From His Heart

Speaker 1

Help is on the way. Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve.

Speaker 2

God wants to help you with your anger. God wants you to do well with your anger so that you can have victory over your anger.

So when the Lord says to Cain, "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?" what does he mean by that? What does doing well look like? What was Cain supposed to do?

He can heal every scar.

Song: Real truth, real love, real hope. From his heart.

Speaker 1

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you so much for joining us today for part two of the lesson called the Giant of Anger.

Hey, if we're honest, all of us would probably admit to encountering the giant of anger at some point in our lives. But for some, anger is really a problem. Do you know how to defeat the giant of anger? You'll find out today in this intensely important lesson for us all. We'll learn to trust God and allow him to be in charge when we face the giant of anger.

The message today is one of seven in Pastor Jeff's Land of the Giants series. And it's our thank you gift for your support this month of any amount from his heart. To do that, you can go to fromhisheart.org, but first, open your Bible to Genesis, chapter four.

Here now is Pastor Jeff Shreve to show us God's plan for defeating the giant of anger.

Speaker 2

Notice with me three insights about this giant that we all face: the giant of anger.

Insight number one: the giant of anger is not righteous indignation. You know, we read in the Bible about God getting angry. God gets angry over sin, injustice, and unbelief. He's angry, but He doesn't ever sin because He's angry at sin, at injustice, at unbelief. That's not a sin. The Bible says, "Be angry and yet do not sin," and "don't let the sun go down on your anger." Don't give the devil a place. When you allow unrighteous anger, like Cain had, to have a place in your heart and you respond in anger, it's like throwing a welcome mat out for the devil, and he will wreak havoc in your life.

Second insight: where does the giant of anger come from? It comes from a desire for control. Really, when you boil it down, what is anger all about? It's a desire for control. I want you to do what I want you to do. My good friend in seminary, preaching Professor Wayne McDill, has a great definition of anger. He says that anger is the feeling of hostility and aggression in reaction to some circumstance or event that poses a threat to one's control. It deals with the issue of authority. As we read the story of Cain, who is the emphasis of Genesis chapter 4, we see that his name is mentioned 16 times, twice as many times as Abel's name. Even in the second to the last book of the Bible, in the book of Jude, it is still talking about Cain. First John chapter three talks about Cain being of the evil one, and he killed his brother.

Cain's situation is that he is mad at God because God is not doing what Cain wants Him to do. God is doing it God's way, and Cain wants God to do it Cain's way. The Lord had communicated to Cain and Abel that when you come before Him, you come with a blood sacrifice. We know that's true because the scripture says in Hebrews chapter 11 that Abel, by faith, offered a more acceptable sacrifice than did his brother. Cain gets mad—hopping mad, burning mad—because God accepted Abel's offering and sacrifice, but He didn't accept Cain's. When you come to God, you have to come God's way.

Now, here's the heart of anger: the heart of anger is the heart of sin, and the core of sin is wanting to be in charge and have it your way. God is in charge, and we have to trust His way. We have to go His way, not just in the offering, but in life. We get mad when things don't go the way we want them to go. The giant of anger comes from a desire for control.

Insight number three: the giant of anger is defeated when you choose God's grace over your control. Look at it again in verse 6. Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?" God is gentle with Cain. He's kind and merciful with Cain. When God asks Cain, "Why are you angry?" He's not asking for information; He wants Cain to really consider this. It's important to remember that God wants to help you with your anger. He wants to help me; He wants to help us as we deal with that giant of anger that pops up in our lives.

Cain was hurt, and because he didn't process the hurt correctly, he became very angry. That anger turned to resentment and bitterness, and who was that directed toward? It was toward God. He took it out on Abel, his brother. He's angry and bitter at God, jealous of Abel. I believe that any person you see who is angry, resentful, or bitter knows deep down that their problem is really with God. Why? Because God is in control of all things. If God had just done what He should have done, if He had stepped up, if He had protected me, then this wouldn't have happened. The problem is really with God, although we don't like to say that. We say, "Well, it's this person that I'm mad at." No, you're really mad at God, and your bitterness problem is with God. God wants to help you process that.

Cain, why are you angry? And why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? So let's talk about doing well. God wants to help you with your anger. He wants you to do well with your anger so that you can have victory over it. When the Lord says to Cain, "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?" what does He mean by that? What does doing well look like? What was Cain supposed to do? Well, what Cain was supposed to do is the same thing you and I are supposed to do when we struggle with the giant of anger.

Number one, we humble ourselves. Victory comes when you humble yourself. Cain was walking in pride, wanting things his way. He was singing that Frank Sinatra song, "I'll do it my way." But God says, "No, you're not going to do it your way. I'm the king, and we do it My way." The first step to victory is to humble yourself before God and say, "Lord, this isn't about my way. It's all about Your way. You're the king, and I am nothing." As the scripture says, "All the nations are as nothing in His sight; they are regarded by Him as nothing and less than meaningless." God is the great king of the universe. The audacity for Cain to try and tell God how things ought to be is just mind-blowing. But we do the very same thing when we want our way.

The scripture says in First Peter chapter 5, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety, your cares upon Him because He cares for you." So that's the first step in victory over the giant of anger: you humble yourself.

Secondly, you confess your sin. Cain needed to humble himself before God. He needed to confess, "God, I am angry with You, and I'm wrong to be angry with You because this isn't about Cain. Life isn't about Cain; life is all about You, Lord. I confess my sins." The Bible says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Then thirdly, victory comes when you forgive from the heart. You forgive from the heart. You don't just forgive with lip service; you really forgive. Jesus said that in Matthew chapter 18, the great parable on forgiveness. He told the story about the servant who owed his master 10,000 talents, which is an amount that far exceeds anything that anyone could comprehend in that day and age. That master forgave and released the servant of that debt. Then that servant went and found somebody else who owed him a pittance compared to what he owed the master. He grabbed him by the throat and threw him into jail, saying, "You're not going to get out of here till you pay the very last cent."

When the master heard what that servant had done, he brought him before him and said, "I had mercy on you even though you owed me such a great debt. You found a fellow servant who owed you a pittance in comparison, and you threw him into jail." The Bible says that the master was moved with anger and threw that unrighteous servant into prison, saying, "You're going to stay in there till you pay every last cent," which was impossible. Then Jesus said, "Thus shall my heavenly Father do to you if you don't forgive your brother from your heart."

To really forgive is hard for lots of people. The most recognizable prayer in the Bible is what's commonly referred to as the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." Many people know this prayer; we learned it as kids growing up, but we don't know the verses that follow.

The very next verse says, "For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." How are you going to walk with God if God won't forgive you? You can't. You can't. You better never sin again if God says, "I'm not going to forgive you." The Lord says, "Forgive us our trespasses, Father, as we forgive those who trespass against us."

Well, how do you forgive your debtor? Because that's the way God's going to forgive you. You have to forgive from your heart. I want you to think of anger in terms of a meter. A person who is at peace with God and with man has an anger meter at zero. His heart is right, and he's not angry and bitter at anyone. When things happen in life that jostle you—like getting cut off in traffic or the computer dying right when you're printing something important, causing you to lose all your work—you might get minor irritations.

If you play golf, you might learn about how it is to fight the giant of anger. When these things happen, what happens to the meter? It goes up 2 or 3 points. At the top, where you go ballistic, is 10. If you start off at zero and someone does something to you, maybe it goes up two or three points, but you're still under control because you're only at a three. Maybe something else happens, and you reach a five or a six. You have to process that anger to get it down so you're back at zero.

Here's what happens in people's lives, especially in marriages: the meter goes up because of hurts, and it doesn't go down because people don't process the hurts. Something happens, and the meter rises to about a seven and a half. If you're walking around with an anger meter at eight, and 10 means you go ballistic, it doesn't take much for you to go up two points. Sometimes you're around someone, and something minor will happen, and they just freak out. You're left wondering, "What in the world happened to you?"

Victory comes when you humble yourself, when you confess your sin, when you forgive from the heart, and when you go God's way. That's what God is giving Cain the opportunity to do. He said, "Cain, listen, if you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? All you have to do, Cain, is humble yourself and bring a blood sacrifice to Me and offer that blood sacrifice to Me, and I will accept you and your offering."

You have to change your heart. The sacrifice he brought revealed a rotten, prideful, sinful heart. If you do that, then I'll accept you, and your countenance will be lifted up. But if you don't do it, let me tell you something, Cain, that you don't understand: right on the other side of the door, there is sin. It is crouching and waiting like a lion, and it will devour you. Sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it.

God wants to help you with your anger. He wants you to do well with your anger. He wants you to master your anger so it doesn't master you. As we read the story, Cain didn't do what God told him to do. The Bible says in Jude chapter one, verse 11, "Woe to them. They've gone the way of Cain." The way of Cain is the way of woe. The way of Cain is to do it my way.

If you don't accept me, then you know what I'm going to do? Okay, God, you want a blood sacrifice? I'll give you a blood sacrifice. He went and talked to his brother Abel, lured him out into the field, and the Bible says in First John chapter 3, verse 12 that Cain, who was of the evil one, slew his brother Abel. Why? Because Cain's deeds were evil and his brother's were righteous.

The word "slew" literally means to butcher an animal sacrifice, to slit the throat of an animal sacrifice. This shows Cain's heart. He says, "God, you want a blood sacrifice? I'll give you a blood sacrifice." He went out and slit the throat of his brother Abel, bringing disaster into his life. That's what happens when anger is out of control.

Just like anything, we think, "Oh, I got this under control." But unless you're going God's way with your anger, unless you're choosing His grace over your control, that anger is going to one day take you down. Sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must master it.

I think I told you some months ago about this book I read called "The Longest My Tour of the Galaxy" by Grace Lee Whitney. She played Yeoman Janice Rand in the original Star Trek series. She only got to play in about 11 episodes because they wrote her out of the show. She was sexually accosted by one of the executives on the show, and to cover up that sexual assault, they just axed her from the show. Grace Lee Whitney had tremendous problems as a result of that. She was already struggling with alcoholism, and she went into full-blown alcoholism. That turned into drug addiction and then a sexual addiction. She was just an awful person, totally out of control, angry and bitter at the things that happened to her.

In her story, she comes to know Christ. She is delivered and set free from all her addictions, and she begins to work with others to help them through their addictions. She was doing so well, but then something happened to one of the girls she was working with. Her name was Carrie. Carrie had taken her boss's car, a red Porsche, by his request to run some errands. It was a convertible and very sharp looking. She took it out in California, in the Los Angeles area, and was carjacked. The young men ran into her car, and when she got out to talk to them, they kidnapped her and stole the car. When they were done with her, they took her to East LA, shot her twice in the head, and dumped her out on the street like she was a bag of garbage. But she survived.

When Grace Lee Whitney heard what happened to her friend Carrie, she said, "I got so angry." It was right to be angry—righteous indignation. But she got so angry that it turned into a seething, boiling hatred. She said, "I hated the men that did that to my friend Carrie. I would think in my mind, 'I wish I could kill the men who did that to my friend Carrie.'" It began to dominate her life—her hatred for these men.

She had a boss who recognized that this wasn't going well. She called Grace into her office and said, "Listen, you have to do something about this anger and hatred in your heart because, Grace, it's going to destroy you. It's going to lead you back to your alcohol, back to your drugs, and back to your addictions." Grace said, "I understand that, but I don't know how to get rid of it."

Her friend wrote down these words on a piece of paper: "If you can't forgive the sin, you must forgive the sinner." Grace said, "I didn't understand what that meant, but I went home that night, and I went out on my back patio and I prayed." This was her prayer: "All right, God, I don't know how to do this, but I surrender all my hate and resentment to You. You know I'm full of rage and fear, and I don't even mean what I'm saying right now. But I can't go on hating like this. So, God, I'm going to forgive those men for what they did to my friend. I forgive them in the name of Jesus, and I wish them love, joy, salvation, and redemption—all the things I have received from You, I wish for them. I'm sorry that I've resented them for so long."

She said, at that moment, the pain and hatred disappeared, and it never returned. You know what she did? She chose God's grace over her control. What she did, you can do, and you can start today.

Speaker 1

If anger has been the giant problem in your life, perhaps like Grace Lee Whitney, you too can choose God's grace over your own control. For more than 20 years, Pastor Jeff Shreve has been sharing God's word on radio, TV, and online. God has done so much more than we could have ever imagined back then. And he has led you and others to partner with us in this exciting journey. And that just delights our hearts from his heart.

This month, we want to ask you to consider a generous gift as we launch a brand new outreach, a new initiative to reach the Spanish and Portuguese people with our daily radio and weekly TV broadcast. As we translate into those languages, it's a giant task, and we're trusting God that he will continue to support this effort through the generous hearts of our supporters.

For your gift this month, we'll say thank you by sending you the series "The Land of the Giants" and the booklet "When You Don't Like Yourself" from Pastor Jeff. He receives no income from this ministry; he's our chief volunteer. You can get this resource when you call 866-40-BIBLE or go online to promisheart.org. Just request "Land of the Giants" when you reach out to us. And God bless you for helping us share the truth to a new and diverse audience.

Well, time is up for today, but we do want to close with a timely verse as you continue your walk with the Lord today. In the book of James 1:19-20, he says, "Know this, my beloved brothers: Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God."

Well, we pray that was a blessing to you and that we can be a blessing to you again next time when we present the next message in the "Land of the Giants" series called "The Giant of Lust." That'll be on Friday right here on From His Heart.

Speaker 2

There is truth there is hope that you always dream love he can heal every scars from his heart.

Speaker 1

From his heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shrieve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world.

Remember that no matter what, God loves you and he has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out about that when you go to promisheart.org.