Proverbs 19:19
A Man of Great Wrath
a. Heat, rage, hot displeasure, indignation, anger, wrath, burning anger.
b. Very strong feeling of displeasure, hostility, and antagonism, usually in relation to a wrong.
c. Intense anger; hot displeasure.
d. This particular term for anger is used 129 times. And there are several other terms used even more often.
e. That is because anger is a very real problem with us all. This problem has been around for a LONG time. It is part of our nature.
f. Thus, it is mentioned often in the Scriptures, because we need to hear about it often.
2. Prov. 27:4 – Wrath is cruel and outrageous.
a. People do and say some very cruel things when they are angry.
b. We’ve all done it… we’ve all said cruel things in anger… even to the people we love the most.
c. Of course, anger doesn’t EXCUSE our behavior.
d. But knowing what anger leads to should cause us to seek to control anger all the more!
3. Consider what the king of Babylon did when he was angry.
a. Dan. 3:13, 19 – Nebuchadnezzar was in a fury because Daniel’s three friends did not bow to his image.
b. We read a lot about kings getting angry.
• There is probably a good reason for that.
• Kings were brought up in the lap of luxury, and were used to getting whatever they wanted when they wanted it.
• When they DIDN’T get what they wanted, they often went into a rage… because they were not used to that… and didn’t know how to handle the word “no.”
c. In Daniel 3, the king’s inordinate pride was hurt by hearing these three men say “no”… and he became angry.
d. He had them thrown alive into a fiery furnace… and he heated it up 7 times its normal heat… because he was angry.
e. That’s a pretty outrageous thing to do, but wrath is outrageous. Solomon warns us about how cruel and outrageous anger can be.
f. We are told this for a purpose—that we might DEAL with our own anger as soon as it begins to stir. Don’t wait until it boils out of control. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
4. Prov. 25:28 – He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
a. Uncontrolled anger is the result of a lack of self control.
b. This is a pitiful man. He has no self discipline. He has no self control.
c. He is like a city without walls: meaning, he is wide open for the enemy to attack. He is weak and vulnerable… defenseless.
5. Prov. 6:34 – For jealousy is the rage of a man.
a. Jealousy is the source of much rage and anger.
b. A man is jealous because he doesn’t have what others have—and he gets angry… very angry!
c. There may be a multitude of reasons WHY he doesn’t have what others have.
d. He may not have many friends because his anger chases them away… and he becomes jealous of others who DO have friends.
e. He may not have a good job because he doesn’t control his anger, and keeps on getting fired.
f. He may be lazy, and does not have what others who work hard have… so jealousy flares up and causes him to be angry. (That’s not fair! I should have gotten that promotion!)
g. There are lots of reasons behind a person’s anger.
h. But the PRIMARY reason is SELF.
• I don’t have what I think I should have! I’m mad!
• I deserve this and that and I didn’t get it… so I’m mad.
• I was insulted by what he said. Nobody treats me that way. Doesn’t he know who I am? I’m mad!
• When you look at life through that vain little prism of SELF, it is easy to even justify such anger.
• “I have a right to be angry. Don’t they know that I deserve to be number one! If they drop me down to number two, I will be really angry!”
• It is simply a manifestation of one’s vain, old, SELF…
• When self is slighted, self gets mad!
6. When our proud, arrogant old SELF is reigning, and he doesn’t get his way—look out! That’s trouble.
a. Prov. 29:22 – Angry men stir up strife wherever they go. They go from one controversy to another.
b. And they abound in sin. (It gets them in a lot of trouble).
7. Modern psychology has created its own way of dealing with anger.
a. They often say, “Express it… release it…”
b. They say to vent it out in a harmless way. (Punch a pillow; they hold yell and scream sessions to vent it…)
c. They view anger almost as if it were steam boiling up in a pressure cooker that has to be released or it will blow up.
8. The Bible has a very different way of dealing with anger.
a. Psalm 37:8 – “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.”
b. God doesn’t say VENT it out. He says “cease.”
c. God expects us to obey. Anger CAN be controlled.
d. The fruit of the Spirit is self control. This requires divine power to have victory over anger.
e. Cease: to relax, withdraw, idle, to let drop, abandon, relax, refrain, forsake, to let go, to go limp; to be quiet.
f. This is quite the opposite of what psychology says to do with anger.
g. It is not an energy that needs to be released.
h. Rather, repentance is what is needed—a change of mind.
i. Choose to say NO to anger. Choose to abandon in the strength of the Lord what God says to abandon.
j. It is NOT our nature to do so, but by God’s grace and in God’s strength, the fruit of the Spirit can be manifested through us.
k. God says cease from anger and He means it. And He never commands us to do anything that we are unable to do in His strength.
9. There is HOPE of course… and that hope is found in Jesus Christ.
a. When one comes to Christ, he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit… and the fruit of the Spirit is self control.
b. This doesn’t mean that believers don’t get angry. (We certainly do!) But it DOES mean that believers have access to the power of the Spirit to have victory over anger… temperance: self control!
c. By yielding to the Lord, victory over anger is possible for all those in Christ. Faith is the victory.
d. Men of great wrath as described here CAN be transformed into the image of Christ!
1. There are consequences to uncontrolled anger.
a. There are always consequences to sin…
b. There is a price to be paid for violating any of God’s principles.
c. Here Solomon says that he shall be PUNISHED.
d. Punish: fine, penalty, tribute.
e. The term is only used twice. In the other passage it speaks of a monetary fine that had to be paid—tribute.
f. Here it speaks of a penalty in a more general sense: there is a PRICE to pay for one’s anger.
g. That price can be minor or very serious depending upon the circumstances.
h. Demonstrating anger in public can cause you embarrassment.
i. It can be more serious if results in arguments and loss of friends.
j. It can have a more serious penalty if it causes you to lose your job.
k. It can be even worse if you end up killing someone out of anger and are sent to death row.
l. The penalties for anger vary greatly depending upon the circumstances.
m. Solomon warns us here that there IS a price to pay for uncontrolled anger.
2. Prov. 22:24-25 – “Make no friendship with an angry man.”
a. Here’s another consequence of uncontrolled anger: they lose friends in a hurry!
b. This is a warning to us too. Don’t chose this kind of person as your friend. Avoid getting close to that kind of a man because this kind of bad behavior is easily spread.
c. Evil communications (fellowships) corrupt good manners.
d. Here is some good advice to young ladies seeking a mate!
e. This kind of person gets in all kinds of trouble… and does things that are cruel and outrageous. Seek your friends elsewhere.
f. Elders are not to be strikers or brawlers. They are not to be hot heads.
g. This is a very poor quality—and one God warns us about in various contexts in the Bible.
h. Take heed! We’ve been warned.
1. Deliver: to defend; to rescue; to save; to cause to escape;
a. In this context, the man of wrath faces “punishment” (a fine).
b. By paying the fine and bailing him out of trouble, you are delivering him.
c. He is delivered when the punishment is paid for him by someone else.
d. Those who would deliver such a man do so with the best of intentions. They don’t want to see him suffer… and seek to rescue him from suffering.
2. But here Solomon states how futile it is to try to bail out an angry man from the messes he makes for himself.
3. If you deliver him (bail him out of the mess he made), you will just have to do it again… and again… and again… and again…
4. In other words, Solomon says, let him suffer the divinely appointed punishment that anger deserves.
5. If you keep on bailing him out, he never pays the price… and thus never learns the lesson.
6. That is hard to do if it is a loved one. However, sometimes love has to be tough.
a. But remember what he said in vs. 18: “Let not your soul spare for his crying.”
b. That same principle parents need to employ in dealing with LITTLE children have to employ in dealing with GROWN children too.
c. Hearing the little child cry breaks the heart of the parent spanking the child.
d. Solomon says: Don’t stop spanking. They NEED to learn the lesson. Don’t allow emotion to cause you to ROB that child of the discipline he needs to learn from the lesson.
e. The same truth is found in the next passage. This is really the same kind of situation—only an advanced case.
f. Don’t allow your emotions to cause you to bail him or her out of trouble. They need to learn the lesson the hard way… by paying the price.
7. If you don’t take heed… and you keep bailing him out, you will find yourself stuck in a revolving door… an endless cycle of bailing him out… and because he didn’t pay the price, he didn’t learn the lesson, and doesn’t control his anger, and thus it will explode again… only to start the cycle all over again…
8. At some point you have say, “Enough is enough. It’s time to pay the price.”