Righteous Indignation
July 2, 2016

Righteous Indignation: Psalm 119:49-56 (Zayin)
- Introduction: What is “indignation”?
- What are typical causes of moral indignation or outrage for nonbelievers?/
- Do/should followers of Christ ever be indignant? If so, about what? Why or why not?
- What about the command to love (Luke 6:27-28; 23:34)?
- Compare: Anger …
- As strife (Galatians 5:19-21) and as potential sin (Ephesians 4:26-27)
- As something to be guarded against and managed (James 1:19-20)
- Not an excuse for revenge (Romans 12:19-21)
- Not an appropriate response to persecution (1 Peter 3:14-17)
- As expressed by Jesus: Mark 3:1-5; Matthew 21:12-13; 23:13; 26:23-24 and Luke 19:41-44
- Compare: As expressed by Paul: 1 Corinthians 16:22; Galatians 1:8-9; 5:12; & 1 Timothy 4:14
- How does regeneration change us?
- Is there a progression from hating God’s Word, to acknowledging and learning to obey it, to loving His Word?
- Is there a regression from loving the wisdom of the world, to re-assessing it, to distancing ourselves it, to hating it?
- COMPARE: Romans 1:25 (preceded and followed by observations regarding sexual morality).
- Thinking exchange (rejecting the Mind of Christ)
- Worship exchange (rejecting God as solely worthy of our worship)
- Indignation and the Imprecatory Psalms: A New Testament Perspective
- Are Old Testament curses in the Psalms relevant to New Testament believers? (Mark 12:36; John 10:35; 13:18)?
- God’s justice: Understanding (Romans 2:4-5), participating (Rom. 12:19-21; Luk 6:27-29, 35).
- Nehemiah 13:25: Sorrowful indignation, or, judgmental, arrogant indignation?
- Psalm 119: 49-56 – Hope for believers who suffer
- Prayer for God to remember, and affirmations that the psalmist will remember God and His comforting and hope-giving laws.
- God awakens His Word … and His hope … in believers (v. 49)
- His promises – in His Word – comforts believers even when they are derided (vv. 50-52)
- Does adversity drive us toward God’s Word?
- Do we sorrowfully experience “hot indignation” when we see God’s law forsaken? (v. 53)
- Psalm 42:3 and Psalm 123:4 – Is the rejection of God and His law more provoking than the resulting persecution?
- As we travel on our life’s journey, we can hear and sing and remember God’s Word (vv. 54-55)
- Habitual singing through suffering, even at night, while staying somewhere temporarily.
- God enables us to learn about, and love, His Word, and find ourselves resting in His commandments (v. 56).
- “Kept” [shamar, H8104] includes “guarded,” because in His Word we find comfort, sustenance and restoration.
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