which has taken place in you. Verse 10 You have put on the new self which is 14:23 being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. A renewal in which there is no distinction. So put off and put on. Put off the old man 14:42 with its lusts and desires and put on the new man that is the renewal renewing work of the Lord that the Lord does in us in order to change us from glory to 15:00 glory, little by little, day by day in every way. He is changing me. We sing in that song. And that is what is God's will when we have repented of our sins, come to him in repentance, and asked his forgiveness, and are born again. 15:19 God gives us his Holy Spirit to dwell in us. Ephesians 1:13 says that God has given his Holy Spirit as a down payment in our hearts so that future transactions will be completed. What is the future transaction? To speak in earthly terms, we make down 15:38 payment for a purchase of a property. Then afterwards, it gets consummated by by making the sale deed. And then finally it is it is that it becomes mine. So, God has purchased us as it were with a down payment by giving us the 15:57 gift of the Holy Spirit. Then a day will come when he will completely own us. We become his property 100%. So, that is the meaning of that. So, here it speaks about consider the members of your earthly body as dead. 16:15 We need to consider. We need to remind ourselves that I'm no longer the same old man that I was. Now, something has happened in me that you know that others also will know about about it. 16:33 When a change comes over in you, you will know that for sure. And you will get the assurance that God has forgiven your past sins and has cleansed you and washed you and made you a new creation. All things all passed away and 16:50 everything has become new. And when you know that in your spirit, others around you also will notice a change in you and they will they will notice it and say, "Oh, this guy's like they use that word. This guy's got 17:09 religion." "Oh, this guy's not like how he was before. He is not mingling with us. He's He's become different. That's what my friend said when I was born again. So, that should be our testimony. You have put off and consider now you are no 17:27 longer that old self. You're no longer that old whatever your name is. You are a new person. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. And consider your members of your earthly body as did dead to immorality, 17:47 impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed that amounts to idolatry. On account of these things, the wrath of God will come. But now you put them all aside and put on what? Kindness, love, 18:05 faith, peace, faithfulness, gentleness, the fruit of the Spirit. That is what we are to pursue after and look for in our Christian life. That is what God also looks for in our life when we come to him by giving us the help of the Holy Spirit. 18:25 He will He doesn't want us to manage it on on our own. He He stands by us. He gives us that grace. He gives us the help of the Holy Spirit so that these things are put to death. 18:43 We'll come to that a little later. And then we put on and gain more and more of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, ninefold fruit of the Holy Spirit. And you know, this is one of the first things that Jesus mentioned when he 19:00 started speaking in Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 verse 22. He said, uh maybe 21 I'll read it. You have heard it said that the ancients were told, "You shall not commit murder. 19:19 And whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court." This was the old covenant. You shall not commit murder. That you know that is one of the commandments in the 10 commandments that Moses gave. But Jesus said here, "But I say unto 19:36 you, it is he who gave that commandment in the old covenant. Now he is telling in a new covenant, where I say unto you now, that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court." Unfortunately, in the King James Bible 19:56 it says, "Whoever is angry without a cause." Says, "Who will be angry without a cause?" You know that. Only an idiot Only a person who is not mentally but uh uh strong 20:15 imbalanced mentally imbalanced person uh um uh a stupid person becomes angry for nothing. But a sane person, a normal person, doesn't become angry for nothing. 20:33 He becomes angry on purpose. If somebody has crossed him, somebody has irritated him, or um spoken evil about him or his family or done some harm. People become angry. But Jesus says it 20:52 very clearly, "Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. And whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' Raca means um that is Aramaic for empty head 21:10 or good-for-nothing shall be guilty before the Supreme Court. And whoever shall say, "You fool." shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. There are two things that Jesus spoke about which he said, "These two sins will take 21:29 you to hell." And one is this and the other one is lusting with your eyes. This is primarily for men. Men's greatest um problem, I don't say weakness, 21:46 it is problem with all men is lusting with their eyes. And Jesus said about that also a little later. When you lust with your eyes, the In the old covenant, it was said, "You shall not commit adultery, but I say unto you, if you lust with your 22:06 eyes, you have already committed adultery with the person about whom you lusted." And he has made it very clear to us that, you know, because he has seen that how it where the origin is. 22:25 First, Cain got angry and that anger was simmering in him. That seething anger turned into action and ultimately he fell on Abel and crushed his head, whatever it is, how he killed, we don't know. 22:43 So, he became the first murderer in the first family. The first person who was born on earth was Cain. According to the Bible, man. I don't know, he may have older sisters, we don't know, but 23:01 he was the first man who was boy who was born. Adam was created and he became a murderer and it all started from there. Jesus said about Satan, he was a he is a liar and he's father of lies and 23:19 he is a murderer from the beginning he said. So Cain was one of his descendants, you can say. Satan's descendants because you read later on in chapter 5 in Genesis about the descendants of 23:38 uh Adam nowhere it mentions about Cain. Cain is gone, that's the end of it. And Adam also when Adam sinned and God sent him out of the garden of Eden, we hardly read about Adam. We read later that in fourth chapter 23:57 that he had relationship with his wife and he had Cain and Abel and other children and then he lived for 930 years and then what we read about him is that after 930 years Adam died. That's the end of it. Imagine a man who 24:14 had been created by almighty God's hands. God had sculpted him created him made him such a handsome man with all wisdom to give names to all the creatures in the world 24:33 such intelligence and all that but he got deceived. And the last thing we read about him is that he died in chapter 5 and we hardly read about him later on except some references here and there. 24:51 Imagine what a loss it was for for uh Adam and also for Cain. And we read about a a statement in Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 25:09 comes after Proverbs. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 9. It says, "Do not be eager in your heart to be angry." You know, some people are very eager to get angry. 25:27 I remember one of my friends in school. When the class was going on, there was in the neighborhood some fight going on and we could hear that in the class. And this boy just ran out of the school and went away to watch that fight. 25:46 And I asked him after he came back, "Why did you run away, man, from the class?" He said, "No, I like I like to watch fighting." And you know, it's amazing. Probably he was one of those 26:04 categories of people mentioned here. Being angry I mean, eager to be angry. And it says for anger that second part of that verse 7:9 in Ecclesiastes, "For anger resides in the bosom of fools." Do you know now 26:23 who the real fool is? A real fool is one who gets angry according to the Bible. And when you are angry next time, call by the right name. Don't say it's my weakness or it's my 26:43 mistake, but call yourself, "I am a fool." According to God's word. And the Bible says the fool says in his heart that 27:02 there is no God. So, a fool says in his heart that there is no God. And if a person is angry, what he's saying is I couldn't care less for you. Like Cain said when the Lord said, "Sin is crouching at your door, and watch out." 27:21 And he just ignored it. And the next verse, he killed Abel. And then the Lord confronts him and asks him, "Where is Abel?" And you know this man's audacity. What he says to the almighty God, "You think I'm my brother's keeper? I must 27:39 keep track of him wherever he goes?" Is this a way a person answers to almighty God? This is how he answered. "Am I my brother's keeper?" Yes, you are. We are our brother's keeper. And then 27:59 you know, the Lord gave him the punishment for his sin. And then even when the punishment is given, he doesn't say, "Lord, I'm sorry." If he had gone to the Lord and said "Sorry" to him and asked for forgiveness, things would 28:16 have been different. But he doesn't do that. He became so hardened by anger that he It says there you read there. I don't have time to show that. In the same chapter, fourth chapter of Genesis, it says he departed and went away from 28:34 the presence of the Lord the rest of his life. And we don't hear about him hardly anymore. So, this is how you know, anger can cause havoc in our life. And there are so many um 28:53 things the Book of Proverbs speaks about. about anger. It says in chapter 15 of Proverbs verse one, it says, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." 29:13 You want to cool a man's temper, and you want to douse the fire of anger, answer gently to the man who is provoking you and who is angry with you. Further in Ecclesiastes, we read that sometime back, 29:31 it says, "When your boss is angry, don't quit your job." It's very practical. When your boss is angry, don't quit your job. A soft answer can, you know, turn away your boss's wrath, anger. But a harsh word stirs up anger. 29:51 You speak harshly, and it can stir up anger, and it can become wrath, and become can become indi- person can become indignant and can, you know, fly in fury. But verse 18 says again, 30:09 "A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but the slow to anger pacifies contention." A hard uh hot-tempered man stirs up strife. Then again, you read in chapter 16 30:27 verse 32, "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who captures a city." You see, you can be um stronger 30:46 and greater than a king who goes and conquers a city. You can be You can be stronger than him if you have self-control. It says here, "He who rules his spirit is you know, better 31:05 than the one who captures a city." If you have self-control and rule yourself, you're better than a king. That's what God has made you to be kings and priests on this earth unto God. You are called to represent him here on 31:23 this earth as son of or daughter of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And uh we're again in uh 19 chapter 19 verse 19. A man of great anger shall bear the 31:45 penalty. For if you rescue him, he will have He will only have to do it again. It's dangerous to associate with angry people. It says, "If you um 32:04 try to rescue an angry man, you'll have to do that again." So, what that verse means is that means um further that is explained here in chapter 25 and verse 28. Like a city that is broken into and 32:25 without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit. A person who doesn't have self-control, I I you know one of the ninefold fruit of the Holy Spirit of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. 32:44 And if you're not pursuing after that, if you're not taking part of the divine nature and acquiring more and more of self-control among other things, you are like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his 33:03 spirit. And brothers and sisters, take this matter of anger very seriously. Cuz if you just call it by some other name other than that, like weakness or uh 33:23 mistake, brother. I That's I mean, most people excuse it by saying that's my weakness. I hope you know Jesus didn't die for your weakness. He died for your sins. If you call it by sin, then you'll get um freedom from that. You'll be delivered 33:43 from that. You'll get victory over it. Otherwise, you'll have constant problem. And verse 28 of 25 28:25 it says, An arrogant man stirs up strife. 34:02 That means in other words, an angry man is an arrogant man. And he who trusts in the Lord will prosper. But he who trusts in his own heart is a fool. Again, it says, a person who trusts in his own heart and 34:21 goes ahead and becomes angry, again, it's it calls him a fool. But he who walks wisely will be delivered. Now, these these are all God's words. And we need to take heed to it. It is not 34:39 something that we just read it like daily devotion and then after we close the book, we forget about it altogether. God has not given his word for us to just read it and then go away. God has even in the old covenant, he 34:57 said in Joshua 1:8, "This uh book of the law shall not depart from your mouth." We can read that in Joshua. After Moses died, after Deuteronomy is the book of Joshua. 35:16 Joshua chapter 1. "This book of the law," was said, "shall not depart from your mouth. But you shall meditate on it day and night." You see, that time the Bible was not written. 35:36 Printed Bible we got only just about 5 600 years ago. Until then there was no written Bible. They only had to remember what they heard in the synagogue. That is how Jesus also learned the scriptures. He didn't come fully, you know, 35:55 uh loaded with scripture when he came from heaven. He came like a innocent babe, like all the babies, and then he grew in wisdom, it says in Luke 2. And the Bible is very uh practical. It doesn't say that read your Bible every 36:13 day. There is no such verse in the Bible, read your Bible every day. But it says you can do one thing every day, that is to meditate upon what you have heard. Maybe in the church now you have your own Bibles in your own languages. 36:30 It says that this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that's written in it. Then it'll make your way prosperous, 36:44 and then you'll have success. This is the prosperity gospel, you can say in one sense. If you want to be prosperous spiritually, meditate upon God's word and obey God's commandments, and keep it, 37:03 then you will become prosperous and successful. Key to success, you know, there are so many books in the bookstores. So many keys to success, this is one of it. Scriptural. It says, "Meditate upon it, and you will be successful." The same 37:21 thing the psalmist also says in Psalm 1. Psalm 1, he says that meditate upon his Verse 2 in the middle, it says, "And in God's law he meditates day and night, 37:40 and such a person will be like a tree planted firmly by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and whatever he does, he prospers." Again that word. So, brothers and sisters, take these 37:57 words very seriously, and one more verse in Proverbs Proverbs 29, verse 22. It says, again it says something similar to what we read earlier in An angry man 38:16 stirs up strife, but a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression. A man who is full of sin or man who abounds in transgression is a man who is a short-tempered man, who has a short fuse. So, brothers and sisters, don't condemn 38:38 yourself. I'm not trying to throw stones at anybody. We have all fallen in this area in our life. Before coming to the Lord, much more, and after coming to the Lord, lesser at a lesser degree. But, we are battling. All of us are 38:56 battling in this area. And we need to learn to let the Holy Spirit live in and through us. You know, in um Colossians uh 2:20, I think. 39:17 Paul says here, "It's no longer I who lives, but it is Christ who lives in me. The life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me." Yeah. 39:35 That's And sorry, in Galatians, not Colossians. Galatians Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ." You need to make this confession, brothers and sisters. You've been born 39:55 again and baptized, and you are walking in the light, and you face this problem of this huge giant, the Goliath-like sin called anger. You're battling with it. Make this verse memorize this, and 40:14 keep saying it to yourself, "I have been crucified with Christ. That means I have died to my old self. My old man has been crucified. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life 40:34 which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith in the Son of God. In some translation, it says, I live by the faith of the Son of God. The same faith that Jesus had. Who loved me and delivered himself up for me. 40:53 So, you need to know your position. Understand who you are. You are no longer that old self, that old whatever you were. Put your name there. I am not that old so-and-so. I am a new creation in Christ 41:11 Jesus. I am a child of God. I am a son of God. I am a daughter of God. Sin shall have no dominion over me. It's going to come down under my feet one day. This giant Goliath in the name of the Lord. There is The name of the Lord is a strong tower, 41:29 and the righteous runs into it and shall be safe. And this giant will come down under my feet someday. And confess that. Keep confessing it, and it'll become true in your life. And then we come to the question as to how to overcome. 41:47 This is one of the verses that says how you can overcome anger. You go back to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. Here it says about like I said, anger is not just an emotion, but it is also a 42:07 a work of the flesh. And it says in Galatians 5 verse 16 onwards, it says, "But I say, walk in the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires 42:25 of the flesh. If you walk in the Spirit consciously reminding yourself that you have the Holy Spirit indwelling in you. And you are no longer the same old person. You are a new creation in Christ. You keep reminding that 42:45 and you keep walking in the Spirit, it says, "You will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desires against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to each other, so that you may 43:01 not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." And then it says about the deeds of the flesh, verse 19, "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality uh impurity, sensuality, idolatry, 43:19 sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger. And so on and so forth. So these are the deeds of the flesh and anger is one of one of it. And you have to crucify that. You have to consider yourself dead to 43:39 sin and alive to righteousness. And when you do that then you will be able to partake of the divine nature. What is the divine nature? Verse 22. If you put off this old man 43:56 then put on the new man and live consciously considering yourself dead to sin and alive to righteousness, then these will be manifest in your life. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, 44:11 joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. And against these things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh 44:30 with its passions and desires. This is the way to overcome it, brothers and sisters. And also, I would like to close with um Romans chapter 6. You go home and read this chapter in different versions, different translations. It comes out 44:48 very clearly there. Romans 6:2 it says, um or rather verse 1, are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? Many people have a misunderstanding, especially those of you who come from different churches, different 45:03 backgrounds. You have all believed that grace is unmerited favor of God. That is a common definition of grace. But I'm sorry to say, we have not heard about that in this church. It is not unmerited favor of God. 45:21 God gives his grace only to those who are humble, not to everybody. And the Bible says here, are we to continue in sin so that grace might increase? People think that now we have under grace, not under law. So, I can Jesus has taken care of all my 45:40 past, so I can live as I like. I got a ticket to heaven. Brother, you're deceiving yourself. Look at what it says, may it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? We cannot continue in sin like this. 46:00 And verse 6 says, knowing this that our old self was crucified with him that our body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin." Now, it is not talking about the dead 46:17 people physically. It speaks about he who has died to himself, his self life, his old life, is freed from sin. Dead people are not freed from sin. Their sins will follow them. 46:36 Like it says, "But if you die and I die while I am still living, die to my old self, my old life, and put to death the deeds of the body that we heard, 46:54 read about, then we shall live and we shall be conquerors." Then verse 18 says, "Having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." Because whatever whoever you obey, 47:11 you become a slave of that person. If you obey the dictates of the flesh and sin, you become a slave to sin. But if you by the Holy Spirit put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. And 47:31 um sin shall not be verse 14, "Sin shall not be master over you for you're not under law but under grace. What then shall we say because we are not not under law but under grace? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under 47:51 grace?" See here, Paul says, "May it never be. May it never be. Brothers and sisters, this is God's will for you and me. God does not want us to be slaves to sin. 48:09 I took just only one of it, that is anger, which many people battle about. Don't leave the Lord until he gives you the victory like that widow who went to that unrighteous judge, kept on going, kept on going, going. That man said, "I 48:29 neither fear God nor man, but this old lady, she's wearing me out. I better give her justice." And he gave her justice. And the Lord said, "Did you hear what that man said? How much quickly, speedily, the Lord will avenge 48:49 his children who cry to him day and night for victory or whatever it may be, dirty thoughts, or maybe anger, or maybe something else that you are dealing with in your life for years you have not overcome. 49:09 Don't lose heart. The Lord is able to make all grace abound to you and to see that his word comes true. Sin shall not have dominion over you. One of these days you'll be victorious. You can say, "I'm more than conqueror 49:26 through Jesus Christ who loves me." One last thing I would like to close with is we all know that song, "Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee." You know, the person who wrote that song was Frances Ridley Havergal. 49:45 She was a godly woman, but she had a very bad temper. It says about her, she had extremely bad temper. And she was battling with it, battling with it, and one day she lost her 50:03 her temper, and she was so sad about it. She went to her bedroom and cried out to the Lord, "Lord, how shall How long can I go on like this, being defeated by anger, losing my temper?" And as she was praying, the Lord put a 50:22 verse in her heart from Exodus chapter 14, verse 13. It says, "The Egyptians that you see today, you shall see them no longer forever." That was the word that God gave her. 50:41 The Egyptians that you see today, brothers and sisters, those taskmasters, those sins besetting sins that you're battling with, you will see them no longer and forever. And that was the day of her victory. 51:01 And our day also is not very far. If you hold fast your confession and trust in the Lord with all your heart. God bless these words. I was greatly encouraged to see how God deals with people who struggle with 51:20 anger. So, we heard there is no condemnation, there is no condemnation in Christ. But, you know, there's a verse that says "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." Is that the way God deals with the people who struggle with anger? 51:39 Now, we can turn to Genesis, the same portion where Um, is uh dealing with the Jonah. Sorry, uh not Jonah, about uh with Cain. In verse 11 in the same chapter, he said, Sorry, he said uh 52:06 uh verse uh six, Uh the Lord said to Cain, "Why why you're angry? And why your face is dull? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is 52:25 crouching at the door, and its desire for you desire is for you, and you must master it." So, the Lord is not coming down with a a lot of uh condemnation, but he says, "I will give you another chance. If you do well, 52:43 your face will be lifted up. I have not given up on you. I will give you again chance." We heard uh many times in the church that the the Lord is a lord of another chance. Now, same if you turn to Luke chapter 53:03 uh Luke chapter 15. Here there is a one more angry brother. Luke chapter 15 verse uh uh 28. It says uh 53:20 this son this older boy was he became angry, and he was not willing to go in. So, here is a brother, elder brother, who's so angry with uh what happened to this uh his younger brother. He was well accepted, and there 53:38 was a celebration, there was a joy, but this brother could not partake in that. He was angry. He was standing out. But he's we see that what the Lord what the father did there. He said in 28, his father came out and began 53:53 pleading with him. And verse 31, and he says son, you have always been with me and all that is mine is yours. So he's saying I will give you another chance. You can repent and you can come in. 54:11 So I when I read that and I try to put myself into that place. I see I see my children fighting each other and uh uh I I wonder whether I will be like this father who was compassionate and patient. He said, my son, 54:30 my son, uh you can still come in. You can still be part of the celebration, but he didn't want to go. Then again, we can see one more angry person in the book of Jonah. You could turn with me to book of Jonah chapter chapter four. 54:52 It says you know the story of Jonah, so I don't want to repeat it. Jonah chapter four verse one, it says it greatly displeased Jonah and he became so angry. So God did not work in the way he expected. Uh Jonah had the message, but he didn't see 55:10 God's heart. So he wanted the judgment to fall upon this land. But uh he knew in his mind that God is full of mercy and compassion. But he himself has not tasted it. And see how God deals with that person. 55:28 And let's see verse five, it says Jonah went out from the city and he sat uh sat east of it. He made a shelter for himself and he sat under the shade. And we see the Lord appointed a plant. And it grew up over Jonah 55:46 to be a shade over his head and Jonah was extremely happy about that plant. So here he was so angry now he come to a place where he is so so happy. It says Jonah was extremely happy. If you meet Jonah on that day, you'll be 56:03 the luckiest person. So he'll be full of love. And but again God says God appointed a worm. And and then the plant was destroyed. And God appointed a scorching east wind. 56:22 And it hit on Jonah's head and he again become angry. He said death is better for me to than to death is death is better for me than life. So I see Jonah is just like us. Something little enough to 56:41 be happy and puffed up. And then something little a small dose is enough to bring us down. Uh you know, in the beginning of this book of Jonah we see God has appointed a storm, God has appointed a great storm, 57:00 a great wind and a great fish. But here God has appointed a small little plant. A little worm. So you know, God can use anything. God can help us to see ourself. So we should not be ignorant of God's 57:18 dealing in our life. We should not be unwilling to yield, surrender ourself. Like we heard the example of that godly woman. That her temper drove her to Christ. The one godly man said whatever 57:38 makes us pray, that's a blessing. So, if it is our temper that drives us to God, that's a blessing. Because God will not give up on us so easily. So, here in this chapter he we see God is uh behind Jonah. He is uh 57:58 even though Jonah was trying to run away with his anger and up-down temperament, the the Lord is behind him. So, what a great hope for us, brothers and sisters, those who are struggling. So, you know, I heard the other day 58:15 somewhere uh uh in a house there was a fire in the midnight and and five of five died because of the AC was on, the house caught up in fire, and some the poisonous smoke was filled the house, and all of them died. 58:34 So, later it they found out it was due to some little spark somewhere in the bike uh parked in the parking. That little spark uh spread all over the house and burned the house. And the five five those who were in the house is 58:49 killed. We we read that verse in Matthew chapter 5 verse uh 21. Everyone who is angry with his brother, he shall be guilty before the court. So, this is just a spark in our heart, the first step. 59:08 Bible says that we should not even have a root of bitterness in our heart. Leave alone the anger. But it says everyone who is angry with his brother, he shall be guilty before the court. It's just like a spark. And then it says goes to the next level, 59:25 whoever says to his brother, "You are good for nothing, it started coming out. And he shall be guilty before the Supreme Court. And then the next says, and whoever says to you, fool, shall be guilty enough to go to the fiery hell. 59:43 So here is you have the boarding pass to hell. So how how careful we must be with our heart. How careful we must not ignore the the little, you know, feelings in our heart that the devil tries to put in our heart 1:00:01 to some complain, it start with the complaining, murmuring, bitterness, turn to an anger, and then comes out and make us fit for hell. So we have a God who's faithful. Who want to show himself kind. Bible says his kindness leads us to 1:00:20 repentance. In the Jeremiah chapter 3, you don't need to turn there. God is calling the Israel. He said, return. Return. Return, oh backsliding children. Says, I'll take you one from a city, two from a family, and bring you to Zion. 1:00:39 And I will give you shepherds after according to my heart. The one who God brings to Zion is those who struggle, those who struggle, those who willing to acknowledge, willing to respond to God, not like Cain or the older son who don't want to 1:00:57 respond to God, who still continued in the right. But if you're willing to return and repent and come to him, God is willing to give us shepherds after his own heart, and he will feed us with the knowledge and understanding. 1:01:11 Um you know, Peter told Israelites, if you repent, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the book of Jonah, what we in God's dealing with Jonah, God who is almighty, full of glory, full of holiness, is coming down 1:01:31 to the level of Jonah. So, the the gospel, the greatest gospel I heard is that Jesus is willing to come down, come down and come to our level, and so is the Holy Spirit. We don't have to rise to his standard, he's willing to come down 1:01:46 to take us help and carry us, change our temperament. And may God help each one of us. Praise God for what we heard today. God is a god of hope, always gives us a hope, hope and encouragement, uh no matter what, no no matter what is 1:02:03 the uh struggle is. Uh one thing that I was thinking in what we read from Genesis chapter 4 and Ephesians chapter 4, uh God's heart warning us. You know, one thing we read here in Genesis chapter 4, verse 6, it says, 1:02:23 "The Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry?'" And then verse 7, it says, "If you do well, will will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it." Sin is waiting, 1:02:40 waiting to take a control of your life. The anger is waiting. The Satan is waiting to take a control. Uh in Ephesians 4, we read where it says, "Do not give an opportunity." Uh it says in be be angry. Then 1:02:59 Ephesians 4, verse 26 says, "Be angry, and yet do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity." Another translation, it says the foothold, where the grip. You know, one of the usefulness in our 1:03:17 life usefulness to the Lord and be his child. That is something that the devil wants to rob from us. That he wants to take our effectiveness from our life by allowing by sending these things. 1:03:35 The anger, you know, one thing that we notice here is that in Cain's where first jealousy came, he saw that his brother's was accepted and he was so angry in his heart. Anger comes in our heart and it springs up and it can be seen in 1:03:54 our face, the countenance. And then it turns into action where we don't know, I mean, we lose control and we do something that later on when we sit down and look back and it was not required. Why did I get 1:04:10 into and we feel, "Oh, I am a fool that why did I?" My brothers and sisters, that's what the devil wants to do in our life. I was thinking about Saul in 1 Samuel chapter 18. We know about him, how he began, how the spirit of the Lord came upon him 1:04:28 mightily and how he was so humble and but when he saw that David killing the Goliath and how the women were praising and jealousy came into his heart and it says in Genesis 1:04:44 sorry, 1 Samuel 18 where you know, 1 Samuel 18 verse 10 it says the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and evil spirit came upon him. That's what will do happen, my brothers 1:05:01 and sisters, when we give the devil a foothold as a control over our life, our heart and uh, the we will the spirit of the Lord will depart from our life and evil spirit, we don't know what we are doing. 1:05:20 We don't want to do, but we do the very thing that we don't want to do. My brothers and sisters, let's take to heart. We read in Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23, it says, "Guard your heart with all diligence. From it 1:05:37 flows the springs of life. Watch your heart with all diligence, my brothers and sisters. Uh, you know, Jesus said, "Out of your innermost being, rivers of living water can spring forth." On the other side, the devil can create 1:05:54 where out of the spring forth from our heart, the bitterness, jealousy, and anger can come and destroy us. The devil can take a stronghold that we don't be become threat to the devil, and we will become side of the devil. 1:06:13 That's what devil wants to do in our life. But the good news is the Lord Jesus came to seek and save that was lost. Are we lost in sin, the anger and jealousy, and God can deliver us from that. We sang that song where he offers hope 1:06:31 when we are hopelessly lost our way. Are we lost? Many of us all of us struggling with this sin, the besetting sin which so easily entangles us. God promises that he will come and he will deliver us. He will turn the water into wine in our 1:06:51 life. When when the dryness is there, he can bring this rivers of living water. One verse in Ezekiel, we know this verse in Ezekiel uh, 30 six. God promises that I will give you a new 1:07:10 heart. Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 26 there, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone. And may the Lord give us grace. May the Lord help us to seek for that where we lost when we are lost 1:07:29 in sin, when we are lost in anger, we can come to him. We can say, "Lord, my heart has become so hard and I want you to uh give me a soft heart, tender heart, and remove the stony heart. Take away the love of sinning." May God help us, 1:07:44 my brothers and sisters. Let's cry out. It is There is a help. There is a help. God said, "Only acknowledge your iniquity." I want to really seek the Lord. I want to go like we we heard like that widow uh went to that lawyer to 1:08:02 seek for justice. Let's go to The devil is tries to rob and he tries to do all that God has given us, but let us go with all our hearts. Lord, I want to seek you like that woman who was uh going through that problem and it was so 1:08:20 shameful that she could not disclose with anybody. She could not um she was going through so many years, but she knew that she she felt that Jesus is here. I can go and touch the fringe of his cloak and get well. My brothers and sisters, he's here. He came 1:08:37 to seek and save the lost and I want to get well from that uh anger and I want to give my life. Lord, I want to offer my life to you. May God help us.
