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[0:00] Today is so, so good to see you as we gather at the start of our new week in the name of our risen Saviour Jesus. And I want to thank you all very, very much for being here. And we look forward to worshipping together and to hearing God's word speak to us all.

[0:15] So a very, very warm welcome to you. Just before we start, a couple of things to mention from the bulletin. Well, maybe just the vacancy committee meeting. I made a hash in my diary and various other things as well also clashed.

[0:26] So we were due to meet this Tuesday, but we've just put it back a week just due to unforeseen clashes. So all of those in the vacancy committee, please make note of that. And that'll be a week on Tuesday at 7.30.

[0:40] And an hour before that, the deacon's court will also meet just to go over a couple of things regarding some repairs in the manse. So please just note those changes.

[0:51] Loads and loads of other things on the bulletin there. So please just do remember the lights with Shoebox Appeal. It's great to have plenty notice to be building up things for that.

[1:02] It won't be long until it's autumn and the shoeboxes are getting ready to be dispatched. Tonight, the service will be taken by Reverend Ben Castaneda. Ben is a lecturer in New Testament and Greek at the college in Edinburgh.

[1:16] And it'll be great to hear him. He'll be fantastic. He's preaching in Carlyway this morning and he'll be here tonight. So do come along to that if you have any more. All the other things are there for you to read.

[1:30] Most important thing of all is that we're here to worship together. And so we're going to begin by singing from Psalm 95. And this psalm, it's one of my favourite psalms to sing at the start of a service.

[1:44] You've got this great call at the beginning. Oh come, let us sing to the Lord. Come, let us everyone. A joyful noise make the rock of our salvation.

[1:55] And in all the busyness of life, in all the pressures that we're under, in all the bruises that life brings, as a new week begins, it is so good to just come to the Lord, to sing to him with joy and to be reminded of his amazing goodness towards us through his Son, our Lord Jesus.

[2:12] So Psalm 95, verses 1 to 6, to God's praise. O come, let us sing to the Lord.

[2:29] Come, let us every heart, a joyful noise speak to the Lord.

[2:49] Come, let us every heart, a joyful noise speak to the Lord. Let us sing, Lord, a joyful noise speak to the Lord.

[3:29] with grace, and make a joyful noise, for God is God and the King.

[3:55] God and the Lamb of God. God and the Lamb of God. God and the Lamb of God.

[4:07] God and the Lamb of God. God and the Lamb of God. God and the Lamb of God. God and the Lamb of God. God and the Lamb of God. God and the Lamb of God.

[4:18] God and the Lamb of God. God and the Lamb of God. This is to help the species he belongs.

[4:36] For he the sick did make the dry land also from this land.

[4:58] His father at first in thee. O come and let us worship him.

[5:19] Let us burden with all and all our needs.

[5:35] Speak before the Lord and make her let us fall.

[5:52] Let's pray together. Father we thank you so much that as a new week begins we can come to you. We thank you that as we do come to you we are coming because you are calling us and you have invited us to come together as a new week begins.

[6:11] To worship you and to meet with you and to hear your voice speaking to us. And we just thank you so much that we can do this. Because in all the busyness of life and all the pressures that we're under and all the mistakes that we make.

[6:25] And in all the ways that we struggle it's so easy and so often we feel disorientated and discouraged. And so often we feel like we are letting you down, letting ourselves down, letting our loved ones down.

[6:41] And we thank you so much that as a new week begins that week begins in the hope of the resurrection. We thank you that Jesus has risen.

[6:53] And we thank you that because of Jesus all of our sins have been washed away. That for all who trust in him our sins are cast into the sea of your forgetfulness.

[7:07] We are cleansed and renewed and refreshed. And so we thank you Father that because of the gospel we thank you that we don't start a new week thinking oh well we're going to do better. But we come and start a new week and think Jesus has done everything.

[7:22] And we thank you for the relief and the hope and the comfort that that gives us. And we pray for all of us here that as we gather we would just be renewed and refreshed and encouraged in the truth and the joy and the healing of the gospel.

[7:36] Thank you so much Father that you gave your son to be our saviour. Thank you so much Lord Jesus that you went all the way to the cross to die for your people. And thank you Holy Spirit that you are working in us to draw us to faith and to make us more and more into the people that you have made us to be.

[7:56] And we bow before you, we worship you, we thank you so much for everything you've done for us. And as we come to you we do come confessing our sin before you and we're sorry for all the thoughts, words and actions that are wrong and that we regret.

[8:16] And also the things that we know we should have done that we failed to do, we confess that before you. But we also thank you that in Jesus there's full and free forgiveness. And we thank you for your amazing grace. And as we come to you today we want to be fed and nourished and helped by you.

[8:31] So we pray for everybody here that we would be, that you would meet with us, strengthening us, blessing us and equipping us so that we can serve you this week. And especially for any here who maybe feel like they are doubting or who feel unsure about where they are in terms of their faith.

[8:47] Or maybe who feel like they're just too far gone or not good enough for you. May they just hear your voice calling them and may your word speak so powerfully to them.

[8:58] And may we all see in you just the magnitude of your love and grace towards us. We're so thankful that we can gather here together to worship you. We want to pray for all who are gathering throughout the island, throughout our nation and throughout the world.

[9:14] We pray that across the nations, all around the globe today, that the name of Jesus would be lifted up. And that many, many people would come to trust in you.

[9:24] And we thank you that we gather here as part of that one church that you are building across all the nations and across the ages of history. And we pray that we would go into this week, all of us, living out our lives in a way that makes us a beautiful and a credible witness for you, our amazing saviour.

[9:42] So may your blessing be upon us all. Please be with us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, boys and girls, it's very nice to see you all today.

[9:52] I hope you're all doing well. I hope you've had a good weekend. And I hope you've all had a good Saturday yesterday and a good day so far. I forgot something this morning.

[10:05] So I forgot my glasses. So I actually have glasses. I hardly ever wear glasses. But I do actually have glasses. And the reason I need glasses is because I struggle to see things that are far away.

[10:19] That are a wee bit blurry. So if it's close up, I can read, no bother. That's all fine if it's close. But it's far away. I can't see so well. And so see if the people in the back row are falling asleep.

[10:32] I can't quite see. So I forgot my glasses. So I was thinking I could borrow some. So I'm going to come. I've seen a few of you have glasses.

[10:43] Maybe I can borrow your glasses if that's okay. So some of you have glasses. Does anyone have glasses I can borrow? I don't know if any of the boys and girls have glasses. But I think some of you. When you're young, your eyes are beautiful. But when you're older, your glasses are not so good.

[10:54] So I need my glasses. I don't know if anyone has glasses. Does anyone have glasses? Oh, brilliant again. Excellent. Thank you. Let's see. Oh, oh, okay. I'm going to have a look more.

[11:05] You're warm, bloody night. I can barely see if you get in the room rather than awake. It's probably quite busy. Oh, man, it's busy. No use. Anyone else? Any glasses? Come on, anybody else? Let's see.

[11:16] What? Hey, I'm going to go. Oh, imagine. It's just a page. I'm going to see it on the staff somewhere in the air. Oh, no. Oh, it's terrible. You see? Any more glasses?

[11:27] Let's see. Oh, these might work. These look good. Oh, no. They're not really good either. They're still not even much at all. Then you see. What about the back here? Oh, it's like this.

[11:38] These look expensive. Oh, nice. Oh, man. They don't even go over here. They don't make it. Oh, that's no use. None of these glasses are good.

[11:50] None of them. None of them. When I put them on, I can't see. I'm seriously ugly. I don't want to go all the way back. Okay. What was wrong with that? How does anybody else's glasses work? Anybody know?

[12:01] They're not finished. They're not mine. Exactly. They're not mine. Because when you go and get glasses, the optician will test to see what your eyes are like.

[12:13] And you get a special prescription just for your eyes. So, like, I can't, I'm not really going to see things that are far away. And I'm fine for seeing things that are close. Some people are the other way around.

[12:24] They can't see things that are close. They have to hold the way for them to read. But they can see things that are far away. So you have to get the right glasses to fit. And so, if you do wear glasses, and most of us all will eat glasses, we get old.

[12:36] Like, I didn't eat them when I was really good at eating, I was getting older. You have to have your glasses. Somebody else's glasses won't work. Now, that's actually teaching us a really, really important lesson about faith.

[12:52] Because, as we grow up, we are surrounded by people. Many of you will be surrounded by people who love Jesus. So you have maybe parents, or grandparents, or even great-grandparents, who love Jesus.

[13:05] And they'll tell you about Jesus. And you'll see in their lives that knowing Jesus makes a big, big difference to them. And so it's wonderful, wonderful to have family and friends who love Jesus.

[13:22] But, what you have to remember is that they can't believe in Jesus for you, or instead of you.

[13:35] And the crucial thing is that all of us, even when we're young, need to put our trust in Jesus as well. And so, it's a wee bit like thinking, you know, I was thinking, oh well, I need glasses.

[13:51] But, I'll just use my granny's glasses. That's a wee bit of work. Because I need my glasses. And that's a really important thing that you remember in terms of faith.

[14:03] It's so, so wonderful to have parents, grannies, grandpas, great-grannies, great-grandpas, who trust in Jesus. That's such a blessing. But the thing that they know, and the thing that you've got to remember, is that we all, as individuals, have to trust in Jesus as well.

[14:22] And that's because Jesus cares about each one of you so, so much. He loves you all so, so much. And so, he loves to hear your grandpas play for you.

[14:34] That's so good. He wants to hear you play as well. And he wants you to follow him as well. So, I want you to remember that. That it's so precious and so wonderful to have family and friends around you, to have a community like this, who love Jesus.

[14:49] But it's really important that we, as individuals, are trusting Jesus. And that doesn't mean that we know everything, and it doesn't mean that we get everything right every time.

[14:59] But it does mean that we are looking to Jesus, and we are asking Jesus to guide us in our lives. So, when you remember, as a silly minister, you stole baskets from people in church.

[15:11] I want you to remember that it's so important that each one of us has a trust in Jesus. Thank you so much for this. Okay, let me go back up here, and then we'll sing together again.

[15:26] We're going to sing from Psalm 103, and we're going to sing from verse 8. Psalm 103, the little section that we're going to sing is, well, the whole psalm is just a wonderful summary of the gospel.

[15:41] And the section that we're going to sing emphasizes that so much. From verse 8, The Lord our God is merciful, and he is gracious, long-suffering, and slow to wrath, in mercy plenteous.

[15:53] And so, these verses that we're going to sing just acknowledge our sin, but recognize that Jesus doesn't deal with us as we deserve, but instead he shows us his amazing mercy and love.

[16:06] So, verses 8 to 12 of Psalm 103, to God's praise. Amen. The Lord our God is merciful, And he is gracious, and he is gracious, and he is gracious, and he is gracious, From suffering and slaughter to wrath, in mercy plenteous.

[16:50] He will not shine continually, nor keep his anger still.

[17:09] With us he is gracious, not as we sin, nor did we quite our ill.

[17:30] For us, we are not as we sin, nor did we quite our ill. For us, we are not as we sin, nor did we quite our ill. For us, we shall come to thee. For us, we shall come to thee. For us, we shall come to thee.

[17:42] For us, we shall come to thee. For us, we shall come to thee. So great to those that you have been, His center mercy's eye, As far as He's existed from the west, So great as He from us removed In His love all earth iniquity.

[18:50] Amen.

[19:20] Mark chapter 3, 1-5

[23:24] We pray for those who are in need more widely in our communities, in our nation and across the world. We pray for those living in poverty. We pray for those struggling with addiction.

[23:36] We pray for those whose families or careers have broken or fallen apart. We pray for those who have made choices that they deeply regret.

[23:50] We pray for those who are in need more than one of our families. We pray for those who are oppressed, those caught up in trafficking and those who are refugees, those who are struggling because of corruption in their governments or whatever it may be, Father.

[24:11] We just want to pray for those for whom life is just desperately difficult. We pray for those who are in need.

[24:22] We pray for those who are in need. We pray for those who are in authority in our own nation and in other nations. We pray that they would make their decisions in a way that seeks to show compassion and justice and kindness and goodness.

[24:38] And we pray that they would look to you to be guided and led. We see in our lives that the world is so broken in so many ways. And we even look in our own hearts and we see that there's so much that's broken.

[24:50] But we thank you so much that Jesus has come to heal and to restore. And so we pray, Father, that today we would see and understand more of that. That you would bless us and keep us, draw us closer to you and deepen us in our love for you, we pray.

[25:05] In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we're going to sing together now from Psalm 85 and singing from verse 8. Psalm 85 from verse 8 to the end.

[25:26] This is a wonderful verse for us to sing. Just as we approach the sermon, we're praying that we would hear God's voice speaking to us as we come to his word.

[25:37] I'll hear what God the Lord will speak. To his folk he'll speak peace and to his saints, but let them not return to foolishness. So as we sing these words, we are asking that God would speak to us this morning and we are rejoicing in the salvation that he has provided for us in Jesus.

[25:55] So verses 8 to the end of the psalm to God's praise. Amen. I'll hear what God the Lord will speak. The Lord will speak to his folk.

[26:07] The Lord will speak to his folk. His folk he'll speak peace. The Lord will speak to his saints, but let them not return to foolishness.

[26:34] To him that fear him surely near, this is salvation.

[26:50] God the glory in her land may have had a good mission.

[27:08] Truth met with mercy, righteousness, and peace, Christ mutually.

[27:24] Truth springs from earth and righteousness.

[27:34] Truths then from heaven high. Yea, what is truth the Lord shall give?

[27:53] Our land shall yield in peace. Justice to set us in his steps.

[28:11] Shall go before his face. Well, I'd like us to turn together again to Mark chapter 3.

[28:29] But we're going to be referring to quite a few different passages this morning. But let me read again Mark chapter 3 and verse 5. Where it says, And when Jesus 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.

[28:51] And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other. So I want to start by doing a wee thought experiment with you.

[29:01] I'm going to say a few words. And I want you just, in your mind, you don't need to do anything out loud. But in your mind, I want you to think about whether you instinctively think of this as a good or a bad thing.

[29:14] So the thought experiment is called good or bad. And if I say a particular word, so when you think to yourself, good or bad, what comes to mind? So the first word is grace.

[29:27] What do you think? Good or bad? Peace. Mercy. Hope. Faith.

[29:41] And I'm guessing that for all of you, you'd have said good. What about this word? Anger. That's a more difficult one.

[29:56] Because for many of us, if not for all of us, our experiences of anger are negative.

[30:08] And we will probably very naturally tend to think of anger as a bad thing. So if your boss was angry with you at work last week, that's going to make for a rubbish week at work.

[30:22] If you've had to deal with an angry spouse or angry parents or even with angry children, that's horrible. It makes our day awful.

[30:32] It makes our day awful. And often when we get angry ourselves, we come away with a sense of regret. Last night, I was working in my garage.

[30:44] I had to move a massive wardrobe, this huge wardrobe. And it was really heavy and really difficult. And I was trying to move it. And I moved it against the wall. And I pushed it against the wall. And it hit a pile of shelves on the wall.

[30:56] And the shelves fell down. And a whole pile of stuff crashed onto the freezer. And it all went on the floor. And I was getting a bit annoyed. And now I regret it.

[31:08] And I think, oh, why did I get angry? And so, so often our experiences of anger are negative.

[31:20] And yet here in Mark chapter 3, verse 5, and in other places that we see this morning, we read that Jesus was angry.

[31:33] And that's what I want us to think about today. The anger of Jesus. Because it's not something that we tend to think about. And it's probably something that almost puzzles us.

[31:48] Because we think, well, we wouldn't really tend to think of Jesus being angry. And yet, it's actually mentioned several times in the Gospels that there were occasions when Jesus got angry.

[32:01] And that means that there's something important for us to think about. And there's going to be some important things for us to learn. And it's probably very unlikely that you've ever seen a fridge magnet with the first half of verse 5 written on it.

[32:20] We get verses that we put in our fridges which are beautiful, encouraging promises. We're not going to have one that says, Jesus looked round about them on them with anger.

[32:32] And yet, this happened. It's teaching us something. And we want to study that together today. So, the Gospels tell us that there were occasions when Jesus was angry.

[32:46] Now, as we think about that, we've got to make sure that we hold on to one of the key truths that the Bible gives us.

[32:57] The fact that Jesus was always without sin. So, when Jesus was angry, he was angry without sin. Now, when we get angry, when I get angry, it's not without sin.

[33:10] Sin is mixed in with it all. And so often, our experiences of human anger are just tangled up with all sorts of negative things that create hurt and harm.

[33:22] We don't get that with Jesus. His anger is without sin. And so, what I hope we're going to see is that when we see Jesus getting angry, we are actually seeing something beautiful.

[33:38] Something amazing. So, I'm going to ask four simple questions. What makes Jesus angry? What made Jesus angry? What does that teach us about Jesus? What effect did his anger have?

[33:52] And what should we do in response? So, what made Jesus angry? What does that teach us about him? What effect did his anger have? What should we do in response? And we'll work through them together.

[34:02] Before we go into the four of them, there's one vital introductory point that I need to highlight. I'm going to give you ten examples of moments when Jesus interacted with people.

[34:14] Number one was with Nicodemus in John 3. This was a religious leader, but he did not understand some of the most basic theological truths. Number two was a woman who had been bleeding for years in Mark 5.

[34:27] She was too scared to speak. She touched Jesus' garment, even though she was ceremonially unclean. John 4, this is the third one. Jesus met a woman at the well whose private life had been a disaster.

[34:38] And she'd had five different marriages that had failed. She was now living with a man who wasn't her husband. Number four is a Canaanite woman in Mark 15. She begged Jesus to help her, even though she was a foreigner.

[34:51] And Jews and Gentiles did not interact in that way. Number five is the disciples in Mark 6. They're burnt out with exhaustion. Number six is the disciples in John 10.

[35:01] They couldn't understand what Jesus was saying. Number seven is a notorious woman in Luke chapter 7 who wiped Jesus' feet with her hair, even though her reputation in the community was, well, not good at all.

[35:15] The eighth example is Thomas, who in John 20 doubted Jesus' resurrection. Peter is the ninth example in John 21 where he had failed spectacularly by denying Jesus.

[35:30] And then the tenth example is the whole betrayal, arrest and trial of Jesus when he was falsely accused, mocked and beaten. In those ten examples, Jesus is confronted with people who failed to understand the simplest things.

[35:44] People whose lives were in a mess. People who made huge mistakes. People who were broken and vulnerable. People who had let Jesus down badly. And even people who were aggressive towards him.

[35:56] Jesus did not get angry. Jesus did not get angry with any of these people.

[36:10] And that's reminding us that as we think of the times when Jesus did get angry, we must never forget the moments when he didn't.

[36:22] And of course, that's reminding us that when we're facing people who are difficult or broken or slow to understand or who let us down, even maybe those who are aggressive towards us, if we want to be Christ-like in those situations, then we need to control our anger as well.

[36:42] So, in some of life's most annoying situations, Jesus was a model of not getting angry. And I want to emphasise that very, very strongly as we introduce this topic.

[36:57] Jesus, however, was also a model of good anger. And that's what I want us to think about. And so our first question is, what made Jesus angry? There's lots of examples of this in the Gospels.

[37:10] I'm just going to pick out three or four to give us a wee summary of it. Mark 3 is a great example. It says that Jesus was angry. What made Jesus angry?

[37:22] He was angry because the religious leaders had absolutely no compassion towards this man who was suffering with a withered hand.

[37:34] Instead, they were just watching Jesus to catch him out to see whether he was going to heal the man on the Sabbath. So, instead of being concerned to help this man, the religious leaders were just, they had no interest in helping the man.

[37:49] They just wanted to catch Jesus out. That made Jesus angry. Another example is in Mark chapter 10. People were trying to bring children to Jesus.

[38:02] The disciples stopped them. And it made Jesus angry. Jesus was angry with the disciples for preventing the children to come to him.

[38:16] And so he rebuked them sharply. Another example, there's several examples where Jesus rebukes a wind and waves that's threatening to drown the people.

[38:28] Jesus rebukes evil spirits that are oppressing and destroying people's lives. And so there's lots and lots of examples where the causes of human suffering provoke Jesus to anger.

[38:42] He rebukes those things which cause pain, distress and fear. Another big example is hypocrisy. You see this in lots of places. Matthew 23 would be a good example.

[38:55] Jesus is angry at the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The Pharisees who were weighing tons and tons and tons of requirements on people, constantly exposing people's failures, and yet not willing to lift a finger themselves to try and ease people's burdens.

[39:11] Jesus was frequently, frequently very frustrated and angered by their hypocrisy. Jesus was also angry when he saw the temple being exploited and commercialised so that instead of being a house of prayer, it would become what he called a den of robbers, a house of profit for the select few.

[39:34] Jesus was angered and warned people not to spread a false gospel. And you'll see this quite often in the gospels. There's times when Jesus will heal people, but then he'll say to them very firmly, don't go spreading this about.

[39:51] And the reason he said that, don't tell people what I've done, is because he knew that he was going to be misunderstood. Because at that time, there was the expectation that if the Messiah was coming, the Messiah was going to fight off the Romans.

[40:04] And so Jesus, when he healed somebody, they're realising, this might be the Messiah, he's going to fight off the Romans. That's not why Jesus came. And so Jesus was angered by the threat of a false gospel.

[40:18] And that's why he would firmly tell people to not spread what had happened. And so in all those examples, Jesus, you can see, is defending people and defending the truth.

[40:32] His anger is provoked when he sees people suffering. His anger is provoked when he sees the truth being twisted. But I think the place where you see Jesus most angry of all is in John 11.

[40:50] And so that's the passage that we read. And it's not very obvious when we read it in English. If you look at verse 33 in John 11, it says, When Jesus saw Mary weeping and the Jews also weeping with her, he groaned in the spirit.

[41:06] And then down in verse 38, it says, Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. Now, what we need to see there is that there's a word that's used in 33 and 38, which has been translated in the authorised version, groaned in the spirit or groaned in himself.

[41:27] And then other versions like the ESV, I think, has deeply moved in the translation. But none of these really capture what the Greek word actually means.

[41:41] The Greek word means outraged. And when we think of like a groan or being moved, we sort of think more of like a sigh.

[41:53] But that's not really what the word conveys in Greek. In Greek, the word means, it clearly means outraged. And so that's telling us that in John 11, when Jesus' friend is dead in a tomb, and he sees the horror of death, leaving Mary and Martha and the people around them weeping in agony.

[42:18] And when Jesus sees humanity being torn apart by this brutal, brutal enemy of death, he is outraged.

[42:32] That's what made Jesus angry. So question two, what does this teach us about Jesus? Well, to answer that, it's good to think about where anger comes from.

[42:46] So what are the triggers that make you angry or that make me angry? Well, I can think of three triggers for anger. Maybe there's more, but I can highlight three.

[42:57] One of them is pain. So, I am quite tall. I quite often hit my head on things. I sometimes go to houses and the doorways are low.

[43:07] I sometimes go places and they've got fancy lights that hang too low. And I hit my head. And it's painful. And in that moment when you hit your head, it's like, there's a, there's a, just a boil of anger when you hit your head.

[43:22] Another thing that I frequently do is I eat too quickly. So I often bite the inside of my mouth when I'm chewing. Oh, so sore. And in that pain, anger just fires up for a wee moment.

[43:34] I'm giving it a bit of a farting of any secrets today. But anyway, that's what happens. That's how it feels. Anger can give us, pain can give us anger.

[43:46] And it's not just physical pain. Sometimes psychological pain can prompt our anger. So we can get annoyed if we're interrupted. Or if people around us are noisy.

[43:56] Or if there's music on that you don't like. Or something that we hoped for fails to materialise. Pain, physical or emotional, can prompt anger. Another trigger for anger is morality.

[44:09] Our sense of right and wrong. So when we see something that feels wrong, it provokes us to anger. Now that can be in relation to big ethical questions.

[44:22] So it can be when we see the suffering of refugees. When we see inequalities in our society. When we hear about drug deaths. When we see, you know, what we think is like an abuse of power.

[44:34] Either at work or in government or in business or whatever it may be. When we see something that's morally wrong, it provokes anger. But it can also apply in much smaller ways when we see something wrong.

[44:47] So I'm sure many of you will be able to relate to this. When you're watching a football match and the referee makes the wrong decision. It provokes anger. Because you feel like something unjust has happened.

[45:01] When you're driving and somebody does something ridiculous on the road. That provokes a lot of people to anger. And when maybe a politician says something that we don't like. We feel wronged and we get angry.

[45:11] So anger is triggered by pain. Anger is triggered by morality. The third trigger is love. So when we love someone or something.

[45:24] If you see the object of your love being threatened or hurt or abused. Then it prompts us to anger. Now that might be a trivial thing.

[45:35] Maybe you love your car and it gets scratched and that makes you angry. But it also applies to much, much, much more important things. And I think parents will absolutely relate to this.

[45:46] If you see your child getting bullied or getting mistreated. Or even if you see a friend, someone that you care about getting a hard time. That makes you angry.

[45:58] Because you love them. And you care about them. And this is part of the reason why anger and fear are closely related.

[46:11] Because when we see something that we hold dear being threatened. It can stir up our anger. So these are the three main triggers for anger.

[46:22] Pain. When we say that hurts. Morality. When we cry that's wrong. And love. When we say that's precious. And all of this highlights a very important point.

[46:37] That there's a crucial link between our anger and our character. And I remember this being said. I've said this before. Because I heard it in a sermon that I've never forgotten.

[46:47] The sermon was by Eric Alexander. Who was a minister in Glasgow in the Church of Scotland. An amazing preacher. If you ever want to listen to a sermon in the car between here and Stornoway. Google Eric Alexander. And he said one of the most penetrating tests of our character.

[47:05] Is to ask the question. What makes you angry? And so if you do get angry. If your car or your phone gets damaged.

[47:15] Then it maybe tells you that you're worrying a bit too much about your stuff. If you get angry when your team loses. Or if you don't get top marks in an assignment. Or if somebody else is getting a slightly better hourly pay rate than you.

[47:30] Or whatever. Then maybe it's telling you that you're competitive. Maybe it's telling you that you're too concerned about being first all the time. But if you get angry when your child or your friend or your spouse gets mistreated.

[47:46] It tells you that you love them. And so. If pain. Morality. And love are the triggers for anger.

[47:58] Then that means that your anger. Is going to tell you an awful lot about what you really care about. And it's always a good question to ask yourself. What makes me angry? The key point I want to highlight here though.

[48:12] Is that Jesus' anger. Was triggered by exactly the same things. So Jesus was angered by pain. But not when he suffered it.

[48:27] But when he saw suffering in the lives of others. Jesus was angered by wrong doing. Not when it was done to him. But when it was done to the people around him.

[48:40] And he was angered by wrong teaching. Which was leading people astray. And Jesus was angered by his love. Not love for himself.

[48:52] Or for his possessions. But his love for other people. When they were threatened. And mistreated.

[49:02] Jesus was angered. Jesus was angered. Because to him people are so precious. And this is where I hope that we're starting to see.

[49:13] That Jesus' anger is actually an amazing thing. His anger is showing us that at the very core of his character. That is the deepest and most passionate concern for other people.

[49:30] And that's why he said. I came not to be served but to serve. To give my life as a ransom for many. And I think this is a huge help to us.

[49:42] When we are confronted by awful stuff in our lives. When we think of the pain that people suffer. Or that maybe you're suffering. When you think of the injustice. That we see in the world around us.

[49:54] When we see the horror and agony of death. We must never forget that all of these things. They don't just prompt Jesus to be sympathetic. They provoke Jesus.

[50:08] To a righteous and holy anger. And that's where we see the amazing truth. That Jesus is never indifferent.

[50:20] Jesus is never indifferent. If I ask you the question. What's the opposite of love? What would you say? Our distinctive answer to that is usually to say hate. And of course in some senses that's true.

[50:35] But I don't know if it is really that true. Because I think it's equally true. And maybe even more true to say. That the opposite of love is not hate.

[50:47] The opposite of love is indifference. And one of the reasons why we still see so much inequality. And suffering and pain in the world around us.

[50:59] It's not because of hate. It's because people just aren't bothered. And it's tragic when a government or a society or a community is confronted by the suffering of others.

[51:14] And it prompts no reaction at all. Thank God that Jesus is never like that. And that brings us to our third question.

[51:28] What effect did Jesus' anger have? And to answer that question we need to draw a distinction between anger and grumpiness. The two of them can feel very similar.

[51:39] But I want to make a distinction between them. Grumpiness is a kind of sense of irritation. Disappointment. Moodyness. And it manifests itself in moaning. And I've probably been guilty of that in my life.

[51:50] I'm sure you have too. Where we just kind of... Something annoys us. Something frustrates us. We moan. And we rant. And we all do that. Anger I want to define in a different sense.

[52:02] And I want to say that anger is a profound aversion that manifests itself in action. So grumpiness, you just moan. Anger makes you do something.

[52:15] If something really angers us, we will take action. Now, for us, that can be good, but often it will be for bad. So sometimes in anger, we will do things.

[52:28] We'll say things. We'll respond. We'll take action. But often it's unwise action. And sometimes it can make things worse. That's why when you do feel yourself get angry, we've got to be really careful about what we say and think.

[52:41] We've got to avoid being hasty. We've got to examine ourselves. We've got to think, am I about to make this situation even worse before I do things? But the key point is that anger will lead to action.

[52:54] And so if we're asking the question, what effect did Jesus' anger have? The answer is, it prompted him to action. So, faced with human suffering, Jesus took action to relieve the suffering.

[53:08] So, back in Mark 3, Jesus is in the synagogue. The man has come with a withered hand. All the hypocritical Pharisees are watching him to see what Jesus is going to do.

[53:21] Jesus is angered by him and then he does something. He heals the man. And relieves that suffering. When Jesus saw the truth being distorted, he took action.

[53:34] How many times did he speak up against the Pharisees and against the false message that they were proclaiming? And in the face of a grieving family, Jesus took action.

[53:48] In John 11, Mary and Martha's lives have been shattered because of death. And yet, we read on from verse 38. Jesus groaned in himself coming to the grave.

[54:00] So, Jesus then again, outraged, came to the grave. It was a cave and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time he stinks because he's been dead for four days.

[54:14] Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? And they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that thou hast heard me.

[54:27] And I knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou sent me. And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

[54:39] And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. And his face was bound about them, about with a napkin, with a cloth.

[54:51] And Jesus said unto them, loosen and let him go. And of course, the amazing thing about John 11 is that this is just a glimpse of what Jesus has come to do for all of his people.

[55:03] For all who trust in him. Because Jesus didn't come just to raise his friend from the dead. He came to conquer death itself. And when we see Jesus' anger at the grave of Lazarus, we are being reminded of the fact that Jesus has come to defeat a bitter enemy.

[55:21] Jesus has come to conquer the kingdom of darkness. Jesus has come to destroy the power of sin and death. That's what the whole gospel is about. That Jesus has come to conquer the power of death.

[55:36] And that enemy is not just a kind of baddie that we want rid of. It's not just a kind of problem that needs to be addressed. Death is a hideous, vicious enemy that has ruined so many of your lives and the lives of so many others.

[55:51] And it provokes Jesus to outrage. And that outrage drives Jesus forward from the tomb of Lazarus all the way to the cross.

[56:07] And there on the cross, he dies to defeat death. He dies so that we can live.

[56:21] And this is where we get to the heart of why Jesus came to be one of us. We know how horrible death is.

[56:33] We're vulnerable to its attacks. We're exposed to the pain and agony it causes. Jesus comes alongside us to stand with us. And he also knows exactly how it feels.

[56:45] He knows what it's like to be a human facing the horror of death. And in the face of death's grip, we are powerless. And all we can do is surrender.

[56:56] But this is where Jesus is different. He's the same as us in that he knows exactly how much sorrow and pain death brings.

[57:07] But he is different from us. And the amazing difference is that Jesus is not powerless. And Jesus will never surrender. Instead, he's come to conquer.

[57:22] And all the things that cause Jesus to anger. Pain, lies, suffering, death. These are the things that come from the kingdom of evil. That's the kingdom that Jesus has come to defeat and to destroy.

[57:38] That's why when we see Jesus getting angry. This is such an important thing to see. That when we see Jesus getting angry, we are not seeing a hothead who can't control himself. We are seeing a mighty warrior preparing for battle.

[57:55] We see a courageous rescuer come to our aid. We see a conqueror ready to fight for us. We see a holy, irrepressible anger at all the damage that sin and death are doing to you.

[58:09] And the incredible truth that all of this tells us is that when it comes to saving you, no one messes with Jesus.

[58:23] No one messes with him. And so what should we do in response to this, just as we finish?

[58:34] Three things, very briefly. One, I think we should admire Jesus. You are going to experience anger this week. It might barbell up inside you.

[58:46] If you're moving a wardrobe in your garage and you knock all the shelves and it all falls down, you're going to experience anger. You are if you're like me anyway. Or you might experience anger from a colleague or from a member of the public.

[58:57] If any of you work with the public, you're going to experience anger at some point this week. And 99.9% of those experiences of anger are going to be negative.

[59:08] You're going to be on the receiving end of a short temper, a lack of patience, a selfish streak. It's never like that with Jesus. Jesus' anger is only ever a good anger.

[59:22] In fact, in Jesus you see the best displays of anger that the world has ever seen. It's an anger that arises from his extraordinary compassion, from his impeccable integrity, from his hatred of sin, and from his deep, deep love for sinners.

[59:42] And so when you read about Jesus being angry, that is something to admire and marvel at. I think it's also, the second response is that I think by God's grace and with God's help, we want to emulate Jesus.

[59:59] And so Jesus is the perfect human. And so if Jesus got angry at times, it is showing us that there are occasions when anger is appropriate for us as we follow Jesus.

[60:11] Now, there's loads and loads of ways that we can get that wrong. There's lots of times that anger is inappropriate. And please do not use this sermon as an excuse to lose your temper this week.

[60:23] That is absolutely not what I'm saying. But Jesus is showing us that there are times when it's appropriate to be angry. And we want to pray, Lord, help me to never get angry about the things that don't matter.

[60:36] But please help me never to be indifferent about the things that do. Please, Lord, may my anger be like Jesus' anger.

[60:48] That's our good prayer to pray. So we want to love the way Jesus loved. We want to care the way Jesus cared. We want to help the way Jesus helped. And we want to only ever be angry in the way that he was angry.

[61:03] And so we want it to be the case that the site of injustice, suffering, exploitation, twisted truth, we want that to bother us the way it bothered Jesus.

[61:14] So we want to admire Jesus. We want to emulate Jesus. But thirdly, and this is the most important one, we want to hide in Jesus. And what do I mean by that?

[61:25] Well, ultimately, everything that we're looking at this morning is pointing us to the ultimate reality of spiritual conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of evil.

[61:37] The reality of that conflict is set before us in the Bible, and we see it in our lives. Just watch the news. Just have a hard week. You see the reality of good and evil clashing in our lives.

[61:48] That's a reality we constantly face. And in that conflict between the kingdom of God, the kingdom of evil between light and darkness, there's no neutral ground. There's no third option.

[62:04] As Jesus said, the one who's not against us is for us. And so in that conflict, we want to ask ourselves, whose side do we want to be on?

[62:14] And for every one of us, there's only one answer. We want to hide behind Jesus. He's our warrior. He's our defender. He is our hero. And in the face of all the threat of sin and death upon us.

[62:29] Jesus is the one who takes the fight to the enemy. And all we have to do is hide behind him. By putting our trust in him.

[62:42] He deals with it. We hide behind him. And this is where we see an amazing theological truth that I want to conclude with. And I want to say this carefully.

[62:53] And you're going to have to, for one more minute, listen very carefully to what I'm going to say. Because I could be easily misunderstood. And I don't want to be. The amazing theological truth is this.

[63:05] You make Jesus angry. Now, I've got to explain what I mean by that. Now, so often people in life are angry with us.

[63:16] And we're on the receiving end of anger. And it's awful. It's horrible. And that is not what I am talking about. Jesus is not angry with you. I am not saying that Jesus, that you get on Jesus' nerves.

[63:31] And so often we have presented the, people have presented Christianity as though, oh, well, if you make that mistake, Jesus is going to be angry with you. If you don't do that, he'll be angry with you. If you don't do this, he's going to be angry with you. This kind of idea that Jesus is just always angry with you, waiting to kind of get angry with you.

[63:46] If you muck up, that is not true. That's never true. That is not the gospel. Jesus is not angry with you in terms of your day-to-day mistakes.

[63:57] What I'm saying is that Jesus is angry about you. When sin tries to hurt you and destroy you and wreck your life and wreck your family's life and break up your relationships and threaten your future and separate you from God forever, when sin tries to do anything like that to you, Jesus is outraged.

[64:28] Jesus is outraged. And the reason he is outraged is because you are his.

[64:40] You're made for him. And so if you're a Christian today, you're his. And if you're not yet a Christian, he's calling you because you are made to be his.

[64:51] Jesus is outraged. And any threat to you outrages him. Jesus doesn't get angry because to him you're irritating. Jesus gets angry because to him you are irreplaceable.

[65:06] You're so precious. And Jesus' anger is not him saying to you, oh, you've mucked up this week, don't come near to me. Jesus' anger is him placing you behind his back and saying to every threat of sin and evil and darkness, don't you lay a finger on her.

[65:29] Don't you come near her. Because they're mine. That's where the cross places you. That's the safety and security that you have if you're a Christian or if you become one.

[65:45] And so for all of us, I hope we can just hide behind Jesus. Trust in him. Rest in him. And I hope, I hope that that has shown you that the fact that Jesus gets angry is absolutely amazing.

[66:04] Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we just thank you so, so much that you are so, just so committed to your people.

[66:24] And that in you we see a righteous, holy, and beautiful anger. please forgive us for all the ways that we have used anger in the wrong way.

[66:38] But thank you for what your anger reveals about your extraordinary love towards all of us. Help us to see and understand that today and for the rest of our lives.

[66:51] Amen. We're going to close with Psalm 89 and we're going to sing verses 15 to 18.

[67:06] Psalm 89, verse 15 to 18. O greatly blessed the people are, the joyful sound that know in brightness of thy face, O Lord, they ever on shall go. Down to verse 18, 18, for God is our defence and he to us does safety bring, the Holy One of Israel is our almighty King.

[67:24] And these verses are just speaking of that protection, that great protectiveness that God has for you and that's revealed so powerfully in Jesus. So, 15 to 18, Psalm 89, to God's praise.

[67:37] O greatly blessed the people that God has for you I'm a child who's in the know.

[67:54] In brightness of thy face, O Lord, they ever not shall roll.

[68:10] They in thy name shall overbeak, rejoice exceedingly.

[68:26] And in thy righteousness shall be exalted beyond high.

[68:44] Because the glory of their strength doth only stand in thee.

[69:00] And in thy favor shall the morn and power exalted be.

[69:17] For God is thirty-thin-thin to us that fifty-three.

[69:33] The Holy One, Prophet, I am this earth, almighty King.

[69:53] As we go into a new week together, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Amen.