Well, good morning. It's good to see all of you today, especially those of you that are visiting us, and I hope that this morning will be a blessing. Before the semester began, we started talking about the seminary theme. And the theme came up, Minds Engaged and Hearts Aflame. And as soon as I saw the title, I immediately knew that what I was going to speak on. And it's a piece that I had written a number of years ago, but really have not used it a great deal. And I'll give you a little background to it. A number of years ago, when John Piper started writing his writings, and everybody was becoming sort of hyper Piper, and I decided to read his book Desiring God. Now a little background, I was saved in 1975 and a lot of the things that I read that really affected my spiritual life at that time, this is pre-1980, were writings like A.W. Tozier and Andrew Murray and other people that had a very strong emphasis on spiritual living. And so when I read Piper, I'm just being honest, it was like, eh, it's okay, it was like, That's the kind of way I felt. So I didn't get hyper about it. But what he did do is he spoke about Jonathan Edwards. And I had read some Jonathan Edwards, but not a lot. And so what I'm thankful for John Piper is I decided not to read John Piper anymore. I decided to read Jonathan Edwards. And I bought his two-volume set. that was published by Banner of Truth, I did not read every single word in it, but I read a great deal of it. And one of the writings that I read and spent a lot of time thinking through was his treatise on religious affections. Because really, the emphasis that we have here obviously is rooted in the scripture, but it's also rooted in our history. Because American history is rooted in the great awakening of the early 1700s, out of which came what we know today as evangelicalism through the 1700s and 1800s, and into the 1900s, and of course, the fundamentalist movement of which Bob Jones, Sr. was a key part of. And really, up to the present hour, 2016, we have been deeply affected by this. So what I would like to do this morning is I would like to give you as much as time allows, and I'm probably not going to be able to get through everything, and that is I would like to do an overview for you this morning of the Treatise on a Religious Affection by Jonathan Edwards. If you are interested in getting my notes when I'm done, it's 20 pages of notes, then I'm more than happy to send them to you, or you can read it yourself, whatever you'd like to do. So let me begin with this. Jonathan Edwards is considered to be the most important and most brilliant religious figure in American history. His treatise on religious affections is considered a masterpiece in the history of Christian literature. The central principle of Edwards' thinking was the sovereignty of God. And what he meant by this was that if there is ever a question of whether God or humans should get the credit for anything, the benefit of the doubt should always go to God. The central motive of Edward's life was that nothing was more important than one's personal relationship with God. He built his life around disciplines designed to constantly renew his eternal perspective. For example, he would wake up every morning between 4 and 5 and he spent 13 hours a day in his study studying the scriptures. Now, Edwards lived during the Great Awakening. Fact is, he was a pastor, assistant pastor, then pastor in Northampton, Massachusetts. So this was during the early 1700s. And for a long time in New England, religion was dead. But during the revival of 1734, it all started to come alive. And it really began with the young people, which is historically where most revivals start. There were many that were being converted, they were being organized in small groups of prayer, there was singing, accountability, encouragement, and people became very intense, zealous, and earnest about religion. But as in all revivals, there were excesses that took place. And as a result, there arose a group primarily from Harvard and Yale College and certain pastors who were not in favor of the revival. And they began to speak out against it, and soon a division took place. And this division was between these two groups. One group supported the revival. They were called the New Lights. Then there was a group that opposed the revival. They were called the Old Lights. So you understand things haven't changed, old school, new school, etc. Well, one principal opponent was a man named Charles Chauncey, a junior pastor at a church in Boston called the First Church. And he wrote a piece against basically Edwards entitled Seasonable Thoughts on the State of Religion in New England. In this he revealed the underlying differences in philosophy between the old lights and the new lights who opposed the awakening. He wrote, and I quote, the plain truth is an enlightened mind and not raised affections ought always to be the guide of those who call themselves men and this in the affairs of religion as well as other things. Chauncey's view of the human psyche adapted from Greek philosophy was that the affections were most essentially related to the passions of one's animal nature, which needed to be restrained by the higher faculty of reason. His focus was on reason, judgment, and dutiful behavior. I'm quoting some of this. Now, Edwards attacked this low view of the affections as based on philosophy and not scripture. You're at the very core of the difference of their thinking. Edwards insisted that one had to recognize that the affections of the soul are not properly distinguished from the will as though they were two faculties in the soul. Are you following me? Okay. So your affections, which we would think of more as emotions, he says you can't separate those. By identifying religious affections with the will, he made them an integral part of our higher faculty. So it's not just the head, but we say it's the heart. Minds engaged, heart aflame. Of course, there are base passions that are misleading. However, the affections that rise from a true sensible knowledge of God should not be in the same class as the lower impulses. For example, his philosophy, this is Edward's philosophy on good preaching, was not if you could remember the message. How many of you remember everything that was said last week? Okay. After Dr. Barrett preached on Friday morning and Dr. Doran was going to get up and preach, I said, Dr. Doran, you don't have to preach the whole Bible this afternoon. Because this morning we got the whole Bible from generations to revolutions. I almost said that. It was sort of a joke. I mean, we got the whole thing. But what we do remember is how it affected us at the time The word was being preached, so he didn't view preaching as merely an intellectual exercise. He said, and I quote, the main benefit that is obtained by preaching is the impression made upon the mind at the time of it and not by the effect that arises afterwards by a remembrance of what was delivered. It is God working on you at the moment. Preaching must first of all touch the affections. Now the exaltation of affections was never at the expense of the reason. He did believe that the reason was the highest faculty. And this debate was actually an old one. Chauncey stood for the intellectualists and more the Aristotelian, that is, the Aristotle tradition, which argued that the will should follow the dictates of reason. Edwards was more in the Augustinian, or what he called the voluntarist, that is, doing things voluntarily camp, that viewed the whole person as guided by the affections of the will. Both agreed that the person has to be strictly guided by scripture and reason, but the voluntarist emphasized that the intellect without true affections was insufficient for true religion. Proper affections of the will must reign in tandem with intellectual truth. The intellectualist, by contrast, saw the affections as, first of all, unruly emotions, which could serve the good only when brought into submission to properly inform reason. The distinctions were subtle, but they could be of immense practical consequence in shaping one's style of religious expression. Edwards writes this treatise to deal with this subject. His point is very clear. You cannot separate your faith from strong affections. True religion, in great part, consists in holy affections. And these ideas that were set forth by Jonathan Edwards has been our basic approach basically to spirituality for the last 275 years. This is really something that has deeply influenced all of us even if we didn't realize it. So what does he say then in his treatise? Well there's two parts to it. The first when he deals with the nature of the affections and their importance in religion. What he means by that is he's explaining the whole concept of affections. In his key verse is 1 Peter 1 verse 8. He says, whom having not seen, speaking of Jesus you love. in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Peter is writing believers who are under persecution and they're in great trials. He explains that there is a threefold benefit to trials. One, trials try the faith to see if our faith is genuine or real. Number two, they cause the beauty of the faith to appear. Virtue shines under oppression. Real Christianity is exhibited or put on display when it's under trials. And three, they purify and refine and increase true faith. Faith grows under pressure like muscles grow under weight lifting. It burns out the draws and leaves what is genuine. The result is praise, honor, and glory. God working in our life through trials. Okay. I think we all understand that. Now verse eight, Peter observes what was operating in the hearts of these persecuted believers that brought out these qualities. And he reveals two things that were operating. Number one, there was love to Christ. And number two, there's joy in Christ. Love to Christ is the, is the supernatural love towards someone we can't see. We had eyes of faith to see and love Christ, though they never have seen him with their physical eyes. This was the driving affection behind their faith. The world is puzzled by Christians who are willing to expose themselves to suffering, to forsake the things that are seen, and to renounce all that is dear to them. They seem to be crazy, but it's only explained by love. So he saw love as the driving affection. Secondly is joy. And that is an inward spiritual delight that greatly surpasses any outward physical sufferings. By this, they were supported and cheered. The joy rises in them by faith. It's not speaking of a worldly joy, but a heavenly joy. And there are no words sufficient to describe it. And here is Edward's point. Where faith appears to be the truest, the purest, and the most glorious, it is when there is the presence of the affections of love and joy. True religion, he says then, consists in holy affections. Now, what did Edwards mean by the word affections? And he actually explains it. He does an analysis of human personality and he says there's two faculties of the soul of what we can commonly call the inner man. The first is the understanding, the second is the heart. Understanding is the ability to perceive, discern, views. It's just like you sitting here and listening and thinking these things through, you know. Most of the times, our faculties are working. Other times, well, you know what I mean. But then there's the heart. The heart, he says, are the exercises of which are called the sphere where the will, the will is the ability to make a choice, and inclinations are operative. Inclinations are more our desires, what we are drawn to. Either in approving or disapproving, liking or disliking. That is, the soul has certain inclinations or feelings towards things it sees. It's not indifferent. It likes things, it doesn't like things. Things please us, things displease us. We approve things, we reject things. This faculty is called by various names, sometimes it's called the inclination, and as it respects the actions determined and governed by it, the will and the mind with regard to the exercises of this faculty is often called the heart. So when we speak about our heart, we're talking about our emotions, what we're drawn to, and the way we make our decisions. Here's the point, Christian experience cannot reside in the understanding alone. So what then does he mean, what does Edwards mean by the affections of the mind? And by affections he means the more vigorous and sensible exercises of the inclination and the will. For example, There are times when we make decisions about certain things, like food. This happens to me all the time. Where would you like to eat? My response is, what? I don't care. Doesn't matter to me. Now, everybody that's ever traveled with me said, that's not really true. Because in the end, we all end up going where you want to go. So, but many times we're indifferent. It's not a big deal. We understand that. But there are other times, however, where we feel very strongly about what we like or dislike. So when we traveled on the road many years ago, we used to go, we eat out every Saturday at Ryan's Steakhouse. You know why? Because you could get salads, you could get whatever you want. It was quick and it was easy. After one year of eating at Ryan's, if I asked on Saturday, if I said, where do y'all want to go to eat? And I had an R come out of my mouth, I heard a resounding, no! So what does that tell me? They had strong affections. So affections are when the souls or hearts become vigorous. and are earnest about things so that our senses can be altered both emotionally and physically. These are called affections. Now, in every voluntary action, we make choices based on our governing inclinations. What we like, what we dislike. Now, we know that. We're getting ready to go to the dining common. You're going to look around and you're going to decide what do you like, what do you don't like. But not all these choices are called affections. It is only called an affection when the inclination is more vigorous. The difference in the degree and manner in which the will is exercised. He writes, the holy scriptures everywhere place religion very much in the affections, such as fear, hope, hatred, joy, sorrow, gratitude, compassion, zeal. Affections and passions are in some respects different. Passions are sudden. You know, we talk about having a passion for God. It's just a matter of the way you use the word. But in his case, passion was something that was sudden, more violent, where the mind is overpowered and less in command. Affection is a word that is more extensive than passion, being used for all the vigorous and lively actings of the will and inclination. So he's talking about the fact that a part of our faith, when we are converted, God doesn't just convert our minds, but he converts our emotions and our will. And that leads to the second part of his treatise. And that is, he simply confirms, and that's all that he does, confirms that true religion consists in the affections. He's just proving it. That's the way he writes. He sort of sets you up like a lawyer, and then he proves his case. And here are the things he said, true religion consists in a great measure in vigorous and lively actings of the inclination and will of the soul or the fervent exercises of the heart. It does not consist in weak, dull and lifeless wishes raising us, but a little above indifference. God greatly insists that we be in good earnest. Fervent, our hearts fervently engage, Romans 12, 11, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. If we are not in good earnestness about our faith and our wills and our inclinations are not strongly exercised, we are nothing. That's what he's saying. These things are so great that there can be no suitableness in the exercise of our hearts to their nature and importance unless they be lively. and powerful. Spurgeon said it this way in his lectures to my students. He said, the pulpit is the key to the church. And he said, and if the preacher loses his earnestness, then in time, everything dies. In religion, vigor in the actings of our inclinations are required, and lukewarmness is odious. I would that thou art hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm, I will spew thee out of my mouth. True religion is powerful, and its power appears in the first place in the exercises of the heart, which is its principle and original seat. Hence, true religion is called the power of godliness, which is different from a form of godliness. Where religion is sound and solid, the Holy Spirit gives powerful affections. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Where the power and fervor of those exercises, which the Spirit of God excites in them, and whereby their hearts, when grace is exercised, may said to burn within them. That's the verse we learned. Luke 24, 32, did not our heart burn within us? The business of religion is compared to things where hearts and strength are greatly exercised. For example, running, wrestling, agonizing for a great prize, fighting with strong enemies, warring as those that by violence take a city or a kingdom. Wherever there is true faith, there is a vigorous exercise of the inclination and will towards divine objects. These are the affections of the soul. He went on to say affections are the springs really comes out of the root of our conversion. Um, let me think of the other book is the street, the treatise for religion. Oh, uh, called true virtue is another book. He wrote his whole, his whole premise was this that in regeneration. Okay. When you get saved. There is a renewal of your whole person, having put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, being renewed in the knowledge of him. And so therefore, not only is our mind renewed, but our whole affections, our love is changed. What we used to love, we now hate. What we used to hate, we now love. And as true religion is practical and God has constituted the human nature, the affections are very much the spring of men's actions. This also shows true in faith that, that consists in affections. Man is very inactive in, in otherwise, but where he is influenced by his own affections. These affections are moving springs and all the affairs of life, which engage Engage men in their pursuits, and especially in affairs where they are earnestly engaged, in which they pursue with vigor. For example, he said, the world of men are busy and active, and their affections are the springs of their emotions. Take love and hatred, hope and fear, anger, zeal, affectionate desire, and the world, if they didn't have those things, the world would be dead. It's the affection that engages a covetous man, a materialistic man, okay? I mean, look at our presidential race right now. We say it's heating up. What does it mean? It means it's becoming more intense intellectually. Now, there's not a whole lot of intellect out there. It's mostly emotional, okay? It's the emotions that puts forth an ambitious man for worldly glory. So you take away the affection and the spring of all motion is gone and the will ceases. In worldly things, worldly affections are the springs of man's motions and actions. So in religious matters, the spring of their action is very much religious affections. He went on to say, doctrinal knowledge and speculation without affection is never really engaged in the business of true religion. That's an important statement. Doctrinal knowledge and speculation, what do you mean by speculation? It's called snack shop theology, where you are speculating about things in the Bible, is never really engaged in the business of religion. Ours should be drawn towards God. The things of religion take hold of men's souls no further than they affect them. There are many who hear the word, but it seems to be ineffective in their lives. It makes no alteration of their behavior or their disposition. They are not affected by what they hear. Now, I mean, of all places on planet Earth, we understand that. We go to chapel four days a week, okay? And And honestly, there are a bit, can you believe this? There are actually people who fell asleep while I was preaching. It's not because I'm boring. Okay. I'm not boring. It's because they're boring. Okay. And the fact is one person can be sitting there and they are deeply moved and the other person can sit there and there's dead as four o'clock. Why is that? Well, it's obviously they're not being affected. When people hear like the glorious perfections of God, the great works of God's wisdom and power, the unspeakable love of God in Christ, the great things of another world, yet they remain as before with no sensible alteration either in heart or practice because they are not being affected by what they hear. There never was any considerable change wrought in the mind or the conduct of any person by anything of a religious nature that he ever heard, read, or saw who was not moved within the realm of his affections. No one is moved if their heart remains unaffected. Who will seek after their salvation, pursue after wisdom, wrestle with God, fly for refuge in Christ who isn't moved? What saint is awakened out of a cold lifeless frame or recovered from a declining state without having their heart affected? Nothing of any considerable importance was brought to pass in the world that has not had the heart deeply affected by those things. And so he goes on and says, the Bible places religion very much in the affections, fear, hope, loves, zeal. For example, godly people, are people who are happy people. Psalm 146.5, happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his health, whose hope is in the Lord his God. The Bible teaches that if you love God, you hate sin. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Ye that love the Lord hate evil. Where there is true religion, there's a holy joy. Delight yourself also in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always. Rejoice evermore. Religious sorrow, mourning, and brokenness of heart are a part of true faith. Blessed are they that mourn. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. Where there is true faith, there is mercy and goodness. For I desired mercy, God said, and not sacrifice. I don't want the outward form. I want the heart. That's what God is saying. There's always zeal when a person is, is, is, uh, walking in close to God, Titus two 14, Jesus gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifying himself of peculiar people, zealous of good works. So he also said that wherever there's true faith, there will always be genuine love. And that's the top affection. Matthew 22 37 thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy mind. The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart a good conscience and faith and fame. Everything is considered vain and worthless without love. So the essence of true religion is a holy love. All our other affections arise from this one. All religious affections arise from the vigorous, fervent, and affectionate love to God. And then he goes on, and I'm gonna move quickly through some of this. He says the religion of the most eminent saints, you see it in holy affections. Like all you gotta do is read Psalms. Psalms is a spiritual IV to the soul and it always awakens your emotions. How many of you have ever read through the Psalms with tears? And of course, Christ himself is the greatest example of pure and perfect affections. He was an example of ardent, vigorous, and strong love to both God and man. He wrestled in the garden to the point of sweating blood. He was filled with zeal when he overturned the tables of the money changers. He was grieved over the sins of men. He wept over the city of Jerusalem. He said at the Passover with his own disciples, he said, it is with desire that I have desired to eat this Passover. So Jesus is the perfection of true affections. The religion of heaven consists very much in the affections. What's it like in heaven? It consistently, it consists chiefly in the expression of holy and mighty love and joy and the most fervent and exalted praises. Let me ask you a question. Do you think when the angels praise God in heaven, there's any emotion to it? The religion of heaven is equal to the religion of earth with love and unspeakable joy, full of glory. The saints of heaven, however, are not united to flesh and blood, and they have, as he says, no animal fluids to be moved through the laws of the union of soul and body. In other words, we got a different body. These affections are from the soul, and so he's speaking about The lively faith of heaven, the religion of heaven consists very much in affections. God has appointed a means of expressing true religion in the nature, in the desire, in the design of the ordinances. What he means by that is he talks about the things that we do. For example, prayer is not designed to declare God's perfections, but rather to affect our hearts with the things we express. What is true prayer? It's worship of God. And does that not affect our hearts? Take the matter of singing. Why do we sing? It's to excite and express religious affections. Why should we express ourselves to God in a verse rather in prose? Why don't we just say the poem rather than sing the poem? Why do we sing? It is to move our affections. Preaching should be the impressing of divine things on the hearts of men. It is evidently one great end for which God has ordained that his word delivered in the Holy Scripture should be open applied and set home upon men in preaching. Having good commentaries and exposition of the scripture and other good books of divinity is not enough. We need to have the word impressed on the hearts and on the affections. And so I'm running out of time and I'm going to come to the end of it. If you want it, I'll send these notes out and I'll send it to one person who can have the happy business of getting it to all persons. But in his conclusion, he said little affection little religion. If religion lies much in the affections that we may infer, such means are to be desired that moves the affections. Books, preaching, worshiping, all have a tendency to deeply affect the hearts of those who attend these means. Those things should be desired. Finally, he says we should be ashamed and confounded that we are not more affected by the great things of our faith. We have too little true religion. God has given to mankind affections for the same purpose for which he has given all faculties and principles of the human soul, that they might be subservient to man's chief end and the great business for which God has created him. And that is the business of our faith. That is the business of knowing God and glorifying God. So, I give this to you this morning simply to help you understand the foundation of a statement like minds engaged, hearts aflame. Where does this come from? Obviously it comes from the scriptures, but in our own tradition as American Christians, this goes all the way back to a guy named Jonathan Edwards. So I would encourage you at some time in your lifetime, read Edwards treatise on religious affections. God bless you. Have a great day.