I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles as you follow along. Our text for this Lord's Day, first of all, continuing with our series through the fruit of the Spirit, focusing upon the last fruit of the Spirit, temperance. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. That's Galatians 5 verses 22 through 23 and then Ephesians chapter 4, 31 through 32. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. By now you have likely heard of the heinous slaughter of nine black Americans that were attending a prayer meeting in Charleston, South Carolina this past Wednesday evening. A young man entered into that prayer meeting, sat down and observed for about an hour. even stating to police investigators that he nearly changed his mind because the people were so friendly. From news reports that cited the testimony of eyewitnesses as well as the testimony of the 21-year-old murderer himself, This awful violence was racially motivated. He wanted to start a racial war. Bitterness and anger had taken root in this young man's heart and sought an outlet through his vicious actions. Just as the Lord Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount when he said that anger was like murder because it was that sin within which would lead to actual murder. But what a contrast there was in the response of family members of those murdered who appeared in court and wept over the loss of their family members, their loved ones. while expressing to the face of this young man their willingness to forgive him for what he had just done. Now, I don't know the true spiritual condition of these family members who spoke in court. but they were not following the race baiters who want to sow the seeds of bitterness and anger in promoting racial riots and violence. They did not want the same root of bitterness that destroyed that young man to grow and to eat them up alive or to consume others. Dear ones, we should be praying for these families, that God would draw them unto himself through faith in Jesus Christ. That God would comfort them and use them in a dynamic way to promote both God's justice in this matter, but also to promote God's grace in subduing that root of bitterness and anger that flows from it. as a testimony to the power of the resurrected Jesus Christ in conquering sin in our lives. What about you who sit and listen to God's Word preached today? What about the bitterness and anger that has taken root in your life that is destroying you from the inside out Hebrews 12, 15 speaks of a root of bitterness when it says, Perhaps some of you are living with a lifelong bitterness that goes back to childhood. Perhaps some of you are living with a bitterness that is more recent. Whatever the case, dear ones, bitterness and the anger that flows from it are sapping the very life from you. Instead of the fruit of the Spirit growing in your life, the ever-spreading root of bitterness is growing in your life. How do you fortify the wall of godly self-control in holding at bay bitterness and anger against those who have betrayed you, those who have lied to you and deceived you, those who have abused you and misused you, those who have attacked you? slandered you, robbed you, and even slain your loved ones. Dear ones, the life of the resurrected Christ is infinitely more powerful than any bitterness and anger that may have taken root in your life. The main points for our sermon this Lord's Day are the following. 1. Identifying the root of bitterness and anger in your life. Ephesians 4 verse 31 2. Replacing the root of bitterness and anger with the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4 verse 32 Let us consider then our first main point, identifying the root of bitterness and anger in your life. Look with me once again at Ephesians 4.31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. By way of just background to our text today, the Apostle Paul laid the theological foundation in the first three chapters of his letter to the Ephesians and now, beginning in chapter four, proceeds to apply the doctrine to the lives of Christians. In chapters one through three, Paul teaches who we as Christians are in Christ, who we are in Christ. And then in chapters four through six, Paul teaches how we as Christians are to live in a sinful world. We are to live, dear ones, in such a way that we as Christians can be distinguished from the worldly neighbor, the worldly co-worker, the worldly student, the worldly family member, the worldly friend that we work with, that we go to school with, or whom we live with. If there is little or no difference conduct and work between the goals and dreams and worldview of the Christian from those of the world. We may have, dear ones, a profession, an outward profession of faith in Christ, but we have denied the power of God working in our lives when no distinction is made or can be made between us and the world. Paul writes that a Christian is one who puts off the old sinful life that characterized our former worldly self in Ephesians 4.22. And the Christian rather is one who puts on the new man created in Christ Jesus. four good works in Ephesians 4 24. Now this again is not a super Christian. This is what a Christian is. A Christian is one who puts off the old life and puts on the new man, the new life in Jesus Christ and continues to do so throughout his life or her life. Doesn't mean that he or she is perfect. That's why God continues to urge us to come and to confess our sins, to seek His forgiveness. But this is generally, dear ones, how we as Christians are different from our previous unconverted life, and different from our non-Christian neighbors. When Jesus Christ died upon the cross. Our old man legally died with him. When Christ was raised victoriously from the dead, our new man legally was raised with him. It's like a penniless orphan. being legally adopted into the household of the king and being given legally the name of the king. That's true of us as God's own children. Paul says to us, don't continue to live like that penniless orphan. live in your daily life as the legally adopted child of God, the child of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who gives you everything that you need in your life through Jesus Christ. But now, very specifically, Paul moves from that which is more general, putting off the old man, putting on the new man, that which is more general, to that which is more particular, to that which is more specific. And what we are very specifically to put off, and what we are very In Ephesians 4.25, we are to put off all lying and deception and rather to put on speaking the truth one to another. In Ephesians 4.26, we are to put off self-centered anger and rather put on God-centered anger over our own sin and the sin of others against our king and his royal commandments. In Ephesians 4.28 we are to put off stealing and cheating and rather to put on honest work and selfless giving to the needs of others. In Ephesians 4.29 we are to put off, dear ones, all corrupt, profane and impure speech and rather put on words that encourage others and minister God's grace to others. Remember what the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 12, verse 34, For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. You can tell where a person's heart is by their speech, by their language, because their mouth is simply spilling forth what is in their heart. And if their speech is corrupt, polluted, filled with dirty innuendos, gutter language, whatever it may be, well, their heart is there. And finally, the last that we are to put off and to put on, we are to put off all bitterness and wrath toward others, and rather put on kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness, in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 31 through 32. So let's focus now our attention more closely on the words of our text in Ephesians 4, 31. The sins listed here by Paul are insidious enemies to the spiritual growth of a Christian. They inhibit the growth of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. These particular sins that are listed here, they're all related in various ways, but yet they are distinguishable one from the other at the same time. The Lord calls us through Paul to put them away from us. Another way of interpreting that word in verse 31, to put away from you, is that these are to be destroyed. These are to be destroyed. Put away and destroy them. Don't let them have that entrance and that reigning and ruling in your life as Christians. If bitterness, dear ones, breaks through the wall of godly self-control, you can count on these sins that are mentioned following right behind bitterness. That's how they're connected. So what is bitterness? We find in verse 31, let all bitterness be put away from you. That's the first, let all bitterness be put away. What is bitterness? The Greek word, pikria, comes from a root which means to prick or to cut. It is a resentment that cuts and pricks to the very heart of a person. It is an inner heartache and pain that responds to one who is perceived or who actually did mistreat, betray, deceive, slander, abuse, was angry, was violent, or was unjust with you. Dear ones, bitterness or resentment is like a smoldering flame that lies beneath the surface, ready to ignite into an angry outburst of words and actions. And it's called, as we have already noted in Hebrews 12, 15, it is called a root of bitterness. For like a root, it is growing beneath the surface. Like a root, it is spreading the more that it is fed. And like a root, it is sapping you of good fruit in your life that might otherwise be produced. Because your strength is not going to producing the fruit of the Spirit, but your strength is going to producing and growing this root of bitterness in your life. It has been said that bitterness is the resentful spirit that refuses reconciliation. That refuses reconciliation. Bitterness will not forgive and it will not be reconciled to the offender even when there is evidence of genuine repentance on the part of the offender. Such bitterness will make a life absolutely miserable. Miserable for the person who is bitter. Miserable for the people around the person who is bitter. And such bitterness, dear ones, will often be directed toward God as well, spewing out invectives against His justice, against His love, against His faithfulness, against His goodness, against His wisdom, against His care, against Him. How does bitterness break through the wall of godly self-control? When you perceive you have been mistreated or wronged, Whether betrayed by your husband or wife, whether passed over by your boss for a promotion that you deserved, whether abused as a child or as an adult, whether embarrassed or made fun of in public, whether unjustly attacked in your name and reputation for standing for a biblical conviction, whether rejected by peers because you are a narrow-minded Christian, or whether due to the irresponsibility of someone, like a drunk driver, you suffered the loss of a loved one, or the loss of some ability of your own. You believe, as a result of any of those number of things, you believe You are justified and warranted in holding a grudge against the one who has wronged you. You judge you are vindicated in doing so. You have a right to be bitter and to be resentful against that person. But dear ones, we never have the right to have a vindictive resentment and bitterness against anyone. God never gave us such a so-called right. In fact, God calls it sin. He says, let all, not some, let all bitterness be put away from you, be destroyed by you. How does bitterness break through the wall of godly self-control? When you see no remorse, no repentance, and no sorrow for what someone has done to you, you feel justified. In fact, you may reason he or she has escaped all human accountability. has gotten away with it. The only punishment then you may fall into the trap of believing is your resentment. Your resentment toward that person. But dear ones, bitterness. Bitterness is not the other person's problem. Bitterness is not the offender's problem. It is your problem. It is my problem. You may have been wronged and seriously wronged, and yet you are responsible for how you respond to the wrong committed against you. You can either respond with a self-centered bitterness that merely focuses on how that person hurt you, or you can respond with a Christ-centered self-control and a readiness to forgive the undeserving upon his or her repentance. How does bitterness break through the wall of godly self-control? Consider this as well. Ungodly bitterness, dear ones, will always break through the wall of godly self-control when we see the sin committed against us, but are blind to our own sin in hating, despising, wanting to get even, and in focusing more upon our hurt than upon glorifying God in that situation. That's how it breaks through. Our focus is upon ourselves, not upon the Lord our God. Another question. How might you recognize this enemy of bitterness that seeks to breach the wall of godly self-control or that has already breached the wall of godly self-control? First, You might recognize it in your life or the temptation to it because you live in the past. You live in the past over the way you were mistreated by someone or wronged by someone rather than learning from the past in order that you might live wisely in the present. Bitter person lives in the past. and so many things that come up continue to remind them of how they were mistreated, how they were offended in the past. Everything seems to focus in the present, takes them back to the past. That's a good way to recognize bitterness in our lives. Second, you remember the details of what was done to you and find yourself rehearsing and going over time and time again those details. And your mere memory of the details will not end there, but will become a means of drawing others into that web of bitterness as well. Hebrews 12, 15 also says that our bitterness, our resentment, that root of bitterness will not only affect us, but it says will defile many. And so, again, when we are drawing people into the web of our bitterness over something that has happened to us in the past, again, that's a good indication that you are, that the wall of godly self-control has been breached and you are under attack by bitterness. Third, You become very angry, with a vindictive anger, when you are reminded of that situation, or of the offender. It's as if it happened today, or as if it happened yesterday, and yet it happened many years ago. And our bitterness does not affect, dear ones, the offender at all. Our bitterness does not affect the offender. But rather, the offender in effect continues to control you by your bitterness. You are controlled by the offender when you are bitter because you are wallowing in your bitterness and in your misery. As the offender just goes on, usually doesn't care whether you are bitter or resentful. You may even have certain health consequences. You can recognize perhaps again bitterness by way of certain health consequences like high blood pressure and rapid beating of the heart when you reflect upon how you were mistreated. And if this happens often enough, dear ones, it will lead to even more severe health issues, insomnia, problems with eating, ulcers, problems with work, maintaining your concentration because you seem to be interrupted in your work and in your concentration by way of what happened to you. in the past. A fourth question, what will unrepentant bitterness cost you? Well, it will cost you, dear ones, your communion with Jesus Christ. It will cost you answered prayer because you are living in bitterness and resentment and anger And the Lord has told us that if we do so, if we live in sin, that our prayers will not be heard and answered. If we are living in unrepentant sin, the Lord will not answer our prayers. What will unrepentant bitterness cost you? Growth. Growth in the spirit, the fruit of the spirit, which we have been studying for nearly a year now. It will cost you growth in producing the fruit and growing that fruit to maturity in your life. What will it cost you? Your health, spiritual health, your physical health, your emotional health. What will unrepentant bitterness cost you, dear ones? Relationships. Relationships in marriage and family and friendships. Because that bitterness will ooze out. And so often, we find how people simply do not want to be around someone who's filled with bitterness and resentment. They don't want to partake of that misery. They don't want it to infect their own lives, their own marriages, their own relationships. Dear ones, once bitterness has been nursed and protected and allowed to take root in your life and in your heart, it will not be easily uprooted. It will not be easily removed. Just like every other sin that we ignore and tolerate, and protect, it will be difficult. It will become almost an addiction to us. As we know, those types of addicting sins that cling to our life are very, very difficult to rid ourselves of. Even through the power of the Holy Spirit that we have access to, we find so often that we are so weak. in overcoming those types of life-altering, life-changing, life-controlling types of sins and addictions in our life. Well, bitterness and resentment certainly can fall under that category. And again, remember, dear ones, Paul does not say to put away some bitterness. He says to put away, to destroy all bitterness, all bitterness in our lives. The other enemies that will follow bitterness in seeking to breach the wall of godly self-control are Wrath, anger, and clamor. In Ephesians 5.26 Paul had stated, you recall, be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. You see, Paul here distinguishes between a righteous and God-centered anger and a wicked and self-centered anger. For dear ones, there is an anger that the Christian may have and yet not sin in having it. But there is also an anger that the Christian may have, which is sinful. This anger is to be put away, destroyed, before we lay our heads down upon our pillow to fall asleep each night. let not the sun go down upon your wrath. How marriages would be so greatly benefited if only couples obeyed that single principle of being reconciled to one another, dealing with anger over a disagreement that you have had by the end of every day, and not carrying that anger over into the next day. Because you know what's going to happen the next day? There's going to be something else. And then you've got this whole idea of layers being built one upon the other. How do you finally, you scratch your head and say, how do I get to the bottom of all this? Dear ones, the Lord says to keep short accounts. daily accounts, deal with that sinful anger over a disagreement that you have had before the sun sets, before you go to bed at night. You see, some decisions, some decisions we may sleep on, sleep on it. That's fine. But anger, simple anger, we cannot sleep on. Sinful anger is to be dealt with before we fall asleep. How are righteous anger and sinful anger distinguished? First, righteous anger has chiefly the glory of God in view, whereas sinful anger has chiefly the offense committed against me. in view, or committed against another in view. Righteous anger is a God-centered anger, concerned first and foremost with the glory of God, the honor of God. Sinful anger, on the other hand, is a man-centered anger, concerned first with the honor of man. In other words, Geron's righteous anger is chiefly over sin committed against God and His holy commandments, beginning with our own sin. We should always begin by judging ourselves. Jesus said, take out the beam out of our own eye. Then we'll be able to see clearly to take out the speck in our brother's eye, our sister's eye, our neighbor's eye. Sinful anger there was as chiefly over the offense, as I said, committed against me. Whereas David makes it very clear, even in the adultery that he committed, the sin he committed, not only against Bathsheba, the sin he committed against Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, But chiefly the sin he committed against God in breaking God's commandments. David prayed against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. You see righteous anger arises because we are in union and in communion with God. And therefore attacks against the Lord our attacks against us because we are joined to Jesus Christ. Just like you should feel, dear ones, when your spouse or your children are unjustly attacked. It's as if that person attacked you. So we ought to feel When God, when the Lord Jesus Christ, when His holy commandments, when the gospel is attacked, they have attacked us because we are joined and united with the Lord. That's righteous anger. But also, secondly, righteous anger is under the control of the Holy Spirit, whereas sinful anger is out of control. Whether it is beneath the surface or whether it is outside, it is not under the control of the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, righteous anger, dear ones, pleads for God's mercy to be shown to sinners, that they might repent of their sin and be granted forgiveness by God, whereas sinful anger is personally vindictive and seeks to get even with others. Their repentance and their forgiveness is of no concern to sinful anger. Look with me briefly at these individual words for sinful anger that are mentioned in Ephesians 4.31. The first one that is mentioned is wrath. This is the boiling type of anger, the red hot type of anger, the explosive type of anger that just snaps at someone or snaps in a particular situation. It's an outburst. Someone cuts in front of you in traffic and you are calling them names, using unseemly gestures toward them and on your horn. making them aware that they have offended you. The second word, anger or orde. This type of anger is not so much an outburst, but an anger lasting longer than an outburst. It is an ongoing irritability towards someone or something. It's below the surface, you know, it's maintained to that degree. It's below the surface. Whereas thumos, the first word for wrath that we looked at, thumos arises suddenly and may subside more quickly. Orge arises more slowly and continues longer. And then the third word, clamor, the English word clamor, the Greek word krage, krage, This is the type of anger that leads to tumults, that leads to riots as we've seen break out in cities within our own country. Now these three examples of sinful anger that we've just mentioned are joined to bitterness. There's joint bitterness. For bitterness is that which prepares, dear ones, the way for each of these expressions of anger to follow. Dig out the root of bitterness and you will substantially deal with these various forms of anger, sinful anger, that are mentioned here. Paul also adds here as well that Evil speaking, that refers to slander, refers to lying, refers to sinful criticism and gossip. That evil speaking and malice, which refers to any type of speaking that has an evil design, are also to be put away, are also to be destroyed in the life of the Christian. And now we come to our second and final main point. Replacing the root of bitterness and anger. Having identified it, having identified and shined the light of God's word by his spirit upon resentment and sinful anger in our lives. Now, we are to replace it. We are to put that off, that sinful anger and bitterness, we're to put that off, like an old, dirty set of clothes, sweaty, stinky clothes that we just worked out and put it off and put on something clean. Now, that which we're to put on is the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4.32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Dear ones, if the wall of godly self-control is to stand against the enemies of bitterness and sinful anger in all their forms, that wall must be fortified with kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness. Otherwise, you can be absolutely sure that you will be overcome by bitterness, resentment, vindictive type of anger. Consider these three graces that Christ has already purchased for you as his own beloved child and has purchased for you to put on. whether you're using the imagery of putting on and putting off, or using the imagery of the wall of self-control. He has provided these graces as mortar to build up, to hold fast that wall so that it is strong, so that it withstands the attacks of resentment and bitterness and anger, these three graces. of kindness and tenderheartedness and forgiveness. First of all, be ye kind one to another. This is the fruit of the Spirit actually that we already discussed. It's one of the fruit of the Spirit that's listed in Galatians 5.22. There it's called gentleness. But we noted when we went through that particular fruit of the Spirit that it can mean, and it's translated at different times, either as tenderness or as gentleness or as kindness. Kindness, dear ones, or gentleness, is the fruit of a mild and gracious heart, a gracious heart, a heart that is not hardened against but is rather graciously softened. It's mild. Not a severe and harsh heart that only cares about the truth, but a heart that speaks the truth in love. A heart that seeks, if at all possible, the more gentle approach with someone over the more harsh approach. in correcting others. If that is that which would be effectual and effective, the one who is kind will seek to choose that approach with others. And be kind one to another, tender-hearted, although tender-heartedness is not mentioned In the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, verses 22 through 23, it is a fruit of God's Spirit purchased for us by Jesus Christ and given to us by the Holy Spirit, which we are to grow in. Rather than seething in bitterness and seething in anger, put that off, and rather put on Dear ones, a tender heart, a soft heart, put on a heart of mercy. Grace, dear ones, grace is God giving us what we do not deserve. Mercy is not giving us what we do deserve. Grace is God giving us what we do not deserve, salvation, and all that that involves. Mercy is not giving us what we do deserve, hell and condemnation. This particular word, tenderhearted, comes from a root that is translated in other portions of the New Testament as mercy. Have a merciful heart. heart. A tender heart, dear ones, does not give the offender your full fury and wrath, but rather opens the door to the possibility of forgiveness, forgiveness and reconciliation. And be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. This is the third means of fortifying the wall of godly self-control against the onslaught of bitterness and anger. Biblically, forgiveness is a promise not to hold a sin or offense against the offender any longer. It is to cast the sin of another behind you and to remember that sin against the offender no longer so that there might be reconciliation. Jeremiah 31 verse 34, our God even speaks to this effect, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. That, dear ones, incredibly describes the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ It describes the forgiveness of God toward us who have sinned against him. And if our sins were to be stacked one upon the other, I'm sure my sins would reach to heaven itself. Micah 7, 19, we read of God's forgiveness. He will turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities and thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Divine forgiveness, dear ones, is only possible due to the mercy and the grace of our God. Grace in giving us what we do not deserve, mercy and withholding from us what we do deserve. Dear ones, in order to understand forgiveness, divine forgiveness, we have to understand that divine justice, God's justice demands a just punishment. Just as we would never consider a judge to be a just judge, and to allow a murderer, one who had murdered your mother, your father, your child, to go scot-free. Where's the justice in that? And so God is an absolutely holy and righteous judge, and his divine justice demands a just punishment. and the punishment for our sin, Romans 6, 23. For the wages of sin is death. What we earn is death, not only physical death, but eternal death in hell. That's what we deserve. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And that is precisely why Christ was sent into this world as the God-Man, to pay the punishment which sinners deserved, sinners chosen in Christ Jesus before the world began. On and only on the basis of that perfect sacrifice and payment by Jesus Christ, Is there forgiveness of sin by God as the absolutely righteous judge of all the earth? That divine forgiveness, dear ones, costs the believing sinner absolutely nothing. We cannot earn it and we cannot deserve it. It is of grace. It is free to us because Jesus paid it all. Jesus suffered and bore our punishment, the punishment of all those sinners chosen in Christ Jesus before the world began. All of those who lay hold of Jesus Christ by faith, Jesus Christ bore their punishment. He paid for the guilt and the penalty of our sins on the cross. That, dear ones, That is the gospel. That is the good news that I preach unto you today as Christ's ambassador. If you would defend your heart's doings against sinful bitterness and anger, and if you would walk in this world as a child of God, you too must forgive one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. When we refuse, dear ones, to forgive those who have sinned against us and have repented of their sin, we give forth, dear ones, reason to doubt, to doubt whether we ourselves have been forgiven. by the Lord, and whether we understand, whether we truly understand the forgiveness of God toward undeserving, unworthy sinners like you and me. In Psalm 86 5, we read, For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive, ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. God doesn't indiscriminately forgive. He forgives those who call upon Him, those who come to Him, seeking forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Likewise, we read in Luke 17, verses 3-4, Jesus said to His apostles, ìTake heed yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent, Forgive him. If he repent, forgive him. We don't indiscriminately forgive. We, like God, stand ready to forgive, but we look for repentance. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day again to thee saying, turn again to thee saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. In other words, how can we refuse to forgive or at least refuse to be ready to forgive when we have been forgiven so much? I'm reminded of the parable of the unforgiving servant taught by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 18. A king was settling accounts with his servants, Jesus said. And obviously, I'm paraphrasing that parable. And there happened to be one servant that owed him the equivalent of millions of dollars. Some even estimate, by way of taking what was said, 10,000 talents of gold, which is what the scripture says. using current currency exchange rates, that it's millions if not billions of dollars that was owed to this king by this servant. And he fell before the king and pled for the king's mercy. And the king had compassion, it says, upon him and forgave him entirely, entirely of his debt. And he went out and found a fellow servant who owed him the equivalent of hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars. And he grabbed the person by his cloak, shook him, saying to him, pay me now. Pay me what you owe me right now. And he said, I can't, I don't have it. And he took this fellow servant and had him thrown into debtor's prison. And this got back to the years of the king. And the king called the unforgiving, though forgiven, servant, the forgiven servant, but the unforgiving servant, back into his presence and called him to account. in effect saying, how could you not forgive someone who owed you so little in comparison to what you owed me and I forgave you of? How could you refuse to do that? Cast him forth into prison and let the tormentors have their way with him. Dear ones, That's the question. How can we refuse to forgive, or at least to be ready to forgive when we have been forgiven so much? If we're not ready to forgive, as I said, either we're not forgiven, we have not been forgiven, or we really don't understand what God has forgiven us of. How do you fortify the wall of self-control? Well, just to summarize, because I think I've covered it, but just simply to summarize. Recognize bitterness and anger for what it is, sin. Recognize that bitterness and anger for what it is, sin. And don't blame others for your bitterness and your anger. It is your sin. It is my sin. Others may have sinned against you, but it is you that has become bitter and angry. Secondly, repent of and seek God's forgiveness for that bitterness and anger. View it as an offense against God first and foremost. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done thou which was evil in thy sight. Repent of and seek forgiveness both from God and from anyone you may have offended by your own resentment and bitterness and anger. Thirdly, build the wall, fortify the wall of self-control with kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness. Dear ones, it may come as a shock But you don't have to become bitter and angry either against God or against man over what others have done to you regardless of what they have done to you. You do not have to become bitter and angry. And you might say, well, that's easy for you to say. You don't know, you don't understand what that person did to me. You know that's true, I don't know. But Jesus knows. The Lord Jesus knows what has been done unto you. And it is he Not I. It is He that commands us to put away all bitterness and anger. And He does know also, dear ones, what it is to be rejected, hated, despised. He knows what it is to suffer more than any man has ever suffered. who extends that invitation to come unto him all ye who are weary and heavy laden and he will give rest. The very one who knows is the one who is not filled with resentment and bitterness toward sinners, but is the one who came to seek and to save sinners. Yes, even resentful, bitter, and angry sinners to save them from their sin. You know, Joseph certainly could have said at the end of his life or at the end of Jacob's life after Jacob had died, Joseph could have said, I'm not going to forgive you brothers. You lied and said that I was dead that a wild animal had slain me. You lied to my father. You sold me into slavery. I was lied about by the mistress of my master. I was thrown into prison and there I was for years. And now that our father is dead, you want me to forgive you? He wasn't filled, dear ones, with resentment and bitterness in spite of all that he had suffered from his brothers. But rather he recognized that God was very, very much present when he was abused, when he was rejected, when he was hated, when he was sold into slavery, when he was lied about, When he's thrown into prison, God didn't abandon him. God was there. God had a good, wise, and holy purpose in all that Joseph suffered. Now, it's much more easy, granted, to look at Joseph than it is to look at our own life and what we have endured in our lives. But God was present. through all that you experienced. And God wants to take and remove that bitterness and that resentment and that anger from your life. But it will only be accomplished through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. It will only be accomplished Dear ones, as you are ready to forgive, if not able to forgive because there is no repentance coming, at least you are ready to forgive if it should come. In Exodus 15, a beautiful picture is given of how God sweetens that which is bitter. After Israel was delivered from slavery and bondage in Egypt. They crossed the Red Sea, and one of the things they first needed was water. Millions of them. Their cattle, their livestock, they needed water. But there was none, except this spring or this body of water that was bitter, that was so bitter you could not even drink it. And God commanded Moses to cut down a tree and to cast that tree into the bitter waters. And that would cause the waters miraculously to become sweet, and it did. but it's a beautiful picture of what the cross of Jesus Christ does in our hearts because our hearts are filled with bitterness by nature and anger by nature. But when God casts the cross of Jesus Christ into our life and we receive by faith what Christ has accomplished for us, our lives can become sweetened so that we not only know them, but all those around us know that we have been sweetened by the glorious grace and gospel of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ. The sweetening, dear ones, of the bitter waters is the sweetening of our bitter hearts. Praise be to His holy, gracious, and merciful name. Amen. Let us stand in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we cast, even now, all of our bitterness, all of our anger, upon Christ. We want no more anything to do with it. We wanted our God to be destroyed in our lives. We want the cross of Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ to sweeten our lives. We cannot do it ourselves. It comes through thy power through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We ask, our Lord, that Thou would accomplish this, that we might bring glory to Thee, that we might, Lord God, shine forth as a bright light as to what Jesus has done in our lives. Accomplish these things for Thy glory, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Still Waters Revival Books is now located at PuritanDownloads.com. It's your worldwide online Reformation home for the very best in free and discounted classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books, mp3s, and videos. For much more information on the Puritans and Reformers, including the best free and discounted classic and contemporary books, mp3s, digital downloads and videos, please visit Still Waters Revival Books at PuritanDownloads.com. Stillwater's Revival Books also publishes The Puritan Hard Drive, the most powerful and practical Christian study tool ever produced. All thanks and glory be to the mercy, grace, and love of the Lord Jesus Christ for this remarkable and wonderful new Christian study tool. 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