Angry People - Part 12

Have you ever studied the emotions of the Lord Jesus Christ as recorded in the four Gospels? Of course, at the top of the list would be compassion—compassion for the fallen, compassion for the lost, the afflicted, the sorrowing, the helpless. He is the compassionate Christ. 

But we must not forget also His courage and His holy anger. Yes, God is love; we know that. But God is also light, and light means holiness, and a holy God must express indignation at sin. You see, conviction without love makes bigotry. Love without conviction makes sentimentality. But when you have love plus conviction, then you have ministry. And that's what the Lord Jesus Christ displayed when He was here on earth. "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil," Psalm 97:10. 

Jesus did not get along with everybody. There were times when His holy anger had to be revealed against sin in the lives of people. Now, what sins in particular aroused His holy anger? We're going to look at a number of passages of Scripture, beginning at Mark 3. Here's the first sin that aroused the anger of the Lord Jesus Christ: the hardness of men's hearts. 

Mark 3. "And He entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there who had a paralyzed hand. And they watched Him, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse Him. And He saith unto the man who had the paralyzed hand, 'Stand forth.' 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. 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 as sound as the other. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him. But Jesus withdrew Himself with His disciples to the sea."

Hardness of heart. Actually, the word "hardness" in verse five of Mark 3 is the word "hardening." "Being grieved for the hardening of their hearts." The process was then going on, and it was grieving the Lord Jesus, and He was angry. Now let's consider these Pharisees. Luke 6:7 tells us that these people who were watching Jesus were the Pharisees and the Scribes. Here they were on the Sabbath day in the synagogue. They were showing respect to a tradition, but they had no concern for a needy man. Here is a man made in the image of God. The man had a paralyzed hand. And the Lord Jesus Christ saw this man, had compassion for him, and healed him. 

The Pharisees sat there watching, using this man as bait to trap the Lord Jesus. It's a terrible thing when you treat people as a means to an end and not as an end in themselves. Oh, these Pharisees would have bragged about their religion. They fasted, they prayed, they tithed, they were faithful in their attendance at the synagogue, but they had no love for needy people. They had no compassion for those who had problems. They came to watch, not to worship. Their motive for being there was a wrong motive; their attitude was a wrong attitude. They had already rejected Him. Back in Mark 2, you find this same crowd, in Mark 2:6, sitting and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?" 

They did not come to the house of God to worship God. They didn't come to hear the word, to be humbled, to be cleansed. No, they came to see what they could criticize. By the way, people still do that. It was Joseph Parker, the great British preacher, who was preaching in the City Temple in London, and after the service, someone came up to him and said, "Dr. Parker, you made a grammatical error in your sermon," and he told him what the error was. And Joseph Parker looked at the man and said, "And what else did you get out of the message?" That to me was a perfect rebuke. 

I've had similar experiences. You've preached your heart out—sure, you make mistakes occasionally. This is a part of life. James 3 tells us that if we don't occasionally say the wrong thing, well, we're not as normal as other people are. But you know, the important thing is to get the message from God, not to sit in church and be critical of the preacher, critical of the choir, critical of the soloist, of the ushers, and of the way other people behave. This is the way the Pharisees were acting. 

And when the Lord Jesus confronted them, they were silent. Mark 3:4, "But they held their peace." They would not answer His question. A hard heart. By the way, this is explained over in the book of Zechariah, the prophet Zechariah 7, and beginning at Zechariah 7:8. "And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying, 'Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, show mercy and compassions every man to his brother.'" Well, they certainly weren't doing that. "'And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.'" They were certainly doing that, weren't they? "'But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in His Spirit by the former prophets.'" 

This is exactly what happened in that synagogue service. They had no compassion for the needy man. They were critical of the Lord Jesus in their heart, hoping to find something they could criticize. They would not listen to the word of God, and they were hardening their hearts. This was the sin of the nation of Israel. Today, while you hear His voice, harden not your heart. And the result, of course, was judgment. The Lord Jesus just left. Mark 3:7, "But Jesus withdrew Himself." He didn't argue with them. He didn't stand and have a debate with them. If you don't want His truth, He goes someplace else. If you don't want to listen to the word of God and be set free, then stay in your bondage. They were hardening their hearts. And oh, this grieved the Lord, and it made Him angry—angry at the way they treated the man, grieved at the way they were treating themselves and treating the Lord. 

In Mark 3:5, it says, "And when He had looked round about on them with anger." Now, the tense of the verb there means momentarily He quickly looked about, and quickly His anger was aroused—a righteous indignation. The word "being grieved" is a present participle, a continuous, constant grief because of the hardness of their hearts. The Lord Jesus Christ today is still grieved at the hardness of people's hearts. People who listen to the word of God just to find something to criticize. People who are not concerned about the needs of other people. People who sit in the house of God pretending to be the people of God, and yet their hearts are hard. And our Lord is grieved and angered. 

In Mark 10, you have a second sin that the Lord Jesus gets angry at. Mark 10, beginning at Mark 10:13: pride. Pride that is born of selfishness. "And they brought young children to Him, that He should touch them: and His disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was much displeased, and said unto them, 'Permit the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter into it.' And He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them." 

What a beautiful scene this is. It was customary for parents to bring their children to the rabbis and ask the rabbis to bless them. We must point out that this is not a scene of baptism. They did not bring these children to the Lord Jesus for Him to baptize them. You say, "How do we know that?" Well, the answer is very clear in John 4:2. Jesus did not baptize anybody. And the apostles did the baptizing, according to John 4:2. 

If these people were bringing children to be baptized, Jesus would have received them, and the apostles would have baptized them. Instead, the apostles said, "Get away from here. The Lord doesn't want to see these little children. Move on, move on." They brought the children to the Lord Jesus that He might bless them. We still do that today.

One of the things I miss about my pastoral ministry, now that I am no longer pastoring a local church, is the privilege of dedicating children and parents to the Lord. It was always such a delight to watch the young men and young women fall in love and follow the will of God in marriage. I'd have the privilege of performing the marriage ceremony. And then a few years later, they'd come and say, "Pastor, we're going to start having a family." Such a joy to see those children come into the world, and then you would dedicate them. And now I'm visiting some of these former places and finding these children have grown up, and they're serving the Lord. That's a great joy. 

They brought the children to the Lord Jesus for His blessing. By the way, the word "those" in Mark 10:13 is masculine. "His disciples rebuked those that brought them." Most of the Sunday school picture books show the mothers bringing the children, but that's a masculine word; it's the fathers. Oh, I thank God for fathers who love the Lord enough and who love their children enough to bring their children up to know the Lord. If you've had a godly father, a godly grandfather, you ought to lift your heart in praise to God. One of the greatest blessings in all the world is to have a father who knows the Lord, who prays, and who wants his children to come to Jesus. 

The disciples were proud. They opposed the children coming to Jesus. Why? Well, to begin with, they had a false view of the Lord's ministry. They thought that the Lord was going to set up a kingdom. You don't need children in your kingdom. They did not understand the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had taught them. He had opened the Scriptures to them. He had told them, "Except ye become like a little child, you'll never make it." Now, He wasn't talking about being childish. He was talking about being childlike—humble, dependent, believing, clinging, looking for the wonder and the joy of life, going through life knowing that your Father will care for you. 

They had a false view of Christ's ministry. The next thing that happened was the rich young ruler came running up, and Jesus refused him. Imagine that! He accepts these poor little children, and He turns down a rich young ruler, someone with influence and money. And the disciples said, "Oh my, what's going on here? He's confused." No, He wasn't. By the way, we today accept the rich young ruler, and we turn down the children. 

I was preaching in a church one day, and there were a lot of children in between Sunday school and church running around having a good time, and the pastor apologized to me. He said, "Brother Wiersbe, I'm sorry for all that commotion." I said, "Don't apologize; Jesus loved it. Because He's the one who threw the adults out of the temple and told the children to stay in and sing their praises to God." The disciples had a false view of the children. They thought that children were not important to the Lord Jesus. Children are very important to the Lord Jesus. I wonder what God is going to do with child abusers. I wonder, when people stand before the throne of judgment who have done such wicked things to children, what are they going to say? 

God's going to deal with them. The Lord Jesus still loves the children—all the children of the world. By the way, what are you doing to reach the children of the world? Not just the children in your neighborhood and in your church families—the children of the world. Do you pray for children who live behind the Iron Curtain? Are you praying for the children in China? Are you praying for children in Africa? Are you doing what you can to reach the children of the world? The Lord Jesus says they want to come. He didn't say, "Bring them to Me"; He said, "Get out of the way and they will come to Me." "Permit the little children to come to Me, and forbid them not." Don't stand in their way.

Oh, no wonder the Lord Jesus became angry when He saw the pride of the disciples. They had a wrong view of our Lord, and a wrong view of the children, and they had a wrong view of themselves. They thought they could tell people to come and go. One of the worst things you can do is to get in the way of a child who wants to come to Jesus. I think of parents who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, and their children want to become Christians, and they want to serve the Lord, and those parents get in the way. Oh, what is God going to say to them at the judgment? 

There is a third sin that makes our Lord angry. It's found in Mark 11, beginning at Mark 11:15. "And they came to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out those that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of those that sold doves; and would not allow that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And He taught, saying unto them, 'Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves.' And the Scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy Him: for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His doctrine." 

Our Lord is angry at hypocrisy. He came to the temple. And here is the house of God. "My house." When He called it "My house," He was affirming His own deity. My house—the temple where God's glory should be revealed. Instead, what do you find? A supermarket, a religious supermarket. I think of all rackets, religious rackets are the worst. I think of all rackets, those who try to use religion, the name of Jesus, the Bible, just to get power and money and influence—those are absolutely the worst. 

I'm sure the greatest judgment is reserved for religious racketeers who pose to be holy and spiritual, but they're just using their position and their opportunity to gain for themselves. The Lord Jesus came into the temple, and He cleaned house. Now, the sad thing is, this religious supermarket was in the court of the Gentiles, the one area where the Gentiles could go. You'd think the Jews would have been in the court of the Gentiles trying to win the Gentiles, showing them the glory of God, opening to them the word of God, pleading with them to receive the love of God. But no, they were doing business. I think that many lost souls have turned away from the truth of God because they've seen religious business. We are worshipping a golden calf, and God is going to bring judgment. This whole enterprise was run by the high priest and his family for their own personal gain. 

Now, the Lord Jesus Christ quoted to them from Isaiah 56:7. "For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." Not a house of business—a house of prayer. That means faith and worship and glory to God. A house of prayer for all nations, all people, not just for the Jewish people, but for everyone. He also quoted from Jeremiah 7:11. "Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord."

What is a den of robbers? It's the place where robbers run to hide after they have robbed. They were turning the temple into a place to cover up their sin. You see, they'd come into the temple, and they'd make money off of the other people who had come in—Jews who had come from foreign lands who had to buy sacrifices and exchange money. Then they'd go in and say their prayers and go through their service, covering up their hypocrisy with religious worship. Read Isaiah 1. Read Matthew 23 to find out what God thinks of hypocrisy. 

The Lord Jesus Christ is angry at hardness of heart. He's angry at pride that gets in the way of people who want to come to Jesus. He's angry at hypocrisy that turns religion into a racket, a business, and then tries to cover it up with prayers and songs. One of these days, He's going to get angry at a lost world, and people are going to cry out, "Fall on us, hide us from the face of Him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb." Today, the Lamb is loving. Tomorrow, He may be angry. You had better trust Him.