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Amen, so in colossians chapter 3 evening in verse 12 the bible reads put on therefore as the elect of god holy and beloved Bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness long suffering for bearing one another and forgiving one another if any man Have a quarrel against any even as christ also Forgive even as christ forgave you so also do ye so the bible is giving this very strong admonishment here That we are to be people that are merciful that we are humble that we're kind That we're forbearing and that we're forgiving You know, this is a major thing in the new testament about you know Being a very forgiving and merciful people and we're supposed to do it even as also christ forgave us You know and I want to talk a little bit this morning about not being an angry or a wrathful or a bitter person and this is something that we kind of have to You know keep our guard up about because this is something that can creep into our hearts and i've even seen people where you know Uh, they're you would say that you wouldn't say they're overtly an angry person that they're not coming in to their home or their church They don't walk around just knocking things over or you know, just just being a generally, uh nasty person But a lot of times what will happen is that people will get uh, they'll get a you know They'll get angry at one specific person. They'll get angry at one person. Somebody did one thing wrong to them. There's some perceived Uh fault or error that they did and then what what'll happen is instead of forgiving instead of being Merciful and neat towards that person. They actually develop a bitter heart and they actually go out of their way to start Uh, you know going after that person and look this is something that we've probably all experienced this under good We've either been the target of such uh, vindictiveness or we ourselves have been this way to some degree or another. I'm sure we can all Uh agree that that is something that we have done or at the very least We all have the potential to do it I mean, why else would paul take the time to explain all this to us if this wasn't something that we didn't have to look out for If we didn't have to be forbearing and we didn't have to be forgiving and so on and so forth And he says you need to do this. This is the type of people we need to be Merciful kind humble me long suffering being patient putting up with a lot forbearing one another Forgiving one another because of the fact that this is what christ did for us And it's always amazing to me when you see christians Who uh, you know have been forgiven of so much in their own lives that are yet have been so much mercy and grace from god Yet they themselves show a little so show so little of it sometimes They're so quick to judge and to be angry and to be bitter and to be vindictive towards other people and this isn't something That we should have in our hearts. This is something that we need to be Uh on the lookout for and if you look there verse 14, it says and above all things put on charity You know, which is basically love, you know, we're to be very charitable loving people something you have to put on You know something you have to determine say hey i'm going to get up i'm going to walk in the new man I'm not going to walk in the flesh. I'm going to put on price i'm going to put on charity Which is the bond of perfectness, you know, perfectness meaning complete, you know Love and being charitable putting this on this is what's going to make you a whole christian You know, we can have a lot of the other things in the christian life down, but we don't have charity You know, we're becoming as you know, particularly brass and sounding symbol like you said in first corinthians 13, you know, we're Prophets it profits nothing if we can you know speak with the tongues of men of angels if we can move people with our words if we can go out soul-winning and Get lots of people saved or we can we're dedicated to the christian life in so many ways But if we don't have charity, you know, we're incomplete. We're not perfect And that's what he's saying here. Look is that charity is the bond of perfectness That's what's going to make you a whole christian Is if you be a a loving person a merciful person a forgiving and a forbearing and a long-suffering person This is something that has to be there if you're going to be perfect whole complete in the christian life wanting nothing He says in verse 15 and let the peace of god rule in your hearts to which also you're called to one body and be Ye thankful, you know a lot of times if you would keep something in colossians 3 we'll come back We'll reference that later but go over to problems chapter 14 problems chapter 14 A lot of times people they don't have the peace of god in their life You know, but they the bible is saying there in colossians 3 let the peace of god rule in your hearts. Let it rule I mean god wants to wants us to be a peaceful people. He wants us to have Joy, peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meeting his temperance He wants us to have these fruits of the spirit but so often we as christians we lack that Because of the fact that we're not forgiving because we don't we lack the cherry Because we hold on to anger and resentment and it makes us into bitter people Bitter people And the bible says that if we're angry people, I'd have to go to problems 14 that we're actually fools It's a foolish thing to be an angry person. Okay And you can see why in the light of you know, what? What light of what paul's talking about saying look you need to be forgiving because christ forgave you It'd be a very foolish thing to say. Well, I don't need to forgive anybody even though christ forgave me everything Look at problems chapter 14 verse 17. He that is soon angry Deal it foolishly and a man of wicked devices is hated now i'll point out there it says he that is soon angry Okay I don't want to be misconstrued this morning I don't want you to misunderstand and think that i'm saying it's always a sin to be angry Okay We saw we see instances in scripture where jesus is angry So far to where he sits down and literally takes the time to braid a whip before going in and driving out You know the money changers in the temple We see that god, you know is very merciful in law of suffering, but he also has a very wrathful and vengeful side So i'm not saying if you're ever angry that somehow you're in sin, sometimes there's a time and place to be angry There's a time and place to get upset and to and to have righteous inclination But look if we're just always angry and we're angry at every little thing that somebody does We're just constantly flying off the handle At our children constantly flying off the handle at our spouse fellow church members co-workers every little thing that somebody does makes us angry You know chances are that we're dealing foolishly we're not conducting ourselves in charity And notice it when when you deal foolishly it says that goes on it says that a man of wicked devices is hated You know the bible says that if you want to have friends you have to show yourself friendly And people don't want to be friends with people who are always angry You say why don't I have any friends? Maybe you're not a very friendly person Maybe maybe every time somebody gets around you. It's just you rub off and then you're angry. You're upset at all the time You're just complaining about this and complaining about that Look, I don't know about you, but I don't want to be around people like that. I'm sure you're the same way Look, don't we all have things that we can complain about? We can always go to some brother or sister. We could always go to somebody and just tell them everything That's going wrong. And i'm not saying we should never express anything negative in our life Sometimes we have burdens that we want other people to help us bear But look if we're just going around nitpicking being angry looking for reasons to be offended You know what? We're dealing angry where we're soon angry. We're dealing foolishly. Don't be surprised if you're hated It goes on in verse 29 and says he that is slow to wrath is a great understanding So, you know, we should be soon We should not be soon angry But what we should be slow to wrath and that shows us that we're a great understanding To be soon angry is to deal foolishly to be slow to wrath is to have great understanding to be wise right to have wisdom He says but he that is hasty of spirit exulted Folly, you know if we just blow off the handle we're going to make a mess of things in our life We're going to ruin marriages. We're going to ruin relationships In church with friends and family we'll ruin these relationships if we go around with a hasty angry spirit We're going to exalt folly in our lives and that's not something that we want He says in verse 30 a sound heart again Perfectness a soundness a completeness a sound heart is the life of the flesh but envy the rottenness of the bones So I think he's saying I believe these verses are connected 29 30. These are connected verses These aren't two different things He's saying look if you're slow to wrath You have great understanding if you're hasty of the spirit of a hasty spirit you exalt folly And if we're someone who's soon angry and we're always finding ourselves getting upset and being angry about everything You know what eventually we're going to end up being very envious people. We're going to be what bitter people I mean think about that that how he's describing that there that envy it's the rottenness of the bones You know bones is something, you know something that's deep within you, right? He's talking about something I mean the most centered part of your being is your bones it's just the that, you know, really getting down into it and people can become so angry and so bitter and so Just wrathful and vengeful all the time that this envy it just seeps down into their bones It's just it's just who they are to the very core And that's not the type of people that we want to be We don't want to be people who exalt folly and I was trying to think of an example of somebody Who kind of pictures this and you know, the first person that came to mind was salt You know saw somebody who became angry and upset and dealt foolishly in his life Out of envy, right and he made a mess of his life And if you would go to keep something proverbs, we're gonna look at a lot of problems this morning But go over to first Samuel chapter 13 first Samuel chapter 13 You know, Saul is a good example of somebody who was not merciful not long suffering But somebody that was soon angry somebody that dealt foolishly Amanda was of wicked devices, right? And someone that had envy that came to that it was so envious of David It was like down it was a rottenness to his bones. It controlled everything in his life if you're familiar with the soul story of Saul And of course because of that, you know, he was a man of wicked devices. He did a lot of Bad things he caused a lot of harm to a lot of people didn't And he had the priest killed by the hand of doeg. He's pursuing david. He's murdering innocent people You know, and he's he's letting the his his kingly duties go by the wayside so he can just pursue david out of envy And you know, that's why the bible tells us that in proverbs 17 i'll read to you Let a bear rob of her whelps meet a man rather than a fool in his folly Why because it's the wrath of the fool. It's the folly of the fool that is dangerous And if we deal foolishly, you know if we're angry we deal foolishly So it'd be better for us to meet that bear robert her whelps and to meet somebody who's just bitter Angry foolish and just making a mess of things in their life because we might be their next target, right? Now if you're there in first daniel chapter 13 look at verse one. We'll see where This envy or this bitterness first sets into saul Okay It says saul reigned one year and when he had reigned two years over israel saul chosen three thousand men of israel Where of two thousand were with saul and mikmash and and mount bethal and a thousand were with jonathan and gibeah benjamin And the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent And jonathan smote the garrison the philistines that was in giba And the philistines heard of it and saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land saying let the hebrews hear So jonathan here he's rallying the troops. They're going to fight these philistines, right? And all israel heard say that saul had smitten the garrison of the philistines and the is and that israel also Was had an abomination with the philistines and the people were called together after saul to gilgal and the philistines gathered themselves together To fight with israel 30 000 chariots and 6 000 horsemen And the people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude and they came up and pitched in mikmash wet eastward from beth haven and the men of israel saw that they were in a strait for the people were distressed when the people did hide themselves in caves and In thickets and in rocks and in high places and in pits and some of the hebrews went over to jordan to the land of gab Of gill and gilead as for saul he was yet in gilgal And all the people followed him trembling and he tarried seven days according to set time that some samuel had appointed But samuel came not to gilgal and the people were scattered from him. So saul he's starting out here very early in his reign He's attempting to do something good, right? He's trying to liberate the people from the oppression of the philistines He's and his son starts this this uh revival, you know, he kicks this thing off He's leading a charge saul immediately gets on board and he's he's making moves, right? We see here that he was supposed to tarry there In gilgal and wait for the prophet samuel to come and make a sacrifice But it says there at the end of verse eight But samuel came not to gilgal and the people were scattered from him So they're waiting for samuel and the people are getting distant, you know, they've been there for several days They're getting disheartened and they're they're scattering from saul and saul, you know Coming from a probably a genuinely a good place saying I don't want to lose the momentum We have here just goes ahead and offers a sacrifice when he wasn't supposed to It says in verse nine and saul said bring hither a burnt offering to me and peace offerings and he came And he offered the burnt offering and remember that's not his place to do that You know that is the job of the high priest of the priests And the prophets and he came to pass that as soon as he had made an end of the offering of the burnt offering Behold, samuel came, you know, he should have just held out a little bit longer. Things would have gone very differently for For saul and remember this is the beginning of saul's downfall. This is where it all starts And it says behold samuel came and saul went out to meet him that he might salute him and samuel said what hast thou done? Saul said because I saw that the people were scattered from me and that thou camest not within the time days appointed And that the phalluses gathered themselves together in mcmash therefore said I the philistines will come down Now upon the people to gilgal and I have not made supplication lord I forced myself therefore and offered a burnt offering saying look I didn't want to do it and made myself do it What was really going on is that saul He lost his patience, you know, he himself became disheartened. He was not trusting in the lord It says in verse 13 and saul samuel said to saul thou hast done foolishly Thou has not kept the commandment of the lord thy guy which commanded thee for now with the lord have established thy kingdom upon israel forever ever But now thy kingdom shall not continue the lord hath sought him a man after his own heart And now and the lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people because thou has not kept With that which the lord commanded thee. So what's his punishment for not waiting for samuel? He's told look, you know, he's only two years into his reign saying know what god's done with you already He's going to take his kingdom from from you and give it unto somebody else So saul has already got this in his mind and we see that throughout the rest of the life of saul That he's just obsessed with not losing this power and he you know makes uh, david, you know the obvious victim of that Of that, you know, he's very resentful towards david So he says look he's gonna he's gonna that was not kept that which the lord had commanded and it says in verse 15 It's saying arose and gat him up from gilgal to give you a benjamin and saul numbered the people that were present with him about 600 Men and saul and jonathan the son of the people that were present with him abode and give you a benjamin and philistines A camp in vickmash and the spoilers came out of the camp of the philistines and three companies One company turned the way that leaded to ophrah and to the land of shoal And another company turned the way to beth horan and another company turned it to the way of the border that looked to the valley Of zeboam toward the wilderness now There was no smith found throughout all the land of israel for the philistines said lest the hebrews make them swords or spears So what was going on is they had confiscated their weapons right like they always want to do in our country They want to they were coming for their guns. The philistines actually pulled it off, right? Obviously, they didn't have guns, but they were taking, you know, the swords and spears and they left them with just basically farm implements That's what the that's what the israelites had when they started this rebellion against a well-armed people in the philistines It says in verse 20 But all the israelites went down to the philistines to sharpen every man his share and his coulter and his axe and his mat So they couldn't they didn't have a smith there to sharpen their their their farming implements They actually had to go to the philistines to get those tools sharpened Yet they had a file for the mattocks and the coulters and for the forks and for the axes and for the and to sharpen the goats So it came to pass in the day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people That were with saul and jonathan Now notice this detail because I think this is a detail that we see throughout the life of saul When it comes to what he had it says but with saul and with jonathan His son there was found there was found what there was found a sword And there's on a spear I want to preach and this is all kind of introduction I'll preach a message this morning entitled. Saul's spear Saul's spear because I think as we look throughout the scripture that saul's spear is a picture of his wrath It's a picture of his bitterness It's what he uses to express the resentment that's in his heart the envy that is in his bones as a rottenness and we'll see that as as uh In the coming, you know, if you go to first thing chapter 18 But that that spear is something that's with him until the day of his death It's something that he holds on to and you can kind of see where it started, right? When he first starts to go on this battle He has a spear and he's told at that time the kingdom's be taken from you and given unto another It says in st first saying of chapter 18 verse 1 it came to pass and he made an end of speaking unto saul But the soul of jonathan was knit with the soul of david and jonathan loved him as his own soul And saul took him that day would not let him go no more to his father's house so this is when you know, saul is taking david to be his You know his musician and his captain, right? So he actually makes him a part of his cabinet if you will It says in verse three and then jonathan and and david made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul So jonathan saul's son, you know, they had this great relationship. Jonathan was not somebody that was bitter and angry and harbored And it was envious and harbored this animosity towards david, you know He saw things as they were he saw saul his father for what he was and saul david for what he truly was And they make this covenant right and jonathan it says that they you know, they loved them. He loved him as his own soul Verse four and jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to david and his garments even to his sword So you see that that you know Jonathan because he was not a resentful person because he was not envious because he was not a man of wrath He's willing to part even with his own sword Which again is showing us, you know The type of character that he had the type of person that he was He was someone that was willing to part with things that didn't belong to him, right? He knew the kingdom was going to become david's whereas whereas saul what he has that spear, right? And he's never going to let go of that spear. In fact, we're going to see that he uses that spear You know to do a lot of bad things Whereas jonathan's the type of person hey have it all take this take that you can even have my sword, right? And says that he gave it to a sword in his bow and to his girdle jumped to verse five David went out where this whoever saul sent him and behaved himself wisely and saul sent him over over the men of war And he was accepted in the sight of all the people in the sight of saul's servants And it came to pass as they came when david was returned from the slaughter of the philistine That the women came out of all the cities singing and dancing to me To meet king saul with tabards and with joy and with instruments of music And the women answered one another as they played and said saul has slain his thousands and david is ten thousands So you can see where this uh, this resentment begins to fester in saul's heart Because they're singing these praises about the victories that have been won against the philistines They're saying oh saul's slain thousands, but david is ten thousands right, he's receiving the praise and the He's being lifted up in the eyes of people even above the king saul And look this should not have taken saul by surprise because he was already told because of what you did The kingdom is going to be taken from me, but he was the type of person rather than just accepting the fact that he done wrong He becomes angry. He becomes bitter. He becomes resentful and becomes vindictive and even wrathful And that spear that he holds is I believe a picture of that And it says in verse eight and saul was very rough and the saying displeased him and he and and he said They have a scribe and the david ten thousands and to me they have a scribe of thousands and what can he have more? But the kingdom it's like well duh That's exactly what they said. That's that sam or saul said or sam said what's going to happen Look at verse nine and saul. I gave him from that day forward So now he's like he's he's being very suspicious, you know, he's he's you know, he knows somebody's going to get it He knows somebody's going to get it the kingdom that's going to be given to somebody and now he's kind of figuring it out Well, it's going to be david, right? And it came to pass tomorrow verse 10 that the evil spirit of god came upon saul and he prophesied in the midst of the House and david played with his hand. It's at other times Right, and this is something that he would do he would play this music and the evil spirit would depart from saul Right. He was he was ministering at them. He wasn't you know, trying to annoy him David here is actually trying to do good unto saul But because saul is the type of person that harbors wrath a person that is angry and envious and vindictive You know, he lashes out even against somebody that is trying to do him good because he feels like he's being wrong And it says there and there was a javelin in saul's hand now think about where saul is in the story. He's in his house I mean if there's anywhere you should feel safe, especially as the king it's in your house He's probably surrounded by guards he's got the walls up, you know some kind of castle or something like that He's got men everywhere. But yeah, he's got to sit there and hold on to a spear I mean it'd be like me if I came home, you know If I came to the dinner table every morning and just you know locked and loaded an ar-15 and slung around my shoulder And my wife's like what are you doing with the with live rounds and the gun? What are you doing at the table? I just you know, I just want to make sure in case anything happens Well, who are you afraid of you think little corbin's gonna rise up against you with a with a spoon and come you know Come after you You know, I mean it's one of your kids gonna try and take you out Well, you never know where it could come from. I mean at any moment I mean this is the kind of you'd say i'm a very paranoid person, wouldn't you? You'd say hey you need to relax a little bit, you know, maybe go, you know Unload that thing and put it away and have a little bit of a cool down period or whatever Right, but that's exactly what's going on here with saul, you know, he's not he's not laying around on the couch and his sweatpants You know just you know taking the load off He's got his spear he's on the ready because why because he's a very wrathful person he's a very envious person, okay And it says in verse 11 and saul cast the javelin for he said I will smite david even to the wall with it And david avoid out of his presence twice. So we'll read again. This is something that happened more than once Where david's literally in there trying to give saul some kind of relief trying to give him some kind of comfort But saul being the envious person he is takes that javelin He just can never let go and uses it to try and smite david to the wall run him through Now if you would keep something in first samuel to go over to Proverbs chapter 15 again keep something in proverbs in first samuel We're going to come back and forth throughout the sermon this morning You know, the bible says that we should follow peace with all men That's what it tells us in hebrews to follow peace with all men Even people that maybe have done us wrong or we perceive that are not our friends. We should try to follow. Peace with all men We should follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man should see shall see the lord we should follow peace with all men Especially people that would may claim the name of christ if there's anybody that we should try to have peace with it's within the local church Now, of course, we should have that in other relationships in our lives I don't think that's really a problem for most people if you're having marriage problems. Well, there's no peace You know, there's there's other things that we can talk about Most people already understand that most people say hey, you know husband and wife families They should dwell together peaceably. They should love one another we get that But sometimes people come and get into church settings and they think well that none of that applies You know where people can actually turn on further brother fellow brothers and sisters in christ Now look i'm bringing it up because i've seen it over and over and over and over and over again I can't even count how many times i've seen or had people come to me where they're complaining about some other brother and sister in christ They want staff. They want leadership to come down on them to bring the hammer And I get it sometimes people are just coming to express to say hey, you know what me and this person don't get along Make sure we're not together soloing whatever I get that but a lot of times people go out of their way To try to get leadership to strong arm somebody else or go after somebody else because they have some kind of Vendetta against them because they've been wronged in some way. Okay, because they don't like them or whatever it is I'm like, you know and that being the case. Let me ask you this. Does that sound like you're following peace with all men? Well, i'm following peace with the you know, my co-workers i'm following peace with my friends I'm following peace with my my spouse i'm following peace with my children my my friends I'm following peace with unsaint people when i'm out trying to preach the gospel i'm pursuing peace with them Yeah, but your own brother or sister in christ that just goes out the window Look if there's anybody that we should try to follow peace with it's our brothers and sisters in christ within the local church We should strive to get along. We should strive to get to have a unity in the local church You're there in proverbs chapter 15 Look at verse 10 the bible says in verse 10 correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way And he that hateth reprove shall die, you know, there's a lot of different ways you can approach that verse You know, you should never be upset when somebody's correcting you or is is reproving you, you know A lot of times that's how they you you uh get instruction, right and you Depart from the paths of you know evil, okay But wasn't that what happened with psalm didn't somebody come to him and correct him? Say hey you did wrong here and the kingdom's gonna be taken from you as a result You know, but he forsook the way he hated that reproof and we see how it affected his life You know, he ended up dying early and he died a very horrible death Look at verse 31 the ear that heareth reproof of life shall abide among the wise He that refuseth instruction to despise of his own soul, but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding Look if we're wrong in this area, we need to fix it. We don't want to end up like saw Being people who just end up very bitter later in our life We're living our whole lives bitter. Look these people are out there These people are out there we run in and we probably know people like this personally You know, we were talking about it the other day in a soul-winning man up at tent b Like there was someone knocking some door and it's older and they were just shocked because this this sweet little old lady At least you would think she was a sweet little lady came to the door and just said the most just mean nasty things About bibles and the christian I can't remember exactly what said was basically just getting after the soul winner for coming to their door And they they were like it would be different if I was down at the camp, you know the college campus It was some liberal, you know, brainwashed kid coming to me jumping down my throat or some, you know Feminist or some, you know professor or something like that. But no it was a sweet old lady in this upper middle class neighborhood And I just thought to myself well, you know the longer you live The more time you have to sit there and fester and get bitter and angry about things And there's people that's that they get older they get in their uh, their their later years and that's what they live for They live to complain and make everybody else around them miserable Look, we don't want to be that type of person But if you hate reproof if it's grievous to you be corrected if you can't be handled being told you're wrong You're just going to envy those around you and be mad at everybody else. That's how you're going to end up You get everybody's people just lives to complain It's something I figured out real quick when I had a job moving furniture You know that we would deliver furniture to these these nicer communities way out, you know the stick somewhere And there was always the we'd be returning furniture the first job I ever went to we were turning Uh furniture that somebody had sent back And it was this older lady, you know retired Who was complaining about just the most minor minute little like there was a thread hanging or something She wants the whole thing reupholstered And the guy who's looking he's like just get used to it. That's you know, a big part of this job And he said there's people that just that they retire they're older and they just live to complain That's all they got going for themselves in life The last job I was ever on that same job the same thing happened We're way out in the middle of nowhere And it was this this older lady and we bring in this chair that had gotten reupholstered and she tells us My last day on the job and she says flip it over. So we take this chair we flip it over Right and she says and then she looks on the back and she you know The chairs have like a little skirt on the bottom She flips the skirt over when it's upside down and on the back side and complains about the stitching And I just looked at my co-worker I says i'll be in the truck I just walked out Right, and that's that's what I learned that job There's people that have just spent their whole life getting angry and bitter and resentful And eventually they get far enough on in life That's all they have to have in life is just to complain about things life is they're bitter That's what happens with saul, you know, saul is early on told he's reproved and said you did wrong You know the kids will be taking from you and giving to a man after god's own heart And instead of him just accepting that correction like his son. Jonathan did he gets angry bitter resentful and he holds on to that That bitterness and we see it in the form of that spear saul's spear And he uses it to lash out at other people, right? That's what he did here with david If you would go over to first samuel chapter 19 first thing with chapter 19. This is another Instance of saul using the spear Against other people It says in verse 1 of first samuel 19 and saul spake to jonathan his son and his servants that they should kill david He's saying look I tried you know now it's your turn take him out But jonathan saul's son delighted much and david and jonathan told david saying saul my father seeketh to kill thee now Therefore I pray thee take heed to thyself until the morning and abide in a secret place and hide thyself Verse three and I will come out and stand before beside my father in the field where thou art And i'll commune with my father of thee and what I see that will I tell him and jonathan spake good of david And unto his father saul and said to him let not the king sin against his servant against david Because he hath not sinned against thee and because his works have been to thee were very good For he did put his life in his hand and slew the philistine and the lord wrought a great salvation For all israel which thou saw and thou sawest it and did didst rejoice Wherefore then without sin against innocent blood to slay david without a cause and saul harken in the voice of jonathan And and saul swear as the lord liveth. He shall not be slain So it sounds like oh sauls come to light, right? But this is the thing about being a bitter wrathful envious person it's what it's in your bones And you could have these what you know moments of clarity where you see things where they really are You could even resolve to some degree that i'm going to change my ways But if it's just something that's been embedded in you, it's just you know, that's the way I was raised That's the way my parents were this is the way i've always been I can't change You know what? You really are going to have a hard time changing But praise god, you know, we have the indwelling the holy spirit You know that we can put on the new man, which is created in christ Jesus that we can put on the bond of charity We can we can put on these things and we can change but we're going to have to want to right, you know And obviously for for saul, you know, this is a little bit of a different story And you know, he very well maybe he was just paying lip service here. But you know, he probably genuinely meant this You know, he's being reminded by his son. Look david's done nothing but good for you and you're trying to kill him You need to knock that off In verse seven, it says and jonathan called david and jonathan showed him all those things that jonathan Brought david to saul and he was in his in his presence as in times past you think oh everything's resolved, right? Keep reading and he says in verse eight and there was war again And david went out and fought with the philistines and slew them at the great slaughter and they fled from them And the evil spirit lord was upon saul and he sat in his house with his javelin's hand and david played with his hand And david sought or excuse me and saul sought to smite david even to the wall with the javelin But he slipped away out of saul's presence and he smoked the javelin in the wall and david fled and escaped that night So it's the same thing all over again You know Saul's trying to kill him once he's trying to get everybody else to do his dirty work and take out david You get your mind by jonathan. Hey, he's a good guy David's trying to do he's only done right by you knock it off It seems like he comes to his sense senses But you know what that envy that bitterness that wrathfulness is just so much a part of him that he can't help himself And the exact same situation comes around again He's trying to kill david because it's something that's just become part of his nature his character This is not the type of people that we want to end up being And look if we find ourselves being a wrathful person an envious person if we if we deal angrily with other people You know, we should probably get that in check now Before we get so set in our ways that later on in life. We can't change even if we wanted to And it says there in verse 11 and saul also sent messengers onto david's house to watch him to slay him in the morning And mike called david's wife told him saying if thou save not thy life tonight tomorrow thou shalt be slain If you know the rest of that story, you know She she might call his his david's wife covers for him and says, oh he can't come see you because he's sick So what's all say he says bring him down in the bed He's like so hell bent on killing and he's like I don't care if he's if he's sick If he's in his, you know, if he's laid up in some infirmary somewhere He's got an iv tube in him, you know, he's in traction whatever get him down here so I can kill him That's how angry he was if he would go to first samuel chapter number, uh, 20 first chapter number 20 We'll pick it up in verse 24 It says so david hid himself in the field when the new moon was coming The king sat down to meet and the king also sat upon his seat and at other times Even upon a seat by the wall and jonathan rose and admir sat by saul's side and david's place was empty. So david's gone Right. He's he's afraid to obviously at this point. He can't blame david for not wanting to be around saul I mean every time he sees him he's throwing a javelin at him, you know, he's conspiring against you know with his own wife He's even going so far as to try and take him down in his own, you know, supposed deathbed and kill him So obviously he doesn't want to be around him right because a man of wicked devices is hated And he said nevertheless, uh, saul spake not anything that day for he thought something had to fall in him He is not clean surely He is not clean and it came to pass in the morrow Which was the second day of the month that david's place was empty and saul said and jonathan his son Wherefore cometh not the son of jesse to meet neither yesterday nor today And jonathan answered saul david david earnestly asked leave of me to go to bethlehem And he said let me go I pray before family had to sacrifice the city and my brother He hath commanded me to be there And now if I have found favor in their eyes, let me get away. I pray thee and see my brother again he's covering for him because uh Jonathan and david have gotten this whole plan together about You know where jonathan's gonna let him know whether or not he can return whether or not saul's still set with him And that there's a whole story there What I want to point out in this passage is that who is saul angry with where does this all start? He's mad at david. He's envious of david, right? I mean, he's just trying to kill david. He's got this rottenness in his bones. Just he can't help himself he's he's a very bitter person towards david and and you know, he has a specific target in mind, but what we need to be careful is about the fact that You know if we become angry people we deal foolishly, right? Meaning we're going to start harming other people that maybe we're not even at medic You know, we might be angry and bitter and resentful about something somebody else did to us But the other people in our lives who maybe aren't the source of that of that will start to lash out at them You know, that's why the bible says it'd be better to be met by a bear robbed of her wealth than a fool in this folly Because they'll just peep, you know fools in their folly and their anger and the wrath They'll just start to lash out at everybody right and it's exactly what you see happening in this story, right? It says in verse 30 then saul's anger was kindled against jonathan and said unto him thou son of the perverse rebellious woman Do I not know that thou has chosen the son of jesse to thy own confusion and on the confusion of thy mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of jesse liveth upon the ground thou shalt not be established nor thy kingdom Wherefore now send and fetch me unto me for he shall surely die So he's rebuking jonathan and saying he look he's going to take the kingdom from you We already know that about jonathan and he doesn't care He's more than willing to let the king go. He gave him the sword to give him everything He's saying look i'm not the you know, god's will be done who am I to to fight against the lord, right? And he tries to make david's case here, right? He says in verse 32 and jonathan answered saul his father and said on him wherefore shall he be slain? What has he done? And saul and and you know, these are these are very reasonable questions, aren't they? This isn't him, you know, you know prodding Or provoking his father saul to wrath You know, this is the same thing. He brought up to him earlier. He said look he's only done you good You know, he's only he's only uh Freed us from the philistines. He's got up fought your battles He's done everything you asked You know, he's saying what has he done this time saul can't have himself. He has a very different reaction It wasn't like the time before he's like no you're right. He won't be slain bring him back. We'll try this again instead this time Saul's envy his bitter in this his wrath has just become so much a part of himself That even lashes out of his own son look at verse 33 and saul cast a javelin at him to smite him Who's he mad at he's mad at david that's that's he david is the object of his ire He's the one that he wants to destroy But he's become such a mean vengeful person that he's willing to take out his own son who he just got done saying Look, he's going to take the kingdom from you That was his big concern, right? Well, it's going to be hard for jonathan to inherit the kingdom Saul if you if you kill it So you can see how anger and wrath and you know, they just cause us to deal foolishly We just you know become blind with rage and anger you'll lash out at anybody and everybody around you and bring them harm So he casts javelin at him whereby jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay david So jonathan arose from the table in a fierce anger now was he right to be angry? Yes Well, did he lash out? No, obviously, you know, there's time and place for being here Someone's look you have a right to be angry if somebody's, you know taking shots at you literally If someone's throwing javelins at you or you know firing warning shots at you, you know, i'll understand and you'll upset So jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger And did eat no meat the second day of the month for he was grieved for david because his father What his father had done on dam go over to second first thing of 22 for sam 22 So we can see the type of person that saul became because of his wrath because of his anger because of envy That was the rottenness of his bones and became who he was And look, that's why i'm preaching this because this is something that we all probably deal with to some degree or another But we cannot let this be What defines us as as god's people? And people even in local churches can get at odds with one another and they can become angry and spiteful and mean There's their own brothers and sisters in christ And if we're not careful, if we don't keep that in check look, it'll just become who we are Look, i've known people like this who just straight up said, you know, I woke up this morning and I just felt like being mean Their words People and we we think that sounds and it is silly Well, look people really have this mentality they get up and say i'm just gonna be me today I'm just gonna go and make somebody else's day miserable What do they do to you nothing? I'm, just mad about some other situation I'm, just mad about some other thing that somebody else did to me and i'm just gonna you know I can't do anything to them. They keep they keep dodging my javelin so to speak But you know these other people they won't see it coming and i'll go out there and i'll make them feel like dirt And look people wake up with this mentality And i'm telling you it will be their undoing They will get to the end of their lives and be bitter angry people that nobody wants to be around We're gonna have to go first day of 22 Right verse six it says there when saul heard that david was discovered the men that were with him Now so i'll go to gibby under a tree in raima having his spear in his hand and all the servants standing about with him So there he is still holding on in that same spear He's got david on the run. He's got him. He's fled for his life He's running around with a band of men in the mountains When david finally at one point confronts you said you're pursuing you're pursuing a dead dog He's saying I can't do anything to you if I wanted to And here he is under his tree comfortable surrounded by his men. But what is he still holding on to that spear? He just can't wait to run it through david Then saul said into his servants verse seven that stood with him hear you now you benjamites Will the son of jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds That all of you have conspired again against me and there's none that showeth me That my son hath made a league with the son of jesse and there's none of you that is sorry for me Or that showeth unto me that that that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie and wait as this day So he's throwing a big pity party He's sitting on his tree with a spear with his bitterness with his anger with his wrath Surrounded by you know, the people that are serving him And he's complaining say oh no one feels sorry for me There's nothing to really feel sorry about you're a jerk. That's all You don't like the proof. You don't like correction You don't like what god dealt out What's there to feel sorry about you're the one that's trying to kill an instant man that's done nothing but good to you If you would go back to colossians 3 colossians chapter number three, we're done in first daniel We're almost done. I don't go a little long this morning But look, what's all should what should solve done? So, you know what samuel you're right. I should have waited for you. I made a mistake Apparently i'm not i'm cut off this and remember when when saw first started out. He was a good guy He had to be persuaded to take the throne right when they wanted to or you know, uh, Ordain him king they had to go find him. He was hit among the stuff And he was head and shoulders about everybody. You know, I always thought that was a funny picture this big guy You know like hiding and the the baskets or whatever were there, you know the luggage You know, there he is. There's a foot sticking out, you know Get him up here, but it wasn't long after that where the power went to his head the position went to his head You know and he couldn't let it go And eventually he gets to the place where he's just pursuing david clutching onto a spear Up thinking, you know, he's convinced paranoid thinking everybody else has conspired against him. This is how his life ends, right? And and we know elsewhere that when when he's finally found You know at the end of his life when the malachite comes to david after after saul has has died and fell upon his own sword He says I saw saul Leaning upon his spear now. We know the malachite was making up the whole story But that might that was probably a detail in that story. That was true that even at saul's death He's still just leaning on that spear. He carried it with him all the way to all the way to the grave He took his bitterness and his anger and his wrath and his vengefulness all the way to his death and he died like that That's the last thing anybody saw of him him leaning upon that spirit Like that's not how I want to go out What kind of person uh was brother corbin? Oh, he leaned upon that spirit He was pretty bitter. He was angry man. He never let things go and look we could I guarantee you everybody in this room anyone, you know, if you haven't already if you live long enough You'll have things to be angry and bitter and resentful about You'll have things that you can hold against people for the rest of your life if you want it You know because there there's going to be people that wrong you that offend you that do bad things That that you know You could just stay mad about the rest of your life And if you know we get enough sinners together in this room, that's what we all are It's only a matter of time for somebody around here says something does something doesn't do something doesn't say something Forgets this you know brings that up whatever does something that offends you and you want you can go ahead and just get bitter And get angry and hold on to that and never let it go and you can end up like saul Dying, you know a despicable death a shameful death And the last thing they would say to you is well, he did lean on that spirit pretty heavy to me Look, I don't want saul's fear in my life. I want to get I want to get rid of that I don't want to be known with that type of person. Did I have you go back to colossians chapter three? Or remind us again. It says, you know, we need to forbear one another we need to forgive one another in verse 13 He said in verse 15 let the peace of god rule in your hearts go to ephesians chapter 6 phesians chapter 6 You need to have some discretion in this area people need to learn to control their emotions You can't just say well i'm irish Right, which is probably nobody in this room Apparently I am what you talk to my wife that's how well I know you honey That's why we get along so well, right because apparently i'm part irish too. I know if you're european you're everything You know, we're just mutts anymore But you know, that's not an excuse is it? I mean, I don't care if I came from directly from ireland if I was you know Had a bag of potatoes with me and I had the accent and everything if I eat lucky charms every morning You know that doesn't give me an excuse. Well, i'm irish, you know, we're angry That doesn't give me excuse. That's you know, we need to have discretion Well, you don't understand what they did to me. You need to have some you need to have some discretion You need to learn to forgive Because you don't want to end up like saul no one wants to end up like saul But yet it happens people do it all the time Uh, how'd you go to fusions the bible says in proverbs 19 the discretion of a man dispersed his anger And it says and it is a glory to pass over a transgression. Let me read that again the discretion of a man defer it his anger He defers it right. It's discretion. He says you know what? I i'm upset I'm angry. Somebody did something to me. I'm mad at this person. I'm upset about the situation But i'm going to go ahead and defer my anger The discretion of a man defer his anger. He says it's not worth it It's not worth driving a wedge between me and so and so it's not worth Making a bigger deal than this. It's it's better for me to just forget about it It says it's a discretion of a man defer this anger and what and it is a glory to pass over a transgression So, you know, it's my glory just pass over that, you know, I could get upset I could anger I might even be justified. They really did do me wrong But you know what? I'm gonna go ahead and just let it be a glory to me and pass over a transgression And not bring it up and just go ahead and forgive them And by the way, i'm gonna forgive them before they even say they're sorry A lot of forgiveness if they apologize and look I wish people would apologize You know, a lot of people just aren't going to do that because they themselves are angry and bitter and vengeful and all those things They they're not going to defer their anger. They're not going to apologize So you can either just have two people that are at odds Being bitter and angry and upset with one another or one of them could you know be the bigger man so to speak And and and just you know, let it be a glory to them just pass over the transgression and just forgive The bible says in proverbs 16 he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty not he that is ever angry Okay again He that is slow to anger, right? There is a time and place to be angry But you know, it's probably not all the times that we're angry I mean we find ourselves angry. We should ask ourselves. Is this really worth being angry about? You know traffic You didn't see what that jerk did they didn't even use their signal You know, they they could have run that yellow light and gotten through now i'm sitting here for another two minutes this red light This is tucson folks. This is relatable, right? And You know, that's not worth getting angry about Your spouse does something your children do something You know what and they're going to do the same thing tomorrow and they're going to do the same thing next week They're going to do the same thing next month because they're sinners. They're not perfect You could either just fly off the handle every time but you know what you can be slow to anger And the bible says that if you're a person who's slow to anger, you're better than the mighty I mean you take the biggest strongest person there is, you know, you have more control of your Of your anger or you have control of your anger and you're stronger than they are physically And he that ruleeth his spirit than he that taketh the city You know, there's more glory. There's more strength in ruling your own spirit than conquering a city bible saying He says in proverbs 25 verse 28 He that hath no rule over a spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls If you're the type of person who just flies out the handle gets angry gets offended gets mad over every little transgression Rather than forgiving and passing over these transgressions the bible says you have no rule of your spirit You know what? You're like a city that's broken down without walls. What is he saying? You're defenseless You're defensive. You have no defenses Anybody's gonna march right in there and have their way with you And don't we all know people like this who like to push buttons? People like to push buttons. They're out there You know guys do this all the time. We know we're always ribbing each other The last thing you want to do is let it know about it. Let another guy know about it Because then we'll just lay it on thicker, right And we understand we do that in a fun way and in a joking way, but sometimes people You know if they find out something genuinely upsets you and makes you angry and hurts you hurts your feelings or whatever They'll say oh that you don't like that and they'll just push that even harder And because you have no rule over your spirit, they can do that all they want If you have rule over your spirit if you can defer anger, you've got those walls up They try to they try to cast their javelin and just point Just bounces right off You know what they'll do they'll go i'm gonna go that doesn't work on them. I'll go try to make somebody else angry Like I said earlier that person that wakes up in the morning and just says i'm gonna be me I'm gonna go find somebody we need to well If you're the person who has the walls up who can defer anger and pass over transgression When they come try to be mean to you, it's not gonna work And then i'll just go on to somebody else where it does work You know, this is something that we all have to have we have to have rule over our spirit We can't just people that fly off the handle get upset get offended over every little thing that somebody does to us Or even if it's a big thing, you know, sometimes people do do big things that we you know could be very upset about And i'm not saying you know to take note not to take note of that but I am saying look we can't let that harbor bitterness and resentment towards those people I mean think about Me as you know in leadership of the church I mean you think There might be every now and then maybe somebody you know overseeing a flock of 50 plus people or whatever That every now and then somebody might do something that that upsets me Probably in fact, let me just go ahead and tell you yes It happens but what if I just let every little thing That you know, I get up and I preach about this and I say this is what the bible says Don't do this you do this people are listening and they're nodding And they turn right around and do the exact opposite of what the bible says Do you think that ever happens all the time? You know and I could sit here and just get bitter and angry. Oh, why not? They listen How many times i'm gonna say till i'm blue in the face. They still don't do what they're talking about And just turn into an angry resentful person. You know, what I found out real quick is that that's not any way I want to live my life And look i'm going to preach what the bible says and if people don't don't take heed to it Well, that's on them. I did my job You know when they suffer the consequences i'll be there to hold their hand and say i'm sorry, you know And i'll pray for you and encourage them and all that but look if they do the opposite of what's been preached That's not really my problem You know, that's that's their problem. So why should I sit around and be angry about that? It doesn't make any sense In fact the requirement for a bishop is that he's what not soon angry You know and I can I can understand that that required it, you know, if I just got upset over every little thing that happened You know or every time somebody wanted to you know, confront me about uh, you know something I would probably be a very angry person. I probably get into it a lot. I mean think about you know, we go out slowly All right, people are always trying to provoke us out solving aren't they? Saying nasty things slam it up now. Look don't let that scare you away from solving it It's not always like that. All right, a lot of times you meet the people that are Ready and willing to hear the gospel and they get saved and praise god, it's worth it But i'm not going to sugarcoat and tell you that there aren't people out there that say oh, oh you have a bible That's my past to treat you like dirt Right and look if we're the person who's soon angry That's going to come back on us because they are going to provoke us. You got to get those walls up You got to pass over that Did I have you go to fission six? Look at verse four And you fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the lord you know, sometimes dads we get the wrath of having to just be like these hard cases You know, we're just gonna we're gonna beat down everything that goes wrong and look we need to punish We need to chase him we need to have rules and standards I get that But you know what? We don't have to fly off the handle at every little thing either do we? You know, we could this could apply to moms and dads You know, we want to bring our children up in nurture and admonition of the lord And we don't always have to come down over every little transgression because you know what you'll be an angry person If that's how you're going to parent Every time my kid does or says anything that's just slightly wrong I'm gonna let him have it. You're gonna that's gonna be a miserable home that no one wants to live in Because that you know, that's gonna happen all the time Kids because kids are gonna make mistakes. That's part of growing up No, i'm not saying you shouldn't punish sinful behavior. You shouldn't punish wrongdoing But a lot of times the answer is sometimes kids make mistakes. It's not because they're being bad It's because they don't know And rather than coming down on them, you'd be like, hey, let me let me nurture you. Let me admonish you And show you how to do the right thing Right. So there's a balance there Look at ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 i'll begin reading in verse 29 It said in ephesians chapter 4 verse 29 let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth But that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the ears You know, maybe we should ask ourselves that what was the last time I administered grace into something under somebody? What was the last time I said something that actually edified someone? Rather than saying something I was trying to bring somebody down or cast somebody to bad light Or you know, whatever something negative. When was the last time I said something that actually administered greats under the person that heard it When was the last time somebody walked away from having a conversation with me saying man, i'm so glad I talked to them They I want to be more like them. They seem to have joy and peace and that's how I want to be Or how many what was it, you know, or is it people are walking away from conversations and saying man, I don't I won't talk to them again Every time I talk to that person. I just I walk away depressed and angry and upset Well, it's because of what's you know coming out of their mouth They're not ministering grace look at verse 30 and grieve not the holy spirit of god whereby I see on the day of redemption Verse 31 let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice And he's saying let it right This is something that god wants to help you with This is something that god will help you with If you want it And you say you know what i'm tired of being a bitter person I'm tired of all the wrath and the anger and the clamor and the evil speaking and the bitterness and the malice Well, you know what god's willing more than willing to help you with that But you've got to want that that's why he says let these things happen Verse 32 and be kind one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another even as god for christ's sake hath forgiven you You know and there's there's the motive isn't it? You know why you should do this? Not just for your own benefit, although it will benefit you it will benefit the relationships in your life It will prevent you from turning out to be you know, an angry bitter person in your latter end But you know what if that's not enough motivation for you Well, you know what you need to do that because that's what christ did for you You know, I forgive that person if they apologize. Oh, is that how christ forgave you? You know, we don't believe in this whole repent of your sins thing here Where you got to you know, sit on the mourner's bench for however months before we'll you know, preach you the gospel or something The bible says that he that christ died for us while we were yet sinners Romans 5 While we were at centers christ died for us He didn't say well i'll wait till you're sorry. I'll wait until I see some repentance or i'll wait till you know You apologize for all the ways he was defending all the laws of my that you've broken for your whole life I'll i'll wait till you lament and come to me and you know sobbing and grieving I mean that's how some well I forgive somebody if they would just drag themselves on their hands and knees to my feet and plead for forgiveness then I would forgive them Well, yeah, who wouldn't? That would just that would just show how much a big jerk you are if you wouldn't forgive somebody at that point, right? But that's not what christ did for us He forgave us when we weren't even giving him a second thought Before we were in any of us were around to even do the things that we did christ from You know was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world You know and and i'm not going to belabor the point and go to all the passages You know, we'll go to luke seven. We'll close there I mean forgiveness is a huge theme in in the scripture, especially in the new testament. It's something that jesus talked about a lot And that just tells me that he that the you know The reason why he had to do that is because it's not something that just always comes to us naturally, is it? You know being angry can be fun can't Just being honest Getting mad getting upset makes you get that heart racing get that blood flowing makes you alive, right? You know confronting people get that adrenaline dump get in their face. Tell them what you think telling them off Putting them in their place. Yeah right You know, that's something that people they seek that That's not the type of people that we're called to be called to be very forgiving people I'm just saying that you know, that's why jesus had to address that's why paul addresses that's why it comes up so much because forgiveness And mercy long stuff these things aren't things that just come to us naturally. These are things that we have to Cultivate in our lives. These are things we have to do on purpose, okay Luke 7 verse 36 and one of the pharisees desired him that he would eat with him And he went to the pharisee's house and sat down to meet behold a woman in the city, which was a sinner When she knew that jesus sat at me in the pharisee's house Brought an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with his tears And did wipe them with the hairs of her head And kissed his feet and anointed him with ointment So, I mean this is quite the scene. I mean imagine being there and this woman's doing this Verse 39. I mean, what would your reaction be? Hopefully it's not like this pharisee I mean if we saw that we'd probably say wow We'd be moved, right? But this is what's in the heart of man verse 39 now when the pharisee which had been him Saw he spake within himself saying this man if he were a prophet Would have known who and what matter of woman this is that touches them for she is a sinner So he just he's just expressing indignation. He's just saying what's what's he thinking letting this woman do this doesn't he know who that is He's not moved by this. He's offended And jesus answering said in verse 40 simon. I have somewhat to say unto thee and sayeth master say on There was a certain creditor which had two debtors to one owed him 500 pence in the other 50 So that's quite the difference, right? I mean we're talking 450 pence And when he had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both Tell me therefore which of them will love him most Simon answered and said I suppose that he to whom he forgave most And he said unto him now as rightly judged He said yeah, he's gonna love more because he's been forgiven more that seems pretty natural, doesn't it? And he turned to the woman and said to simon seeth out of this woman I entered into thine house Thou gavest me no water for my feet But she hath washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head Thou gave us me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet My head with oil doubt does not anoint but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment Wherefore I say unto her the her sins which are many are forgiven For she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little You know, we want to be a more forgiving and a more loving person in our lives We should probably just stop and consider how much christ has forgiven us And we should you know, we're if we're harboring resentment towards somebody if we're angry at someone if we're wrathful We should stop and think as what they've done to me compared to what i've done to god I mean what has anyone done in your life to you in life that you haven't in some way shape or form done to god I mean and here's the thing they've offended you another sinner You're not a holy righteous god, okay That's who we've all offended. We've all offended a holy righteous god whose standard is much higher But didn't he forgive us? He's forgiven us much He's forgiven us more than we could ever forgive anybody else You need to let that sink in Especially if you find yourself Being a type of saul somebody who's just hanging on to a spear who's just clutching to bitterness and is lashing out at others You need to stop and think about the fact that christ has forgiven you much that will make you a more forgiving person Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer