Sermon On The Mount: Anger Series

Note: I used notes from Online Bible Themes and verse studies from Preacher’s Sermon and Outline Bible. This was written in 1997 so many years ago. Thought it would be great to share.

Title: Murder and Anger

Theme: To show the importance of having the right kind of anger

Text: Matthew 5:21-26

Matthew 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Two types of anger: justifiable and unjustifiable

I. Justifible anger, Gods anger

1. anger at wickedness, idoltry Ps 7:11

Wickedness is an evilness that is committed. It is a blatant disregard for sin. God is angry at this. He does not like sin but I believe he is more angry at blatant sin. This is when people get into idoltry. Sometimes maybe even witch craft. But God is angry at this. And so should we. I myself get angry at wickness. Those who are blatant in their sin. We should stand against wickness and stand for Christianity.

2. anger against forsakers, Is 1:4

God is angry with forsakers. These are people who knew God. These are here referring to the people such as the Israelites who have many times turned their back on God and went to other idols.

The strangest part is that they know the gospel. They are not people who have never heard the word and never accepted but they know what is right.

God is still angry today with those who have forsaken his word. People who at one time lived the Christian but has turned away from him.

Why is he provoked to anger?

1. It puts a bad image on Christianity

2. God does not want anyone go to hell but he wants all to be in heaven. God’s will is for all to be saved.

So God is angry at the forsakers.

3. anger against unbelief, Ps 78:21, 22

God is angry against unbelief. Let us go back to verse 12 and begin reading.

God is angry because all the wonders and miracles that he did for the Israelites and they still did not believe. What is it going to take? God wrought miracle after miracle after miracle but still they murmured against God. In the book of Numbers we see this 8 times. Sometimes one after another. It would seem that God would hardly be finished with a miracle then they would murmer. I believe this is why Moses got so mad and struck the rock instead of speaking to it as God had commanded we see this in Numbers 20.

There are people in society today that I don’t know what it is going to take to win them to Christ. God works miracles in their lives it seems every day but they still will not believe. I believe God is angry with these people. I believe that God is going to be harder on these people in judgment. They had so many chances but still they would not accept

We need more of this justifiable anger

II. Unjustifiable anger

1. as a result of pride, Proverbs 21:24

This a type of anger that comes from pride when a person thinks that they are better than the other person. We must be careful of this anger. This is an presumptions anger. You are presuming that you are better than others. God warns against us. As we know pride comes before fall. We must be careful of this in dealing with certain people of society. These maybe the handicap or those who don’t seem to be as fortunate as us. We sometimes think that we are better because of who we are and we get impatient with them in our dealings. This turns to anger.

James in his book warns us about playing favorites with the rich and the poor. We must not get to proud.