Series: Ephesians
Title: Be Angry and Sin Not
Text: Ephesians 4: 26-27
Date: June 21, 2014
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Ephesians 4: 26: Be ye angry, and sin not:
let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27: Neither give place to the devil.
Here is
another particular way in which we put off the old man and put on the new
man.
In the
context, we know the Holy Spirit is teaching true believers to endeavor to the
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Our
motive is that by the electing grace of God our Father, the redeeming blood
Christ our Savior, and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, he has made us
one in Christ’s body, the church.
Our
motive is that Christ has given us faithful preachers: to gather his lost elect
through the gospel, to root us and ground us in the truth so that we are no
more tossed by false doctrine, as Christ grows us up into him in all things
through speaking the truth in love.
Our motive
is that God has created in us a new man, we have been taught of Christ, have heard
Christ and learned Christ by whom we no longer walk as unbelievers walk. So by these mercies of God, we are exhorted
to put off the old man and put on the new man, to walk in the Spirit not in the
flesh.
So we
see the context has to do with the edification of Christ’s body through the
truth of the gospel. That is the end
purpose for all of these exhortations. So we will stay with this context, as we
look at todays’ exhortation.
Ephesians 4: 26: Be ye angry, and sin not:
let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27: Neither give place to the devil.
Be ye angry—according
to the context, if we are one with the triune God in Christ, then God is our
Father, Christ is our Everlasting Father and the Holy Spirit of God dwells in
us. In the inner man we will be (and should be) angry at evil, at sin, at false
doctrine—at everything that is contrary to the truth of God. He says, “Be ye angry.”
“And sin not:” There are two sides to this coin—we sin if we are not
angry toward falsehood and we sin if anger goes too far—both are sinful and
both are giving place to the devil.
“Let not the sun go down upon your wrath:” Though
anger against falsehood is just, we must quickly let it go or it becomes
sinful.
Proposal:
No believer obeys this exhortation in righteousness, Christ alone is our
righteousness. So for his sake we should both be angry and run unto him quickly
so that we do not continue in anger nor give place to the devil.
I. FIRST, AS WITH EVERY PRECEPT CHRIST GIVES
TO BELIEVERS, WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT YOU AND I WHO BELIEVE HAVE FAILED TO DO
THIS PRECEPT IN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS GOD REQUIRES, AS HAVE ALL MEN.
When we
were dead in sins, in our old man of flesh, we did not have spiritual
discernment. We did not have the love of God in us. So we never became angry at
lies against God’s glory, or against our sin, or against evil of any kind.
As
believers, due to our old sinful man of flesh, there are times when we hear
lies against God and have been lukewarm. That is sin. There are times we become
angry too quickly. That is sin. Sometimes we hold on to anger too long. That is
sin. We have not been nearly as angry
about our own personal sin as we ought to be. That is sin. We have let anger
bring forth ugly sinful thoughts, words or actions. That is sin. And we have
been angry without a cause. Christ said this,
Matthew 5:22: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry
with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment…
In each
of these cases, we sinned and we gave place to the devil. So not any one of us has fulfilled this exhortation
nor any precept in the righteousness of God. There are no precepts given of God
by which we can, or should attempt to earn a righteousness or make ourselves
acceptable with God. Sin is mixed with all we do. So be clear on this point.
II. SECONDLY, BE SURE TO UNDERSTAND, CHRIST
IS THE ONLY ONE WHO FULFILLED THIS PRECEPT, AS WELL AS ALL OTHERS, IN PERFECT
RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS.
The Son
of God was sent of God his Father to fulfill the whole law of God for his
people as our Head and Representative.
Isaiah 42:21: The LORD is well pleased for his
righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
Galatians 4: 4: But when the fulness of the time was
come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5: To redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Christ
said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfil.” (Mt 5: 17) Legalist say Christ means that the believer
is still under the law given at Mt. Sinai. But Christ said he came to fulfill
the law AND the prophets. If what the legalist says is so then believers are
responsible to fulfill the word of the prophets as well. NO, CHRIST ALONE
FULFILLS THE WHOLE LAW OF GOD, JUST AS CHRIST ALONE FULFILLS ALL PROPHECY.
The
first commandment given at Mt. Sinai is:
Exodus 20: 3: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4:
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything
that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the
water under the earth: 5: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve
them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God,…
All willful
sin, all willful falsehood, is against God who is Truth, against the glory of
God. It is to serve another god..
Psalm 103:8: The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to
anger, and plenteous in mercy.
But,
Psalm 7:11:…God is angry with the wicked every day.
Romans 1: 18:…the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness;
God’s Nature
This is
important. God’s anger is not a passion like the passion of man’s flesh. God is
Truth, Righteousness, Holiness, Justice, and Mercy. Anger against falsehood is the character of
holy God. God’s anger is not sinful like man’s anger; God’s anger is holy and
just displeasure and indignation. God’s wrath is against all ungodliness of men
which is the breaking of the first table of the law which is against God. God’s
anger is against all unrighteousness of men which is the breaking of the second
table of the law. God’s angers is against
those who hold the truth in unrighteousness. It includes those who have the light
of nature and reject God, those who know the gospel and reject it, those who
profess the truth yet are vain hypocrites, and those who know the truth but
refuse to declare the truth.
We see
God’s anger and wrath in the destruction of the old world in the flood in
Noah’s day. God’s anger is manifest in the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. We see it in the plagues against Egypt. The storms and tempests in nature are God’s
wrath revealed against sin. There are many examples against individuals
throughout the scriptures. Hell is the place of God’s fiery indignation, which
shall devour the adversaries. (Heb 10: 27)
The GodMan’s Nature
So in
order for Christ to fulfill the law of God he had to have the same nature as
God, the same character as God, to have the law of God in the heart so much so
that he was justly, righteously angry at that which God is angry at. Christ is God
and Truth. Therefore anger against falsehood is the holy nature of the GodMan.
Christ
is the only one who loved God and kept his commandments perfectly, even being angry
in perfect righteousness. It would be
unrighteous for Christ not to be angry at falsehood, at sin, at evil, at those willfully
attempting to rob God of his glory. So
being angry at ungodliness and unrighteousness and at those who hold the truth
in unrighteousness was necessary to Christ fulfilling all righteousness.
Examples of Christ’s Righteous Anger
Let’s
see a few examples of Christ’s righteous and holy anger, which was without sin,
which gave no place to the devil.
First,
we see Christ’s righteous indignation against the devil.
Matthew 4: 8: Again, the devil taketh him up into an
exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the
glory of them 9: And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou
wilt fall down and worship me. 10: Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence,
Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve.
Another
example much like this is when Peter tried to prevent the Lord from going to
the cross, “He rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou
savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.” (Mk 8:
33)
Another
example of Christ’s righteous indignation against those who hold the truth in
unrighteousness was with those who opposed him healing the man with the
withered hand on the Sabbath day.
Mark 3: 1: And he entered again into the synagogue; and
there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2: And they watched him, whether
he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3: And he
saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4: And he saith unto
them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life,
or to kill? But they held their peace. 5: And when he had looked round about on
them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto
the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand
was restored whole as the other. 6: And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway
[on the very day they pretended to regard] took counsel with the Herodians
against him, how they might destroy him. [Christ healed; they killed in their
hearts; Christ was angry righteously, they sinfully] 7: But Jesus withdrew
himself with his disciples.
Why was
Christ angry? The law of the Sabbath was a shadow; Christ is the Body which it
shadowed. God’s very glory is in sending Christ who is the believers Sabbath Rest.
God in Christ makes his people every whit whole and gives us rest from our
works through faith in Christ. But
seeking to make themselves righteous by their obedience to the law, the
Pharisee’s hearts were hard: they refused to hear the law declare them guilty,
they made gods of themselves, they showed no mercy toward the needy, they sought
to kill God and to steal God’s glory for themselves. That is what sin is, that
is what it is to hold the truth in unrighteousness. But Christ in perfect righteousness
served the true and living God, owning no God but the God of heaven and earth,
partly by being justly angry toward them, jealous for the glory of God. Yet, he sinned not, he fulfilled all righteousness
thereby.
Again,
Christ was fulfilling all righteousness when Christ cast out the money changers
in the temple.
Matthew 21: 12: And Jesus went into the temple of God,
and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the
tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13: And
said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer;
but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Matthew 23:14: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer:
therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
In
God’s temple, under pretense of glorifying God, they robbed God of his glory
and robbed his people. Therefore, Christ
was justly angry with them. Christ says those who rob God and his people under
pretense of religion shall receive the greatest damnation of all in hell. Hell
will be the just wrath and anger of Christ himself against sinners who rejected
Christ—
Revelation 6: 16: And said to the mountains and rocks,
Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and
from the wrath of the Lamb: 17: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who
shall be able to stand?
Psalms 2:12: Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the
way, when his wrath is kindled but a little…
Sin Not, Quickly Let Go of Anger
Yet,
our text says, “Sin not; let not the sun
go down upon your wrath.” Our Savior is the sinless one. He knew no sin. We see in the Psalms what our Savior did when
he stood in sinless anger against his adversaries. The Psalms are primarily
Christ speaking with God his Father. And
the Psalms are Christ instructing his people in the things of God. Psalm 4 is
Christ speaking when he served God in this earth for his people.
Psalm 4: 2: O ye sons of men, how long will
ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after
leasing? Selah.
I can
hear the Master say these words as he cast those men out of the temple, as he
looked upon the Pharisee’s in anger. Christ
Jesus is the glory of God. His works
declare the glory of God—God’s holiness, love, righteousness, justice, mercy,
longsuffering—the glory of God. But
sinners turned his glory into shame, love vanity and seek lies. But Christ did not sin in his anger against
men. In the next verse Christ is communing with his own heart, speaking within
himself, looking to God whom he served.
And he is teaching us as well.
Psalm 4: 3: But know that the LORD hath set
apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
Christ
Jesus is the godly whom the LORD God set apart for himself before the world
began. Christ knew God the Father had set him
apart. He knew “the LORD will hear when
I call unto him.” In the next verse Christ still speaks in his own heart and
teaching us how to be angry and sin not.
Psalm 4: 4: Stand in awe, [be ye angry] and
sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, [let not the sun go
down upon your wrath] and be still. [neither
give place to the devil] Selah.
Christ
stood in awe—angered at the hardness of man’s heart who turned his glory into
shame. But he did so in perfect righteousness without sin. He communed with his
own heart, looking to God who separated him and God who would hear him. So he
was still; so he gave no place to the devil. The next verse is still Christ
speaking with himself and teaching us who believe.
Psalm 4: 5: Offer the sacrifices of
righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
Psalm 51: 17: The sacrifices of God are
a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Christ teaches us the way he gave no place to
sin, no place to the devil, is by pouring out his broken heart to God. Though he was angry, he was grieved for the
hardness of sinner’s hearts. Christ, as the servant of God whom he was sent to
serve, put his trust in Jehovah who sent him to be his righteous servant. This
is what Christ did and what we are to do quickly when we become angry over that
which is against God or contrary to God both in ourselves and in others. He poured out his heart to God and put his
trust in the LORD Jehovah.
Review:
So we have seen that Christ fulfilled the righteousness of this precept. We
have seen how Christ sinned not, how he quickly let go of his righteous
indignation and gave no place to the devil by turning to God his Father.
But not
only did Christ represent his people being righteously angry and sinning not,
then Christ presented himself to the Father as the spotless Lamb of God and was
made sin for us, who knew no sin. He was made the sin of his people in our not
being righteously angry as we ought.
Then on
the cross, Christ bore the righteous anger of God—the wrath of God—the eternal
judgment of God which his people deserved. Thus Christ declared God just.
Therefore,
having finished this work of magnifying and fulfilling the whole law of God in
precept and penalty as the Representative and Substitute of God’s elect
Romans 6: 6: our old man is crucified with him, that the
body of sin might be destroyed…
Hebrews 1: 3: Christ purged the sins of his people
Hebrews 9: 12: He obtained eternal redemption for us
Hebrews 10: 14: He perfected forever them that are
sanctified
2 Corinthians 5: 18:…He reconciled us to God
Colossians 2: 14: He blotted out the handwriting of
ordinances—[the dogma—the whole law]—that was against us, which was contrary to
us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Therefore,
for every believer, God says,
Romans 10:4: Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth.
Romans 6:14: For sin shall not have dominion over you:
for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Galatians 5:18: But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are
not under the law.
So we
see that Christ alone established the law of God—including being righteously
angry as we ought to be at all times against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, against those who hold the truth in unrighteosness. He
did so without sin, without giving place to the devil. Then he put away our sin for this very
precept, as well as for all others. Our righteousness and holiness in this
precept, as with all others, is Christ alone. He is the Righteousness of his
people through faith. We establish the law of God in perfect righteousness
through faith in him. So these exhortations are not to bring us under law, they
are not for us to attempt to earn a righteousness or a reward above our
brethren or any such thing.
III. LASTLY, LET’S UNDERSTAND THIS
EXHORTATION—
Seeing
how Christ has justified us and made us the righteousness of God in truth,
seeing as how Christ has sent the gospel, sent the Holy Spirit and created
within us a new man, therefore in the inner man, at every false way which is
against our God and Savior—Ephesians 4:
26: Be ye angry,…
Someone
said: “If we would be angry and not sin, we must be angry at nothing but sin;
and we should be more jealous for the glory of God than for any interest or
reputation of our own.”
It is
popular in our day for religious folks to speak of getting along with those who
speak lies against our Redeemer and not letting points of doctrine separate
us—they promote it in the name of love. This simply is not scriptural. Love is to speak the truth in love. Love stands with Christ and his people
against all falsehood. The inner man has a nature like Christ, so our new man
cannot bear lies being told against God our Father. And we are told plainly not to bear them. (Be
ye not unequally yoked)
For the sake of Christ our Righteousness, when
a believer sees or hears sin and falsehood and is not angry with it, we sin through
not being angry. We should be angry: at our own sin, at the ungodliness of men, at the unrighteousness
of men, and at those who hold the truth in unrighteousness
A believer that
is never angry at these things has no strong convictions in him. And if a man is
not angry at evil how can he rejoice in that which is good. Be ye angry.
Why? One
reason is so that we might teach those nearest to us the error of sin and
falsehood. Another reason is to be true
to the body of Christ. Another reason is
to be a witness to those yet lost who Christ shall call by his grace. Here is a very important reason: to not let
our silence be a commendation of sin and falsehood.
But
catch the next part Eph 4: 26: and sin
not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27: Neither give place to the
devil.
Be not angry
without a just cause and be not quick to anger.
Ecclesiates 7:9: Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry:
for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
And let
anger go quickly. Follow Christ. Psalm
4: 3: know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD
will hear when I call unto him. 4: Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your
own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. 5: Offer the sacrifices of
righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
The one
way not to let anger rest in the heart is to turn to Christ even as he turned
to the Father. Remember God set you
apart in Christ and God will hear us for Christ’s sake. Sin and falsehood makes us angry but it also
breaks our heart. So commune upon your bed—offer up the sacrifices of
righteousness—go to Christ with your broken heart quickly. Put your trust in Christ our Sovereign
Head. He is able to turn the hearts of
men whichever he will. The only way to be angry then let it go and sin not is
this:
Proverbs 3: 5: Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6: In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths. 7: Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD,
and depart from evil. 8: It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy
bones.
So
understand, we have not kept this precept in ourselves in righteousness. But Christ did and he paid our sin for not
doing it as we ought. We have done it perfectly in Christ our Righteousness and
his obedience is ours through faith. So
with Christ as our Righteousness, our Motive and our Refuge from sin and the
devil.
Ephesians 4: 26: Be ye angry, and sin not:
let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27: Neither give place to the devil.
Amen!