Welcome back, everyone. I just want to make a couple of comments very quickly. In the back, you'll find sort of an updated reading plan for the reform standards. So be sure you grab one on the way out. Same as I gave you last week, those of you who took those, but it was somewhat confusing because the lack of lines. And so I added lines to make it a lot more readable and a lot more clear. as to what it is that's being promoted and how to read this plan. Going across the top, I numbered the columns. We have 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. And then down the bottom, there are three readings, 1, 2, 3. And those readings go straight across. So number one, you read the two readings under that. And then number two, straight across. Number three, straight across. And that'll direct you up to the column that you're supposed to be in for the given day of the month. So I added all these separate lines. It wasn't as easily done with the software, so I took a pen and a ruler and drew them all out and gave you colored copies. So hopefully that's easier on the eye and easier to track. So please pick up one of those if you'd like to be involved in that plan for the coming year. All right, well, we come tonight to lesson 14. We want to do the second part of the whole person being affected by the whole gospel. Christ has come to redeem the whole person, and in doing so, he redeems head, heart, and hand, as we looked at. And looking last time at the head, we come tonight to the heart, which means we're coming to talk about emotions. And so, hopefully we can have some good discussion on this night. It's certainly somewhat of a hot topic, and the church always has been. And a lot of books are written on this, and it's important, I think, to think about that. Turn to Acts 8, I wanna go back to our text for this morning. And take note of Simon the Magician. Maybe you picked up on it. Obviously there's a lot more in the text than I could bring out in a single sermon this morning. But maybe you picked up on it at least as I was reading through it. What is it that engages Simon? What motivated his response to to Philip and then of course to the Apostles. Jimmy? Sure. Yeah, yeah, so I think your response there is right on. Simon's excited. He's excited about what he's seeing. Did you notice how many times the word amazed is used? I probably purposely emphasized it as I read it this morning, right? But look at verse nine, right? Simon practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria. That word stands out right away. So the people were amazed at Simon, right? Look at verse 11. The people are also amazed, right? A long time he repeats this and they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. And you keep going. Now what happens in verse 13? Who's amazed now? Simon's amazed, right? He's very excited about what he is seeing. Of course his heart is not right, that's made clear as we looked at this morning as Peter identifies. But the reality is there's this excitement, right? And so you have this emotional response, this excited response. The one who was amazed, amazing the people, is now himself amazed. He's engaged. But what's really engaged? Is the whole person engaged? I think we can suggest at this point the whole person is not engaged. Remember last time we talked about, with regard to the mind, two extremes, right? All head knowledge, right? Or very little head knowledge. We come again, Metzger introduces two extremes with regard to emotions. On the one hand, nothing more than an emotional reaction to the gospel, which can be deceiving. And then secondly, letter B, no emotional reaction to the gospel at all. We think of these two extremes, we're hoping to find ourselves, the right path is often in the middle with regard to these things. Yes, go ahead. Isn't Simon also amazed that the people are amazed at him? Probably. Right? Probably, but... Yes, yeah, there's probably something of that too. Yeah, caught up in that as well. Right? He's obviously amazing the people. He's got a good thing going in Samaria. Right? For a long time. We're not told how long, but for a long time he had amazed the people. That's all that Luke says. Right? So he's got a business going there, as it were. Right? The people said, this man is the power of God that is called great. So he's making a living, he's amazing the people, he's planted himself there, he's got a secure spot until Philip shows up and the people are amazed. And now Simon himself is amazed because something genuine has arrived. We think of this first extreme position nothing more than an emotional reaction. And you remember earlier on in one of the earlier chapters Metzger brought up Charles Finney. We mentioned him when we were thinking about the whole gospel and how Finney truncated the gospel terribly and left really left the gospel out, any good news at all. And so this is really, comes to bear at this point, we think about this emotionalism. Finney had a lot to do with this. Finney's innovative methods for revivals became known as new measures. And these measures that Finney created, that he innovated with, these measures were designed, right, to create an emotionally charged atmosphere, to engage the audience, and facilitate conversions. How do you make conversions possible? Well, the idea even that you could actually facilitate conversions, that you could make conversions possible, that you could even manipulate someone toward conversion, that gives a strong indication of where Finney was coming from theologically. Finney's new measures really grew out of his theological views, which were influenced on the one hand by Arminianism, but even deeper than that, Pelagianism. Pelagius denied original sin, right? The ability to make a right choice, to make a good choice, rests within the man himself, right? And so Pelagius believed that the humans had the ability to choose between good and evil, and so this led Finney to emphasize human agency, right? Human agency more than divine sovereignty, more than the Holy Spirit. Because if the man can make the decision himself, right? If we can make the decision ourselves without supernatural aid, without the intervention, without being born again, right? Really, that's what we're saying. If we can choose to be saved without being born again supernaturally by God's monergistic work in our hearts, as the Bible describes it, then why not create measures and why not contrive and innovate new ways by which to move the audience from an indecision to a decision? right, from being outside the circle to coming inside the circle through conversion, through repentance. If you're familiar with Finney's works, his lectures on revival, his lectures on revivals of religion, Finney wrote, the actual turning of the sinner from his sins and his acceptance of Christ is the sinner's own act. Now obviously we believe, but the reason we believe is because of our heart has been changed toward Christ and toward sin, of course, right? That wonderful work in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We do follow after God, we do choose Christ, but that's because the love of God is important to our hearts by His Holy Spirit. So if any is denying the biblical gospel, that's where we introduced him in the beginning, he denies that content for what it really is. But because of his theological stance with regard to, you know, what was it, Carl Truman, remember Truman said, one of the most critical things to know today is the doctrine of man. So because of Finney's poor anthropology, his poor unbiblical understanding of the doctrine of man, he's coming from a Pelagius standpoint with regard to mankind, and therefore, if it's all rest upon men to make the decision, then let's move and manipulate men. Let's get the right music, let's get the right lights, let's get the right situation and circumstance, let's create an anxious bench of sorts. That was Finney. All of this by which to move people to make the right decision. And then he could, if this emphasis on human responsibility and human decision making contributed to the development of this individualistic and experiential approach to evangelism and revivalism, all of Finney's new measures. What's he working toward? He's working toward emotional responses. It's emotionalism, right? Convince, persuade, manipulate, move, and get an emotional response, and you've got conversion. But as we've already talked about this, I think in one of the earlier chapters too, right, are emotions an unmistakable indicator to a true spiritual response to the gospel? And I think if we take Simon, the answer is no, right? Simon's amazed, right? And you remember, Luke even said he followed Philip around. He traveled with Philip. He continued with Philip for some time. He continues with Philip. He's tied to the hip here. He's excited. He's amazed to see signs and great miracles. He's captivated by it. There's surely this emotional response that is leading him to attach himself to Philip, trying to glean maybe his methodology. What is he doing here? And then, of course, when Peter and John show up, then his real heart is exposed. And so we see then, emotions are not a genuine indicator of a real heart response, right? And we talked about this earlier with regard to assurance, right? Trying to assure people that they're genuinely reconciled to Christ. Can you assure someone that they've become a Christian because they cried? We can't know the heart. But what Metzger is doing, again, from a place of criticism, let's appreciate The place from which he wrote this book, trying to get us to look more closely at biblical methodology, biblical evangelism, it's not that we can't convince someone, we can't assure someone that they've made a right decision because they were emotionally moved. How many emotional responses to, not just evangelism, but to the preaching of the gospel, right? Turns into an immediate reaction only to fall away, right? Isn't this what is even called foxhole conversions, right? Typical, you know, dub for that. Right, a foxhole conversion, this emotional response in a place of great distress and grief or whatever it may be, and yet time tells and time proves that nothing truly took place in the heart. So you got this one extreme, this emotionalism, for which the Finney was known, but it's still a part of a lot of the modern evangelism today. And then you have this other, the other extreme is no emotional reaction. And if you're reading Metzger's book, he doesn't say a whole lot at this point. Basically what he asks is, you know, how can a cold, impassioned presentation of the gospel come across to an unbeliever? How can it convince them that we're sharing anything worth hearing, right? If we speak of Christ's love as sort of a meaningless fact that a person can take it or leave it, what are we really saying? What are we really offering? Do we even care about what we're offering? If it doesn't move us, why should it move them? And it made me think of A lot of the Puritans, if you've read any of the Puritan treatises on prayer, they would often say, you know, if you don't care about what you're praying, then how do you expect God to care about what you're praying, what you're saying in prayer, right? If we're just mouthing the words and we're not, our heart's not in our prayers, you're not listening to your own lips, if you will, then upon what ground do you think God's gonna listen to you, right, if your heart's not in it? And that's what he's asking here on this other side of the pendulum is, You know, what kind of a presentation of the gospel are you giving? How are you sharing Christ? Just sort of take it or leave it? Does it really matter? It's up to you, you know? Rather than realizing that we're dealing with some serious concerns with regard to the human condition, we're dealing with eternal matters. We're dealing with, as we talked about in Sunday school this morning, the infinite love of God and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We're dealing with emotional things. How then can we share that in a right way? And so looking at the two extremes and actually come to the balance, right? And the balance is emotions led by truth, right? Emotions led by truth. So I posit some questions just opening this up for discussion. Why are emotions such a hot topic in the church? What are we really afraid of on either side of the debate when it comes to emotions? Any ideas? Where do emotions come from? Hmm? Okay, God gave us our emotions, which means they're a part of what? What? Right, a part of the image of God. Right, Arnie? Right? So there's the fear, we don't want to manipulate people's emotions, right? So again, think of how, think of the differences in the church. This is such a hot topic, right? What? They're often wrong. Right. Arnie? A few years ago, the Ashbury University. Yes. Yeah. And some people really took that. People flew from all over the world to come to that. They thought it was this wonderful thing. It just faded away. But the university had a history of doing those things. Right. And so you knew it was more of an engineer Okay, right, right, why is that, do you think? Why are emotions hard to sustain? Right, they involve more of the whole person, right? It's easy to say the right thing, think the right thing, but to feel the right thing, right? It can move you, right, captivate you in a deeper way. Yeah, emotions are deep and real things, right? John? Well, the value of emotions on the flip side, we view a lot of times a deadness there. So we don't like to go down that path either. Right. Because it almost moves into a contemporary modern aspect of being a robot. Right. So let's put it this way then, are Presbyterians afraid of emotions? Right? I mean, think about it, honestly, right? Inge? Yes. It gets swept up by the drunken, by the freedom, and so on and so forth. And a lot of times, too, that particular moment is used as people giving, quote unquote, their heart to the Lord. And this is where the problem comes in a lot of times. Because people can, like I said, they can be swept up by emotion, but their heart is not really there, because it comes from the mind. Yeah, Charles Finney knew that music was very, very powerful, and he used music on purpose to move the emotions. Calvin talks about that. Yeah. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we all know the power of music, right? We all know the power of music. We know, yes, how your heart gets going with the beat of the drums or whatever it may be. We know how music can move you to tears, right? We all understand the power of music. We understand the power of emotions. But we need to come back and remember that our emotions are from God. God gave us our emotions, right? Think of what, you know, as we think about the chapter in the Confession, chapter two, we talk about God being without passions. Remember we dealt with that in the Shorter Catechism, question four, right? What is God? We teach that God is without passions. Does that mean that God doesn't have emotions? We're not saying God doesn't have emotions, right? We're not saying God is cold, robotic, right? Okay, right? So if we see Christ, and actually, I think I mentioned to you even in that catechism question, B.B. Warfield's classic essay, it's not an easy read, but it's a powerful read, The Emotional Life of the Lord Jesus. Right? The emotional life of our Lord. It's a wonderful essay. It's amazing that it really looks at the emotional life of the Lord Jesus Christ and how we understand. What does that tell us about God, right? So let's go back then and answer that. What do we mean? What does the confession mean when it says that God is without passions? He doesn't change, right? But God's emotions aren't moved by something outside of him. That's what we mean, right? We are moved by things outside of us, music, the crowd, whatever it may be, right? For Finney, get the anxious bench, the lights just right, everything. We're moved by things outside of us. We're people with passions. We can be easily provoked to anger. We can easily be provoked to lust. We can easily be provoked to jealousy, whatever it may be. So we are constantly moved by something from outside. We are people with passions, and keeping them in check and under self-control is a wonderful work of the Spirit by God's grace. But God isn't moved from the outside, right? God's emotions are his own, right? And God's being is his own. He's not affected by something outside of him as we are. So that's essentially what we mean there. But emotions aren't evil. Emotions aren't sinful, right? So we want to guard against that. And again, it's always the pendulum one way or the other. And think about it this way, right? Why are Pentecostals characterized as emotional? and Presbyterians characterized as dull and cold. Jimmy? we want to stand so firm on the truth, we tend to block emotion, but there needs to be, you know, if it's truly of truth, then it's fine. Exactly. Well said. Exactly, right? Because what happens in Pentecostal circles is it's so emotional, right? Whether it be by music, a lot of the contemporary music and such forth, but it doesn't really matter. You know, right? Pentecostalism, emotion, right, is the litmus test for truth. If it moves you in a positive way, of course, then it's a testament to the truthfulness of what you're hearing, the truthfulness of the situation. So we know that we should not be led by our emotions, that emotions aren't the determination of what's true. Rather, we know that our emotions are to be led by truth itself. And so truth is the key. But what happens on the other side? We want to be led by the truth. But if we go so far, then guess what? Well, we don't want to be emotional. And then we're not emotional at all. So we don't want to fall into that trap. So we're trying to protect ourselves from emotionalism. We're trying to protect ourselves from an emotional response that won't last, that can't be sustained, that's not true. We want to let truth prevail. We want to be doctrinal. We want to be orthodox. We want to be accurate. We want to have proper interpretations. But what happens then when we've allowed ourselves to go so far in that direction that we're not emotional in any sense? So again, both extremes are wrong. What is our usual reaction to a public display of emotions, either in worship or in Bible studies? How do we normally react when someone is emotional? Uncomfortable, it gets awkward, right? What if someone started crying in worship? It'd be kind of awkward if someone was sobbing, right, under the ministry of the word or the worship. What would we do with that, right? We wouldn't know what to do with that, right? We'd probably wish that hopefully the ushers will take that person out back, right? Just down the hallway so we can continue worship without emotions. But think about what that is suggesting, think about what it's saying. I'm not judging that, I'm just saying, think of what goes on in our heads, right? I think what goes on in our heads when we have those sort of situations, we're uncomfortable with people being emotional. Right, Melody? Well, where does wisdom come in? We need wisdom from above to know what is appropriate. Okay. You know, like some emotions, if you've got laughing, I know there are some where they laugh. Right. setting, that wouldn't be using wisdom from above. I think we have to be in the wood enough to be wise enough from God or pray to understand how we should appropriately react. And we're not all the same, right? Some people just aren't that emotional. Some people are very emotional, right? So we need to allow for the different personalities. We need to allow for all of us being made in the image of God and yet having those different personalities. There's nothing wrong with that, right? And as Jimmy was beginning to indicate, if our emotions are genuinely stirred, is it wrong to show those emotions, right? It's things to wrestle with. I don't have all the answers here. I'm just trying to get us to begin thinking about this, right? Is it okay to express emotions? Or should we always suppress emotions? Now, we want to be appropriate in worship. We want to worship according to the regular principle. We want to worship in reverence and awe. All of this, yes, we're not, again, I'm not trying to answer the questions necessarily. I'm just trying to provoke a little bit and get us to think about, right, really the point here is that the truth of the gospel, the truth content, right? If the gospel is coming to save the whole person, then it's coming to save, sanctify your emotions, right? Again, your head, your thoughts, and your heart, and your will. So there's nothing wrong with being emotional, with being moved, but the point is we are to be moved by the truth, and moved accordingly with the truth, right? Being angry where it's right to be angry, a righteous anger. Loving what is right to love. Rejoicing when it's right to rejoice. Giving thanks. Praising God. We should be moved in these ways. We should be moved by truth. And that's the whole point. And that's really where the balance comes. It's not either extreme. It's trying to find that balance in which our heart is surrendered to the truth. Because remember, God comes to us through the mind. The word has to be heard, it has to be preached, the gospel has to be spoken. It comes to the mind and then it reaches the heart by God's grace and then affects our various choices. So where we're going with this, letter B at the bottom of your first page there, emotions, we need to see that emotions have a valid place in our lives. We're made in the image of God. Emotions are part of what it means to be human, right? We shouldn't be uncomfortable or embarrassed about emotions. Right? But our emotions are not to lead our lives. Our emotions are not to be in the engine, if you will, driving the train. Rather, truth is to lead. And when truth leads, as the whole person is converted, when truth leads, then both our heart, our emotions, and our will are to respond accordingly. So, let's look at a few verses here. Go to Deuteronomy 4, or excuse me, 6. It's interesting to note here, we've read this a thousand times, but interesting to note in light of our topic this afternoon, look at these two verses, right? In verse four, the great Shema, right? Hear, O Israel. Here's through Moses, of course, this is the assertion through the Lord, from the Lord, this is the assertion of truth, the truth of God. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. There's nobody like God, all the gods of the Egyptians, the gods of Canada, there's nobody like God. The Lord, our God, the Lord is one. That's the assertion of truth. What does the next verse presuppose? That that truth is going to move you, captivate you, take hold of your mind intellectually, right, the assenting to that truth, but also take hold of your heart. Because what is the following imperative? You shall love the Lord your God. with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. How can there be that? Do you see the connection between the truth and my heart? And why should I love the Lord our God, the Lord is one? Because there's no one like God, because he's the true and living God. And notice the capital letters, right? He's the covenant-making God. He's the God who made that covenant with our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That God, our God, the one who has made himself our God, called us unto himself as his people. He is worthy of our love. But it's this assertion, this declaration of truth that should move the heart. So emotions are to be led by this truth. The emotions of each of us is to be led by this truth. We are to love that God. Love the Lord your God. Think of the charge Moses continues to give before they go into the land. It is the Lord you are to fear. Fear, worship, right? Worship and reverence and all. Fear the Lord, why? Because he's the Lord. the God of truth, the God of justice, the God of righteousness, the God of holiness, God your God. All of that declaration is to move the heart so that followed by those declarations are these imperatives of love and obedience and reverence and awe and worship, right? Interesting, isn't it? Look at verse 13. Once again, as I just said, I spoke ahead of myself there. Verse 13, it is the Lord, notice the capitals again, Yahweh, the covenant-making God, it is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve, and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after the other gods, because there are no gods at all. Remember what Paul says, gods made with hands are no gods. But your God, this God, that truth, that gospel content should move you, it should captivate your heart. So back up to chapter four, I wanted to read that one first, but look at this wonderful passage. Again, we've referenced this So many times, no God has ever done what this God has done, and no people is like the people of Israel, the people of God. Verse 32 of Deuteronomy 4, for ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Truth content. Did any people ever hear the voice of a God speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard and still live? Or has any God ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation by trials, signs, wonders, war, a mighty hand, and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, this declaration, this self-revelation really of God, to you it was shown that you might know that the Lord is God, there is no other besides Him. Out of heaven He let you hear His voice that He might discipline you, and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire on Sinai. And because He loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them, and brought you out of Egypt with His own presence by His great power, driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, Know, therefore, something we are to know, truth. Know, therefore, and lay it to heart. Lay the truth to heart. The truth is to move your emotions that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no other. Therefore, you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time. And what does the Lord command us people to do in sum? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. So once again, we're brought back to how the heart is to be moved. Our hearts are to be captivated by the truth. Again, turn to Romans 12. Verse two, do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." So here is the connection between truth and the will. But in order for truth to affect the will, it has to first affect the heart. Right? Head, heart, and hand. So we're driven back to the same reality. If the gospel converts the whole person, then it changes the heart. It takes hold of our emotions. We are to love what God loves. We are to hate what God hates. We are to love God, hate sin, hate the evil one. We are to hate those things that are unrighteous and wicked and unholy. We are to love those things that are true and good and pure. We are to love God's people. Remember John said this is how we know we've passed out of death to life because we love the people of God. We are to love the church. We are to love God's commandments. love gathering and worship, we are to love the means of grace, all of these things, we are emotionally to be involved in these things because they're true. They're right. There's nothing like this in all the world. There is no other truth, no other gospel, no other Lord, no other Savior, no other hope. So number two, when it comes to God's truth, nothing should move us more, nothing more warrants our response, nothing more justifies it because it's True, right? Turn to 2 Samuel 7, this great revelation that the Lord gives David. It's a critical moment in redemptive history, of course. The Lord establishing his covenant with David. It's really the last covenant, right? We've got the Abrahamic covenant, the Noahic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, coming now to the Davidic covenant. The stage is set through this covenant for the coming of David's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at 2 Samuel 7 verse 18. Nathan has told him, of course, that he, that the Lord will build him a house through his son. Then King David, verse 18, went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord. You're making me king, bringing me out of the pasture to be king over your people, and yet this was a small thing compared to what I've just heard, what you have in store. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God." Everyone needs to hear this, he's saying. And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God, because of your promise and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people? Deuteronomy 4. Making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods. And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And now, O Lord, become, excuse me, and you, O Lord, became their God. And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is God over Israel, and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, I will build you a house. Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now, therefore, may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever." You think David is cold there? You think he's dull? We can look for the exclamation points and et cetera and say, oh, there's emotion. Think about it, right? Is David cold? What's his reaction? There's this crying out for the Lord. He comes and he sits before the Lord and he cries out, oh Lord, this is great, this is amazing. Every man needs to hear this. All mankind need to hear what you have just said to me through your prophet, that you are going to build a house for yourself, a house for your servant, that a king is promised. Because what's being promised? Not just David's going to have a son on throne. The Messiah is being promised. Israel's hope, right, just got brighter. The promise of the Messiah has just been brought center stage. It's glorious. He's extremely emotional. He's moved. Because this truth is worthy of an emotional response. It's worthy of David's response in a way that adores God, that praises God, that exalts God. that loves God, that cries out to God and prays and seeks the Lord. So the question then I think arises is how do we share the gospel? Again, we're talking about evangelism here. How can we be appropriately emotional in our witnessing? Appropriately emotional. I think it's a fair question, right? How can we show that Jesus and his gospel have genuinely affected us? have persuaded our minds, they've changed our hearts, and it altered our choices. Surely this has to come out in some way or another, right? And Metzger brings up these four points. He reminds us, as we share the gospel, we're talking about the greatest love in the world. Think of this morning's lesson and the lesson just a week or two ago relative to the love of God as well. We're talking about the greatest love in the world, the love of God for sinners. We're pressing on the conscience of our hearers, the awful anger of a person, excuse me, the anger of God against a person's own sins, right? We have to talk about sin, God, man, sin, right? Christ response, we have to talk about sin. And where does sin come in? Because man has fallen, man is living in rebellion against God. God is angry with man, right? And if he does not repent, the Lord will judge him, right? So we're talking about the awful anger of God, at least in some measure, We're communicating the reconciling peace of God, that peace that passes all understanding, the peace that Christ has established for his people. Our theme is the liberating joy of Romans 8.1, that there's no condemnation now for those who in Christ Jesus. How can we not be emotional when it comes to the gospel? How can we share the gospel coldly, carelessly, right? In a take-it-or-leave-it fashion, so I don't care if you listen or not, I'm just doing my duty, right? I was told to tell people about Jesus. I'm telling you about Jesus. Take it or leave it. It's not going to bother me. There's no skin off my back. If you're not interested, that's cool. I'll just go find somebody else. Is that how we're sharing the gospel? Are we not moved? Are we not affected? Metzger's always trying to protect us from the pendulum swing, right? He's trying to find a middle road. But these are genuine questions that we need to wrestle with as we think about our own hearts. Not just evangelizing, but even in worship, right? Even in our own Bible reading, in our family worship, right? Do the things of God move us? And if they move us, then what's a right response, right? What's a right response? We don't wanna be so Presbyterian that we're not emotional. Right? We don't wanna say, well, I don't behave like those Pentecostals, a whale over here, right? And then we're way over here somewhere. But I think sometimes we can get that way, right? We hold back our tears, we hold back our joy, our excitement, right? We don't wanna be judged for being too excited about something. Well, if we're excited about good things, isn't that good to be excited about? If we love Jesus, isn't it okay to tell people that we love Jesus? There's no one more important in our lives than Jesus Christ. that he has changed our lives, that we were grateful, that we're humbled that God's grace came to us because we've come to know what sinners we are and yet to realize that God has reached his hand down so far to get us, we're just changed, we're different. Our hearts have been moved, right? Our hearts have been captivated. Christ has run away with our hearts and we should be emotional. Again, rightly, appropriately, et cetera, but I'm just trying to keep us from that swing in the other direction, and especially when we're talking to unbelievers, and that's the context before us here. When we're engaging with unbelievers, what are we trying to do? We're trying to speak to their heart, right? The most frustrating thing is when they won't even listen, but then what if they're only listening with their ears? And they're just letting us run our mouths, okay, yeah, sure, all right, cool, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, great, thanks. Now that person wasn't listening at all. Like we're trying to persuade, we're trying to affect in a right way with the right things, the things of God, right? So I've given you a couple of closing quotes here. Metzger says, in witnessing, we endeavor to touch the heart of unbelievers. We want them to fall in love with Jesus. Isn't it the love of Christ which draws sinners? So allowing for differences in the emotional makeup of people Let's never forget to involve or encourage their emotions. Again, we're not all emotional to the same degree, that's fine. But we want to share, the idea is to share in such a way that we are free to express true joy, true gratitude, true love for the one about whom we speak, the gospel that's changed our lives, the church that we found, the church family, whatever it may be that we're free to share. our heart on these matters, to be sincere and genuine and show that, and not be ashamed to show that in an appropriate way, but also seeking to try to engage them in such a way that they would see that this is truth worth being moved about, right? Let me read the final quote. To treat anyone as saved on the basis of emotional reactions, thinking again of that pendulum swing, without further evidence, may actually hinder them from seeking God truly. Only time and the test of life will tell if a person is truly saved. It's only when we, and it says fear, it should be face, it's only when we face a choice in which our will must be overridden in order to do the will of Christ that we will have insight into the reality of our salvation. So I just put that before you. I thought that was a really good thing to think about in light of what we've been talking about. But the goal tonight is just to challenge us to think about our hearts. and to challenge our presentation and sharing of the gospel, whether it be on the street, over a cup of coffee, or in the grocery line, whether it be with a family or a friend, a family member or a friend, the reality is to share in such a way that we are not afraid to be sincere, that we're not afraid to be genuine and honest, that we have been deeply affected by the person of Jesus Christ, by the work of Jesus Christ, by the love of God for sinners, by the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, right, that God has blessed us with, you know, a church family that God has blessed us with a wonderful place of worship, right? We want to invite you to church. I love my church. It's a good church with good people who love Jesus, right? These kind of things, don't be afraid to speak honestly about these things. And I think sometimes we can just be so cold, not that we want to be or intend to be, but I think we're just, we guard our hearts. We just don't want to cry. We don't want to seem, appear as weak. We don't want to appear as affected, but we're talking about the things, the very truths that should affect us, and we hope will sincerely affect them, right? So, keep that in perspective. Again, I'm not answering all the questions that I posited tonight, but it's something for us to really think about, as to think about our being affected by the gospel and sharing the gospel. All right? Any questions? Sandy? What did I just memorize? Right. But I think, for me, the truth can get me very emotional. But it's not that momentary happiness is a true truth, lasting. And I think, when I talk to my kids, I'm like, I don't know. Now here it is, here's the truth. And, you know, they can, well, anyway, to me, I do get emotional. But it's because of the truth that's in the song, not because I'm moved by every single song. And there are some really profound hymns that, you know, but I'm an unemotional person anyway. I'm just doing it. I'm just trying to be serious. Yeah, we all, I think largely, as a generalization, we all resist emotions. We resist being deeply affected because we don't want to be embarrassed, judged. We don't want to make others uncomfortable, and so we just stifle things. But if worship moves you, if the sermon moves you, you need to allow the Holy Spirit to do that work and not quench that. And again, appropriate, all of that, we have to work through all of that. I'm not suggesting anything, I'm just saying, let the truth do its work, let the truth deeply affect you, and it should affect us as a church. Melody, were you raising your hand? Or, no, Inge, you were, sorry. I sit here sometimes for the sermon, and I feel sometimes overwhelmed, but I actually want to cry, because the Word of God is so deep, so precious, It's like Jesus speaking to my heart. And sometimes it's something that I've never heard before, but it brings truth to my spirit and my heart. And I want to just, I just made a couple of notes, you know, they couldn't help us, you know, about the emotions. You know, the emotions come and go. They can be fleeting. And emotions are sometimes driven just by feelings. And the word of God said, We don't walk by sight, we walk by faith. And sight and feeling, they go together. And emotions can be displaced. And then I was also thinking about there is a time to laugh and to cry, the Bible says. And it also says that So what do you think then, let me just end this way, as we think about what is the proper check for our emotions in worship? I mean, doxology comes out of theology, and I think you look throughout Scripture, too, and you see the Son of Moses after what God has done, so looking back on what God has done, and then being moved emotionally by it, and the Creed of Timothy, or even in Romans. Throughout the Old Testament, all the patriarchs, Jacob, praising God, but out of what God has done for us, and not before what God has done for us. Yeah, exactly. It's our response, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. As we think about particularly public worship, right? We think about public worship, and this is where Presbyterians have it right in this sense. Public worship, right? Who's on center stage in worship? What's worship about? It's about God, right? It's God who calls us to worship. It's God who meets with his people. It's God who sets the terms for engagement through the means of grace. and we come humbly before the Lord. So I think the proper check for emotions in worship and emotional response that would be out of accord, coming back to what you were saying earlier, Melody, that would be out of accord is to remember that worship isn't to be centered on us. Worship isn't to be centered on my emotional response, right? Worship is to be centered on God and His truth. Worship isn't the place for our emotions to be on display. Worship is the place for God's truth and His gracious condescension for God to reveal himself to his people, right? And actually through the means of grace, communicate Christ to us, right? To feed us with Christ. That I think is the proper check for emotions in worship. Because I think when you look at a pendulum swing the other way, right? In Pentecostal circles, it tends to be that worship is the context for my emotions to be on display. So it tends to be extremely emotional, because that's the right place for that. That's appropriate. That's what's expected and what's encouraged. that your emotional response, worship is not about you, worship is about God, worship isn't centered on you, it's centered on God, and therefore when God, when we focus on worship aright, that is the proper check, right? So that maybe if we're moved to tears, then we cry quietly. We don't disturb worship, right, in that sense. If we're moved to joy, maybe we smile big, but maybe we don't laugh in worship, right? Respecting how scripture guides and directs us with the regulative principle to worship rightly with reverence and awe. So again, it's everything we do, come back to what you were saying, everything we do reflects, right, our theology. And so we need to have a right theology of worship in order to have a right practice of worship. And that's why we did that whole worship study, remember? What is worship about? Who's at the center of worship? It's God meeting with his people. God is the one speaking. There's obviously the dialogue in worship, but the primary speaker in worship is God, right? Largely through the minister and the preaching of the word, of course, but it's God who meets and it's God who speaks, it's the people who listen and respond. And maybe the greatest move emotionally is when we return to our homes and we return in the week and we continue to reflect upon the preached word, the Lord's Supper, baptism, the means of grace, and we let that continue to work in us, continue to emotionally change us so that we're moved to conviction, We're moved to praise and adoration, we're moved to joy and exaltation, whatever it may be, right? Does that make sense? And I think I want to be sure to kind of rein that back in for a moment and not suggest that, hey, if you're moved, then let it be known, right? I want to make sure we understand what worship is and use our proper theology of worship to realize that's really the check, right? I hope that makes sense. Okay. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman, and otherwise all eyes are on that particular person. It's an important principle, right, that the goal is to worship as a community and as a body, right, holistically respond, which is why we should cultivate that koinonia where we are comfortable as a church, one with another, and we know that we're in the midst of family. No one's going to judge you, right, but we want to respond and the church The church is blessed when the church responds as a whole, right? When we all come before the word by God's grace, we all come before the word in the means of grace sincerely. We all come with open hearts. And if we all come with open hearts and are guard down to let God speak into our lives, then may it be then that a sermon, that a convicting sermon would convict us all, right? That a sermon that engages the heart and drives us to worship and praise would drive us all in that direction, right? So that we would be, again, growing together as a church. That's something to pray about and seek to cultivate. Let me close with Psalm 103, and I want you to see David's response, right? In fact, his emotional response. And we'll close singing the first four verses of 103 C. Psalm 103, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Amen, what an encouragement. We could keep reading the entire psalm, couldn't we? It's that response to God, God's truth, God's self-revelation, and the blessings of the covenant that we have received from our Heavenly Father. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we again just give you praise and thanks for this day that you've given us. What a blessing to be in your house with your people. We thank you for the means of grace. Thank you for the truth of your holy word and how your word, oh Lord, and your truth is what has been given to us and affects us, we pray that it might move our hearts appropriately. We desire, Father, to rightly respond to truth. We desire to rightly respond to your love, your grace, the condescending work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who humbled himself to the point of death on a cross. We want to respond in a way, Lord, that reflects that we have been moved by these things and deeply affected by the great grace and tremendous love that you've extended toward us, sinners though we are. We pray that you would continue, Lord, to impact us with this understanding of how the gospel affects the whole person, even as we seek, Lord, to look next week at how the gospel affects our will, our choices, that it is to be determinative of the choices we make every single day. We pray, Father, that we would embrace this entire study, that it would help us to understand our own anthropology, Lord, our own selves. as we are the subjects, the wonderful subjects and recipients of your redeeming and regenerating grace. We thank you, Lord, for your goodness to the church today. We thank you for being with us as we gathered in your house. Thank you, Lord, that you have blessed this congregation. We desire to go forth from this place, returning to our homes and to our weeks and all that's ahead of us. We desire to serve you, to honor you, to bring glory to your name, to be instruments in your hand for the good of those around us. Please use us, O Father, to bring the gospel, To others, we pray that we would be open about the one whom we love and the one who has poured his love into our hearts by his Holy Spirit. Bless us, Father, for giving us of all of our sins and continuing with us as our faithful Lord and God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.