Well, good morning. While I get myself settled in here, if you will take your copy of God's Word and turn to Proverbs 4 and verse 23.
In doing so, though, I want to make some introductory comments. First, I just want to take a brief moment to talk about our plans for Sunday morning preaching.
It may not feel this way to you. I can't say how you might feel, but it feels to me like we are kind of off to a herky-jerky start this year.
We do have plans, though, and I want you to know that initially our plan was to press through, kind of a hop-skip-jump through the life of David that Clay was presenting for us.
You know, two weeks ago that Clay was sick with flu A, and so I picked up a little piece of this plan that I'm doing now because Clay was going to be out of town last week and then had a surgery.
This week, he was hoping to be back this Sunday. Turned out that he wasn't able to be back this Sunday.
So we've just been trying to figure it out as we've been stepping along, and I'm in the process of preparing to start us through a verse-by-verse exposition of the Gospel of John.
So we're headed there. I feel like too often lately I've been saying that the regular habit of our church is verse-by-verse exposition.
It just feels like we haven't been doing that much lately.
We want to be so careful as God's people that we don't spend a lot of time isageting a text, pulling out of it what we want to see in it,
and therefore we think it's really helpful that we simply go verse-by-verse, careful, word-for-word, through a text together.
But at times, plans change. The Lord knows better than we do. We do the best that we can.
And it's good for us to pick up topics occasionally and think more broadly about what the Bible may have to say about any given things.
And so that's where we find ourselves. Please know that we haven't abandoned our love of verse-by-verse exposition, and I do hope we'll get back there here very soon.
Second, I want to remind you of a little that we considered two weeks ago when I was with you and then had intended to get into it more last week,
and then I was home sick, and boy, what a 10-day stint it has been.
And Jordan prayed, as I'm recovering from a cold, I think it was actually the bird flu that I had and I'm recovering from,
and I'm grateful for God's grace in the recovery of that.
But, ugh, stay away from people with the flu. It's not a good one at all.
But what we talked about two weeks ago was the divine attribute of impassibility.
And when we speak of God's impassibility, in the simplest of terms we are saying that He does not suffer.
He doesn't have passions. He does not suffer.
But in broader terms we mean that God's emotions are not acted upon by outside forces.
He is never overwhelmed, controlled, or altered by anything outside of Himself.
Impassibility is a necessary implication of God's immutability, His unchangeable nature.
If God were subject to emotional turmoil, He would be less than God.
This is not a denial that God loves, rejoices, expresses wrath.
He has emotions, but rather a declaration that these are not reactions forced upon Him.
They are the perfect, eternal expressions of His unchanging nature.
God is not becoming, He is being.
You want to be very careful when anybody seems to be describing God
as a thing that is becoming what it is meant to be,
rather than it already being what it is.
God is being.
I mentioned that this is a good place for us to begin thinking about our own emotions.
To be clear, we are not God in this way.
This is not a communicable attribute.
We are becoming.
In the one sense, if you have repented of your sin,
fled to the perfect work and sacrificial death
and third day resurrection of Christ for the salvation of your soul,
then you have, in one sense, already been made perfect.
You are in Christ.
You're found in Him.
All that He is, is granted to you.
Your old self has died with Him.
You have been raised new.
However, in another sense, you are being made perfect.
This is the doctrine of sanctification.
You are becoming perfect.
A work that will only be completed when you leave your mortal flesh.
So, why do I say all of this?
Because it is important for us to recognize that
while it is not wrong to have passions categorically,
we will be affected by the circumstances in which we live,
we're going to respond to the place in which we are,
those passions can be sinful
or they can be brought under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Our emotions can be sinful
or our emotions can serve God.
Thirdly, we need to define some terms,
as I did for you just a couple of weeks ago.
Historically, careful distinctions have been made
between the words emotions, passions, and affections.
I really hope that you'll take up and read historical books.
We have so much to glean from Christians who have gone before us.
You'll be very confused if you use the words
that I'm about to define for you synonymously.
They should not be seen as synonymous.
There's distinctions made.
We tend to just lump them all together
and use them without distinction in our day.
In fact, I want to be careful this morning,
but I just kind of doubt that I will.
I probably will use a word in one place
and I shouldn't have used it.
We mix these words together to talk about our feelings.
However, it's important to draw from the Bible
a more nuanced understanding
of how the soul interacts with truth and experience.
So, just briefly in distinctions.
Emotions, or I want to use feelings
in the place of emotions at times,
but I'm not talking about physical feeling.
Like, this morning I feel low energy
because I'm still recovering a bit from a sickness.
I'm not talking about that kind of feeling.
I'm talking about emotional feelings,
if I say feelings.
Emotions are the broadest category
encompassing all of those human feelings,
both the rational and the irrational,
the fleeting and the enduring.
They can either be governed by truth and grace
or led astray by sin and the flesh.
I think that we do well to use this term
in this broad sense
and to note that our emotions include
our passions and our affections.
So, our passions are the most instinctual, bodily,
and can tend to be the most uncontrollable aspects
of emotion.
Passions are reactionary most often,
often tied to the flesh
and can easily lead to sin
when not disciplined by the truth and grace.
This is the knee-jerk reaction
that we often feel to something happening to us,
a word spoken, a thing witnessed.
The word passion comes from the Latin word passio,
which means to suffer.
So, this is what we're talking about
when God's impassibility.
We are passible.
That means we walk in a world
in which things are happening to us
and we respond emotionally to those things,
those inputs into us.
But again, not limited to the emotional association
with grief or pain.
We can have positive passions as well.
So, affections are emotions of the will.
They are rooted in the soul
and directed by the truth and grace.
The word affection comes from the Latin word afficere,
which means to influence.
So, influence from the will.
Affections are the highest form of human feeling.
Not mere reactions,
but deliberate inclinations of the heart.
So, it's good for me to say
that I am affectionate toward my wife.
To find this way,
I have made a decision,
an intention of my will
to care for Sam's highest good.
And my passions follow my affections.
That I have set myself to love her in this way
means often, not always,
but often that I feel impulsively,
like I'm compulsive towards her
in my passions.
I care for her in that way.
Sometimes Sam and I say,
I don't always like you,
but I'll always love you.
But isn't it good when we both love and like
the person that we're married to?
All right.
So, those distinctions,
I'm not going to walk through those distinctions a lot.
I'm just going to speak this morning
in terms of emotions broadly.
But I think we need to determine
and distinguish these things
as Christian thinkers
about our emotions moving forward.
So, with the groundwork in mind,
let's spend a few minutes
looking at the verse
that I had you turn to
and then I'll give you an outline
and we'll press on this morning.
So, this is Proverbs chapter 4
and verse 23 where we read,
Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flows the springs of life.
The heart in this text refers
to the inner self,
that immaterial part of us.
We believe that mankind,
man is made up of two parts.
We are body or we are soul, spirit, heart.
Words are used interchangeably
in the Scripture.
So, not the flesh physical part of us,
but that part that is immaterial in us.
This includes our mind,
our will,
and our emotions.
Proverbs 4 verse 23 teaches us
that the way of wisdom
is to vigilantly guard our hearts
because our lives issue from our hearts.
Who we are,
the immaterial who we are,
produces our thinking
and our activity
and the things we say
comes out of us.
Matthew Henry in his commentary
on this verse wrote,
In general,
all the actions of the life
flow from the heart
and therefore keeping that
is making the tree good
and healing the springs.
Our lives will be regular or irregular,
comfortable or uncomfortable,
according as our hearts
are kept or neglected.
So we should be diligent
in this work of keeping our hearts,
protecting our hearts.
lest we think this is a task
that doesn't require diligence.
Jeremiah 17 verse 9 tells us
that the heart is deceitful
above all things.
We are complicated creatures.
I wish we were much more simple
than we often are.
Image bearers of an infinite God
granted much,
certainly not all,
but much of his capacity
for thought and feeling,
but living in a cursed world
are complicated.
As people who have been saved by God,
we desire to please him
and to walk according to his ways.
But if we are not careful,
we may miss
that this desire should extend
into our emotional lives.
God will have every bit of us.
All of us is to be ordered by God.
Emotions are a gift from God.
Nobody this morning is making a case
for us to not be emotional.
We will necessarily be emotional.
Emotions enable us to love,
to grieve,
to rejoice,
and to respond appropriately
to the world around us.
However, our emotions
can easily become disordered,
leading us away from faithfulness
to God's Word.
You may not realize
the great pressure
that you are under every day
to let your emotions
rule the day.
This is happening to you constantly.
Our world is presently ruled
by emotions.
Epistemology is the theory of knowledge,
and we have been
on an epistemological slippery slope
of great decline
in these past decades.
The modernists wanted to understand truth
by empirical data.
They say an objective truth
should be established
by repeatable experimentation.
The postmodernists
want to define the truth
by their own experiences.
They say,
my truth is just as valid
as your truth
because I experience it
to be true.
The post-postmodernists
isn't confident
that any truth
can exist.
exist.
How can we possibly know
that anything
is
true?
Therefore,
they say,
if I feel something
to be good,
then it must be good.
And if I feel something
to be bad,
then it must be
bad.
More of you
tend to process
the world
this final way
than you realize.
And I don't think
any of us
are immune
to it.
Beloved,
this is not
the way
of the Christian.
The Christian,
by the grace
of God,
through the truth
of God,
is
becoming
all of our lives,
including our
emotional lives,
are to be brought
under
the full authority
of God's
Word.
God's
emotions
have a place
in our life,
but not the
ruling
place
in our life.
So here's our
quick outline
for this morning.
I've got four points,
and these are going
to be short,
so if you're already
thinking,
oh man,
here we go.
Number one,
our emotions
must not define
the truth.
Number two,
our emotions
must not
control
our decisions.
Number three,
our emotions
must not
direct
our worship.
And number four,
our emotions
must not
excuse
our sin.
Number one,
our emotions
must not
define
the truth.
And here I want
to think in
two categories.
Number one,
just doctrine,
Bible truth.
Our emotions
must not
define
doctrine.
Paul writes
to Timothy
in 2 Timothy
chapter 4,
verse 3 and 4,
for the time
is coming
when people
will not
endure
sound teaching,
but having
itching ears,
they will accumulate
for themselves
teachers
to suit
their own
passions
and will
turn away
from listening
to the truth
and wander
off
into myths.
One of the
greatest dangers
in contemporary
Christianity
is allowing
emotions
to shape
our theology
rather than
submitting
our emotions
to
biblical
truth.
Many reject
difficult doctrines
simply because
they feel
uncomfortable.
They say,
that can't
be true.
It doesn't
feel good
for it
to be
true.
Some examples
of emotionally
driven
theology.
Many people
want to
compromise
on sin,
deny clear
biblical
teachings because
it makes them
at odds
with others,
makes them
feel judged
or judgmental.
So many
churches
these days
don't
practice
church
discipline
because
they would
say,
oh,
how could
we possibly,
well,
the Bible
commands you
to.
Redefining
God's
love,
many embrace
a sentimental
view of
God's
love
that ignores
His holiness
and His
justice,
makes
tiny
God's
wrath,
maximizes
God's
love,
and He
is both
things
fully
at all
times.
Many
people will
elevate their
experience
over the
Bible.
Seeing
something to
be true
makes it
necessarily
true.
Some
prioritize
spiritual
experiences
and feelings
over the
authority
of God's
Word.
And this
should not
be true.
Our
feelings
do not
define
the truth
of the
Bible.
The right
response,
Proverbs 3,
5 says,
trust the
Lord.
We must
let
Scripture,
the black
and white
on the
page,
not
emotions
define
what we
believe.
The
wrestle
with
difficult
things
in the
text
and bring
all of
ourselves
in
submission
to it.
The second
truth that
our emotions
must not
define is
situational
perspective.
And church,
it is at
this point,
if you don't
hear anything
else said
this morning,
that I want
your full
attention.
some of
you allow
your emotions
to define
others'
intentions.
Something
happens
or
doesn't
happen
and your
emotions
get running
out ahead.
And rather
than stopping,
honestly
assessing
what can
be known,
you back
fill your
emotions to
justify
them,
and you
impute
intentions
onto others
that are
just
unfair.
You
assume
the worst
of others
because you
have feelings
and your
feelings must
be true.
And so
you make
them true
by filling
in
the blanks.
If there
is a
single
identifiable
issue that
most tears
at the
seams of
unity,
in a
church,
I think
it is
found
here.
We all
feel,
every one
of us,
at some
point,
negative
emotions,
relational,
whether real
or just
felt.
Let me
give you a
really simple
example in
my own
life.
Every year,
for some
years,
members of
our church
have
coordinated
together a
daddy-daughter
dance.
I think it
is a precious
thing.
On the
front end,
let me
say I'm
so glad
for all
of the
effort that
goes into
that.
I'm not
being negative
about it
for a
moment.
I think
it's so
good that
you all
do this
together.
It's good
for the
dads to
get their
daughters
out,
to dress
up,
and to
dance
with them.
What a
wonderful
thing that
you all
do.
I don't
have a
daughter,
and I
wish I
did.
That's a
blessing that
God has
not seen
fit to
give to
our
family.
Three
precious
sons,
right?
This does
not minimize
my thankfulness
for them
at all,
but I
do wish
that I
had a
daughter,
and God
has not
given me
one.
And every
year,
when it's
announced,
and it
happens,
and the
adorable
pictures
are posted,
I feel
a twinge
of sadness.
Man,
I wish I
was going
to the
daddy-daughter
dance,
and had
a daughter,
to be
clear,
and had
a daughter
to bring.
I know
some of
you are
going to
invite me
after this
to come,
and brought
my own
daughter to
the daddy-daughter
dance,
and what
I could do
with that
emotion,
is I
could allow
myself to
feel excluded.
Is everybody
doing a
thing for
me that
doesn't apply
to me?
They get
to all
have fun,
and I
don't get
to have
fun.
I could
begin to
think that
no one
is sensitive
to the
fact that
I don't
have a
daughter,
and I
could go,
well,
most of
them don't
know,
but I
have told
some of
you,
we've
had
conversations,
I have
shared and
expressed that
I would
like to
have a
daughter,
have they
just
forgotten
about my
feelings about
this?
Why has
nobody
reached out
and told
me they're
sorry I
don't have
a daughter,
even though
we're having
the daddy-daughter
dance?
I could go
through that
whole process
and I
could justify
that feeling,
you guys are
making me feel
this way,
or I could
just stop
for a moment
and go,
why is it
that I feel
sad?
Oh,
it's just a
reminder of
a good thing
that I've
desired in my
life that God
has decided
not to
give me.
God is
sovereign over
our children,
and I'm
grateful for
what he has
given me,
and if I
take the
time,
I just
find myself
rejoicing in
the fact that
I have three
wonderful,
beautiful boys.
I love them,
and I love
our house,
and the
dynamic of
it,
and the
crazy that
we get
into together.
I could
assume the
best of
everybody.
You're not
doing this
thing to
hurt me,
you're doing
it to
have fun,
and rejoice,
and enjoy
your daughters,
and then I
can join you
in that.
I can rejoice
with you in
the process
of doing
that.
You see?
Bring those
emotions under
control.
Get some
clear situational
perspective.
Perhaps
somebody says
something to
you that
feels offensive,
you're suffering
a loss,
and they
say something
that seems
unkind.
You could
assume the
worst of
what they
mean,
or you
could instead
assume the
best of
them.
I find when
I assume the
best,
I'm never
disappointed
because often
it's true,
and if it's
not,
then at
very least,
I hoped
that the
best was
true in a
given situation.
God's
chosen ones,
holy and
beloved,
compassionate
hearts,
kindness,
humility,
meekness,
and patience,
bearing with
one another.
Hear him
there.
He's saying
people are
going to make
mistakes.
If we're
going to live
in relationship
with other
people,
it is
inevitable
that it's
going to
happen.
And we're
to bear
with one
another
through that.
If one
has a
complaint
against
another,
forgiving
each other,
as the
Lord has
forgiven
you,
so you
also
must
forgive.
So rather
than feeling
something and
then back
filling it to
justify the
feeling,
stop for a
minute and
know what's
actually true
and then
think,
do I need
to go get
the real
information
for the
situation?
And if I
do,
then go to
the brother
or sister
and talk
to them.
Ask them
what they
meant.
did they
mean to
exclude you?
Assume the
best of
them in
the process
and forgive
them when
they
apologize.
If not,
just bear
with them.
We're all
going to say
stupid things
and make
mistakes and
misinviting
somebody to
something when
we should
have invited
them and
we would
have wanted
to if we
just didn't
have so much
going on.
Right?
Our emotions
must not
define
the truth.
The truth,
the truth
needs to
stand
on its
own.
Secondly,
our emotions
must not
control
our decisions.
Proverbs 29
and verse
11 says,
a fool
gives full
vent
to a spirit,
but a wise
man
quietly
holds
it back.
A fool
when he
has emotions
rushes off,
right?
Blows up,
but a wise
man is
restraining.
Many
people
make
massive
life-altering
choices
based on
temporary
emotions
rather than
on
biblical
wisdom.
This is so
dangerous
because
emotions
fluctuate
and easily
mislead.
I can
feel
one way
about
something
one day
and an
entirely
different
way
about
it
the next.
You'll
often hear
things like,
I just
don't feel
a piece
about this
or the
opposite.
I just
feel
a piece
about it.
Nowhere
in the
Bible
are we
told to
make
decisions
based
on
our
emotions.
some
examples
of
emotionally
driven
decisions.
We can
often
react
in
anger.
Moses
struck
the
rock
in
frustration
rather
than
obeying
God's
commands.
Numbers
chapter
20
and oh
the
trouble
that
ensued
as a
result.
We do
things
often out
of fear
of man
over
the fear
of God.
King
Saul
disobeyed
God
because
he
feared
people's
opinions
more than
he feared
the Lord.
1 Samuel
chapter
15
Anxiety
leading
to
unbelief
instead
of
trusting
God's
provision.
Many
worry
and make
rash
decisions.
The
right
response
to
our
emotions
is that
we must
rule
over
them
rather
than
allowing
them
to
rule
over
us.
We
ourselves
are not
the
authority
by which
we
rule.
We
bring it
under
God's
word.
We
say in
our
home
all the
time
with a
mantra
in our
house,
do not
let your
emotions
control
you.
2 Corinthians
chapter
10
verse 5
calls us
to take
every
thought
captive
to
obey
Christ.
So
making
decisions
we
should
seek
wise
counsel.
Proverbs
24
verse 6
tells us
by wise
guidance
you can
wage
your
war
and
in
abundance
of
counselors
there
is
victory.
And
if
you
seek
counsel
you
should
actually
receive
the
counsel.
Don't
go to
enough
people
and
then
one
of
them
agrees
with
you
the
thing
you
already
wanted
to
do
and
do
!
that
thing
right?
What
do
many
counselors
have
to
say
about
the
situation
you're
in?
We
should
be
sure
to
persist
in
the
clear
commands
of
God
as
we
navigate
the
particulars
of
our
lives.
Our
emotions
must
not
control
our
decisions.
Thirdly
our
emotions
must
not
direct
our
corporate
worship.
Jesus
says in
John
chapter 4
verse
23
and 24
but
the
hour
is
coming
and
is
now
here
when
the
true
worshipers
will
worship
the
father
in
spirit
and
truth.
For
the
father
is
seeking
such
people
to
worship
him.
God
is
spirit
and
those
who
worship
him
must
worship
in
spirit
and
truth.
And
he's
not
there
saying
in
emotions
and
truth
but
he's
saying
in
the
inner
man
like
all
that
is
included
in
the
inner
man
which
is
in
part
our
equate
true
worship
with
emotional
experience
rather
than
a
heart
directed
by
truth.
We
want
the
truth
to
lead
the
charge
in
our
gathered
times
together.
So
we will
speak
and
pray
and
sing
and
preach
and
see
and
hear
the
truth
and
we
will
hope
that
our
emotions
catch
up
to
the
truth.
This
is
what
we're
attempting
to do
together.
This
is
why
when
we
sing
songs
together
they
are
wordy
songs.
True
deep
songs
because
we
have
a
limited
amount
of
time
together
and
we
want
those
songs
to
be
true.
We
want
it
to
be
clear.
Just
last
year
I
went
to
a
large
megachurch
in
our
area
when
I
was
on
sabbatical
and
they
sang
and
there
was
a
lot
of
emotion
and
the
songs
said
nothing
of
any
substance.
The
general
theme
of the
songs
is that
we
are
victorious,
that
we
are
set
free
and
that
we
are
overcomers
but
never
defined
what
we're
victorious
over,
what
we're
set
free
from
or
what
we
have
overcome.
Never
defined
it.
at
all.
Lots
of
emotion
about
this,
but
what
were
people
filling
in
the
blanks
with
as
they
were
being
so
emotional?
I
couldn't
tell you.
I have
no
idea
what
was
going
on
in
that
gathering.
We
are
okay
with
emotional
expressions
during
our
time
together.
We
tend
to
not
be
that
kind
of
people.
But
we
are
okay
with
it.
Your
emotions
can
catch up
to
the
truth.
And we
hope
that it
does.
Examples
of
emotionally
driven
worship.
I mentioned
it already,
but the
idolatry
of
experience.
Some
seek an
emotional
high
rather
than
deep
engagement
with
God's
truth.
And
emotional
highs
feel good.
They'll
carry you
for a
little
while,
love.
But
what you
need
across
your
life
is
substantive
worship.
We need
to be
together
and we
need
to be
reminded
together
of who
God
is
and what
he has
promised
for
his
people.
The
older
you
get,
I
promise,
I'm
speaking
to a
largely
young
group,
the
older
you
get,
the
more
you
will
appreciate
the
week
in
and
week
out,
gathering
of
God's
people,
opening
his
word,
and being
reminded
of
who
he
is
and
what
he
has
promised
to
us.
I
guarantee
this
will
be
the
case.
Regular
repetition,
in and
out of
the
truth
together.
I need
this
every
single
week.
When
I'm
not
here,
I
most
deeply
miss
not
being
here,
not
because
I
love
you
guys,
which
I
do,
I
like
seeing
your
faces,
I
love
seeing
the
kids
running
around,
I
miss
all
of
the
entrapments
that
are
so
wonderful
about
us
together.
What
I
most
miss
is
opening
the
word
with
you
guys.
Declaring
the
truth
together.
I
need
quiet
rooms
of
people
with
Bibles
open
in
their
laps.
I
get
reminded
of
this
when
we
gather
together
on
Sunday
morning.
I
need
the
word
faithfully
taught.
Whether
I'm
in the
role
doing
it
or
I'm
sitting
and
listening
to
somebody
else
do it.
I
need
to
hear
you
sing
and
rejoice
in
God's
truth
for
you.
So
important.
So
important.
Drives
us
on.
We
also
can be
tempted
towards
empty
formalism,
a suppression
of emotion
when we
gather
together,
so much
that we're
just
lifeless.
we see
a high
church
formality
at
places
in
American
Christianity.
We
also
see
often
emotional
manipulation
in the
life of
churches,
services
that focus
on creating
responses
that are
emotionally
driven
rather than
driven by
sound
doctrine.
The
right
response
is that
biblical
worship
is
heartfelt
and rooted
in
truth.
Number
four,
and lastly,
our emotions
must not
excuse
our
sin.
One of the
greatest dangers
of unchecked
emotions is
they are often
used to
justify
sinful
attitudes
and actions.
Well,
of course
I did
this.
He made
me feel
this way.
James
chapter
four,
verse
one
through
three,
James
says,
what
causes
quarrels
and what
causes
fights
among
you?
Is
it
not
this?
We
all
want
James
to
say
that
people
do
things
to
you.
They're
not
fair
and
they're
not
thoughtful.
He
says,
is
it
not
this
that
your
passions
are
at
war?
Within
you?
You're
an
emotional
mess,
is what
James
says.
That's
why
there
are
quarrels
and
fights
amongst
you.
You
desire
and
do
not
have,
so
you
murder.
You
covet
and
cannot
obtain,
so
you
fight
and
quarrel.
You
do
not
have
because
you
do
not
ask,
you
ask
and
do
not
receive
because
you
ask
wrongly
to
spend
it
on
your
passions.
Nobody
can
make
you
sin.
Somebody
doing
something
to you,
saying
something
to you,
cutting
you off
in
traffic
is not
the cause
of your
sinful
behavior.
It
comes from
within
you.
It's your
emotions
not
brought
under
the
lordship
of
Jesus
Christ.
It's
your
sin.
So
you
cannot
use
emotions
to
excuse
your
sin.
I
dare
you
to
stand
before
the
judgment
and
try
to
justify
your
sin
by
your
emotions.
People
tend
to want
to
justify
their
anger.
Many
want
to
believe
that
their
anger
is
righteous
so it
gives
them
the
right
to
speak
or
act
sinfully.
Many
will
allow
their
fear
to
paralyze
obedience.
Peter
denying
Christ
because
he
was
afraid.
Many
will
disguise
their
lust
as
love.
Think
of David
allowing
a desire
to lead
him
into
grievous
sin
with
Bathsheba
2 Samuel
chapter.
11.
We
must
submit
our
emotions
to
Christ
and
we
must
exercise
self
control.
Galatians
5
22
describes
self
control
as
a
fruit
of
the
spirit.
But
they
must
be
sanctified
by
God's
word.
The
key is
not to
suppress
emotions.
We're
not
looking
to be
emotionless.
We
are
to
have
them
but
we
should
bring
them
under
the
control
of
Christ.
We
should
be a
people
set
apart
in
this
way.
We
have
to
be
so
emotionally
stable.
We're
going to
react
to the
things
of the
world
but
we
should
react
appropriately
to
the
things
of
the
world.
Everything
brought
under
the
truth.
So just
briefly,
practically
to do
this,
we should
be
examining
our
hearts
daily.
Psalm
139
23
says,
Search me,
O God,
and know
my heart.
Try me
and know
my
thoughts.
That we
would pray,
God,
help me to
see the
reality of
my
emotions.
Help me to
understand
when they're
consistent
with the
truth and
when they're
inconsistent
with the
truth.
And train
your emotions
through the
scripture.
If you don't
know the
truth,
you're going
to have a
very difficult
time knowing
if your
emotions are
consistent or
inconsistent
with that
truth.
Paul writes
in Romans
12 and
verse 2
that we
are to
be
transformed
by the
renewal
of
our
minds.
We would
know
what is
good and
true
and beautiful
and that
our emotions
would be
brought into
conformity
with that
truth.
And may
we be a
people who
are not
tossed about
by emotional
instability,
but anchored
in the
unchanging
truth of
God's
word.
Let's pray
together.