Human Mind and Emotions of Christ

Series Recap and the Aim of Today's Study

0:00 Our study in the Word of God this morning comprises another segment in the series entitled, Here We Stand. As you have often reminded, the intent of this series is that of giving a broad overview of the main pivots of the Christian faith. Thus far we have looked at the scriptures what we understand them to be the book we believe and obey we have looked at some aspects of the great God whom we worship and confess we are now concerned with understanding something of the scriptural teaching concerning the salvation we receive and proclaim

0:47 having considered the objects of that salvation our present focus of study is the central figure in that salvation namely our Lord Jesus Christ and again as you have heard very frequently in recent weeks and even several months the biblical doctrine of the person and work of Christ is the nerve center it is the heart of all saving religion and therefore there will be a disproportionate detail given to this aspect of our study. The essence of the doctrine of Christ as found in Holy Scripture is this. Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of sinners, is truly God.

1:34 Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of sinners, is truly man. Jesus Christ the Redeemer of sinners as God and man is one person in two natures forever having demonstrated from the scriptures that Jesus Christ is truly God bringing together five categories of biblical witness and testimony we are now concerned with the biblical evidence concerning the reality of his humanity. And when we say that Christ is truly man, we are asserting that he had those two elements essential to all humanity, that is, a real human body and a true rational human soul.

2:26 So that the person of Christ is not a humanized deity, a person who is something less than God, but something beyond man, nor is he a deified humanity, but rather the person who is our blessed Lord and Redeemer is the God-man. He is truly God. He is truly man. Now the method by which we have been seeking to grapple with the biblical witness to the humanity of Christ is one that follows the pattern in which that evidence comes to us in Scripture.

3:06 The Scriptures begin, as we have our Bibles in our hands, with the Old Testament, with the book of Genesis. And that whole period from Genesis to Malachi can well be called the period of preparation, the preparation for the coming of the Redeemer. And we've discovered that all of the prophecies beginning in Genesis 3.15 onward through the latter prophets, all of them point to the fact that the Redeemer would be true man, seed of the woman. Now we're considering the evidence in that section of the biblical record that I have called the period of manifestation, the gospel records, the records of the life and teaching and activities of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3:49 and the accounts given to us by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John can be divided up roughly into three segments. Those events surrounding the conception and birth of Christ, those events surrounding Him from infancy to manhood, and those events surrounding Him or described of Him from His inauguration to ministry at the baptism of John to His ascension as recorded in Luke 24 or again in Acts chapter 1. And what we have seen as we've looked at the first two categories of that division of the gospel records, the period of manifestation is that He is true man. Everything about His conception and birth says this is true man. Everything about His infancy to manhood says He is true man. He grows in wisdom and stature

4:41 as well as in favor with God and man. And now we are in that final segment of the Gospel records, that segment dealing with His inauguration from ministry to His ascension. And last time we studied together two weeks ago, we looked at two general indications of His true humanity, the reality of His temptations and the necessity of His prayer life. And these two things point indisputably to the fact that this is a true man.

5:14 Since God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted any man, the focus of the temptations of the devil as found in Matthew 4 and in the parallel passages is the human nature, the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then our Lord is a man of prayer, eminently a man of prayer, because he lives as all men ought to live in conscious dependence upon God. And prayer is the means of exchanging human weakness for divine strength. Now, we come this morning, that's the conclusion of our review, to look at the particular pointers to his true humanity in this last segment of the Gospel records.

6:01 And what I want us to do this morning is to trace out from the Scriptures the indications of our Lord's humanity as testified in His human mind, His human affections or emotions, and His human will. what I propose to do is to set before you from the scriptures incidents in the life of our Lord which eloquently and indisputably declare that Jesus Christ had a human mind Jesus Christ had human emotions and Jesus Christ had a human will now on the threshold of this study I want to use an illustration

The Model Analogy: Use Every Piece in the Box

6:46 that will help us I trust to hang together all of these facets of the biblical witness or hold together all of these facets and hold to them in such a way that we're determined not to let a one of them slip through our fingers. Some of us have been in hobby shops where they sell various kinds of plastic models. Used to be when I was a kid, they were only made of airplanes and some of cars, but now you can get vintage automobiles, vintage ships. If you're a person who has a great interest in ships, you can get the human form.

7:24 You can get famous personalities. Now, for the sake of my illustration this morning, the model we have purchased is one of a famous personality. And so that there won't be any attempt to find out where my sympathies lie with personalities in our own history, we'll jump over to British history. Because I remember in the home of Pastor Jeff Thomas seeing one of these plastic models of Oliver Cromwell, head of the Commonwealth in the mid-1600s.

7:52 Now, if you were to go into a hobby shop and say, do you have a model of Oliver Cromwell? And they look down through the stock and they say, yes, we do. You would take home a large box that would show on the outside what that model is supposed to look like when you're all done. But now when you open it up, all you see is a bunch of gray plastic pieces strewn all over the box.

8:12 But then there's an instruction sheet, and you're supposed to take out the instruction sheet, and when you're done, every single piece strewn through that box ought to be out of the box, and in the final form, and in the right place. Now, what your responsibility is, is to make sure that you use all the pieces, and use them in the right place. You're not free to say, oh, that nose is a little bit protruding. I don't think, I mean, I just have such a high esteem of Cromwell, I can't imagine he had such a big nose, so I'll just leave the nose off.

8:44 You're not free to do that. Those who designed that model came up with what they felt was the best, most accurate representation of Cromwell, and if you were to have Cromwell as he was, you better have him nose and all. Or you might say the idea of a man being a professing Christian and carrying such a big sword and looking so overly military, I don't like that idea. I don't want his sword by his side.

9:10 I think I'll put maybe a leaf there, an olive leaf. That looks a little better. That suits my pacifistic tendencies and theology a little. You're not free to do that.

9:23 Not only are you not free to leave out any of the pieces, you're not free to rearrange them.

9:29 And say, well, I'd like that particular... No, no.

9:32 You are not free to do anything of the sort if what you come up with is to become well. Now, do you see the point of my illustration? Strewn throughout the gospel records are the individual pieces which, when put together, set before us the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, we have gleaned in recent weeks many of the pieces which set before us a Redeemer who is nothing less than true God.

10:03 and we were not free to leave any of those pieces as it were rejected because we could not fathom how one who was man could be true God. But you see we must be just as faithful in taking all the pieces and putting them where they belong when it comes to his humanity. And as those that we call liberal theologians though I don't like the term I call them unbelieving religious people who play with the Bible, though they have very, very carefully left out the pieces that would construct a Christ before whom man ought to fall, crying, My Lord and my God.

10:51 Evangelicals and many of us unwittingly, it's not been done deliberately, we have left out many of the pieces which declare him to be true man. But you see, it is not up to us to determine which pieces belong. We are to come to the Scriptures, and as we see the pieces there, we are with carefulness to put them in the proper biblical picture of the whole Christ in all the glory of what He is, both as true God and as true man. And that's all I'm attempting to do by directing your attention this morning to some specific pieces of the picture in which we see a true human mind, in which we see a true human soul

11:36 engaged in the expression of the full range of all human emotions, as we see the actings of a human will. What are we doing this for? For the simple reason that when we worship our Lord Jesus Christ, when He is the object of our trust and our adoration, we shall be worshiping the Christ who is the Christ of the full-orbed biblical witness, and not a Christ from whom we have taken away a nose or an ear or a hand or a sword, because that kind of Christ did not suit our notions. All right, let's proceed then, and we'll go as far as time permits.

12:18 Coming to consider our Lord in the conviction that what He is with reference to the great work of salvation, He is of necessity, and He must be in our affections and in our understanding all that He has revealed in Scripture. Consider with me the indications that He has the properties and actings of a true human mind. Now, first of all, what do we mean by a human mind? Well, I'm using the term human mind in contrast with the mind of God or with the divine mind.

The Properties of a True Human Mind

12:55 A human mind is limited in the scope of its knowledge A human mind is dependent upon observation For the acquisition of knowledge A human mind grows and develops Both in its acquisition of knowledge And in its ability to use that knowledge That's what's called wisdom Now no one questions that the properties of a human mind Are explicitly described by Luke in chapter 2 and verse 40 and again in verse 52. Jesus grew in wisdom. Here was bonified mental development in the life of our Lord. Now Adam had a human mind.

13:38 He was not omniscient, nor was his mind static. If Adam stood ten feet away from a beautiful flower that God had created and he wondered what was inside of it, how did he discover what was inside of it? He had to go over and pull the petals back and look in. He acquired knowledge of what the inside of a flower looked like, the same way you and I have to acquire that knowledge. If he was to know what Eve was thinking, if she was looking pensively at a sunset, he couldn't read her mind. He had to say, Eve, what are you thinking? Now, the difference is she never would have lied and said, oh, nothing. She would have told him what she was thinking. There was no reason for her not to be utterly transparent with her husband.

14:19 So you see what we're talking about now. A human mind is a mind limited in knowledge, dependent upon observation for the acquisition of knowledge, a mind that grows and develops. But a mind in which there is no lust, in which there is no mental hatred, no ill will, no impure thought, no schemes to hurt, no desire to think independent of God. A sinless human mind is what Adam had.

14:47 Now it is just such properties that God says were possessed by the second. Or the last Adam, the man from heaven, the second man, Christ Jesus. He possesses the acts and properties of a truly human mind. Now follow closely.

15:07 In Matthew 11 we consider together our Lord's self-consciousness of a divine mind. No man knoweth the Father save the Son Matthew 11 and verse 27 No one knoweth the Son save the Father neither doth any know the Father save the Son Here the Lord Jesus speaking as the Son is at this point of His consciousness aware of an infinite mind. He knows the Father fully. Only God can fully comprehend God.

15:54 Here our Lord is seen as possessing a divine mind in all that that means. No limitation of knowledge. No dependence upon means for the acquisition of knowledge. No growth and development.

Evidence of Christ's Human Mind in the Gospels

16:08 He fully comprehends the Father because He shares in the divine essence. He is possessed of a divine mind. but of this same Jesus is he said that he advanced in wisdom. We find in such instances as Matthew 16 and verse 13 he must acquire knowledge by asking questions.

16:30 Matthew 16, 13 Now when Jesus came into the parks of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples saying Who do men say that the Son of Man is? Now is he just playing games? No, he is asking a real question. desirous of a real answer. And he obtains information about the current opinions concerning his identity by asking questions. Over in Mark chapter 11, we find him obtaining information by what we would call physical observation. Mark chapter 11, verses 12 and 13. And on the morrow, when they were come out from Bethany, he hungered.

17:12 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came if happily he might find anything thereon. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season of figs. Now, is the gospel writer saying that Jesus was playing games? That because of the omniscience of his divine mind, he knew ten miles away whether that...

17:38 No, no. No, no. Here is a description of the actings of our Lord with reference to his true human nature. Here is the acting.

17:47 Here is the function of a human mind dependent upon physical observation. And he had to be in close enough physical proximity to see whether or not things were upon the tree or not. And when he discovers they are not, then he curses the tree. Now, we're not going into what the significance of that is.

18:03 The only thing we're attempting to see is this. When the gospel records describe the Christ whom they knew, They describe a Christ who was possessed of a human mind, dependent upon physical observation for knowledge. We find the same thing in the 11th chapter of John, with reference to Lazarus. Where have you laid him?

18:23 Where have you laid him? Direct me to the place where he is buried. Think of it. The one who knows is God that he has power over death, and is the judge of the world.

18:33 It says, where have you laid him? Then, of course, that passage that is a great embarrassment to many people who loved their Savior as true God, but it was no embarrassment to the Savior. We read in Matthew 24 and verse 36, he's ignorant of certain things. He is ignorant of certain things because he possesses a human mind that is not omniscient, that does not know all things, that cannot know unless what is to be known is revealed. Our Lord himself says in Matthew 24, 36, in the context in which he's been speaking of his return in power and in glory.

19:14 But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only. Now what makes this text so unique is this. In this passage, our Lord on the one hand is self-conscious that he's in a class above men and angels. Look at the text.

19:37 But of that day and hour knoweth no one. That's the general statement. And the implication being no one. That is no human being.

19:46 Well, let's go a step above human beings. What about angels? That rank of angelic creatures who've never known sin, who are not bound by the properties and limitations of a human existence, he said. No, it's even true of them.

20:00 Not even the angels. But then he puts himself in a category wholly other than even angels, including the archangel Michael. Everything that is angel, he says, is ignorant of the time of his return, fully conscious that as to his divine nature, he is in a class above all angels and all men. He says, neither the Son.

20:29 And yet at the same time, speaking of the reality of His human mind, He said, I'm ignorant of the hour of my return. You say, how? Are you asked to figure it out there? The pieces lie in the box.

20:43 And God says they must all be put into the figure of the Christ whom you worship. What did you say, Pastor Mark? A few weeks ago, you were turning to Scriptures in which it shows that He was on mission. He fully knew the Father.

20:57 He had information without Him. That's right. That's the Christ whom the Bible sets before us. One who is possessed of a divine mind, but one who is also possessed of a human mind.

21:10 What do you say? Well, then you've got two persons. No, one person, as we shall see in subsequent studies, but in the two natures forever.

21:20 Now, you see, our Lord is not embarrassed to tell us He's ignorant of certain things. Are you embarrassed? when someone points out this person, says, yeah, yeah, you're Christ, look at that, how can he be God? He says, are you embarrassed?

21:32 Our Lord wasn't. If he was not embarrassed to confess the reality of the limitations of a human mind, we should not be embarrassed to confess that this is the Christ whom we worship. As one commentator has written, how the incarnate Son could restrict the use of his divine attributes is one of the mysteries of his person. The fact that he did is beyond dispute.

22:01 Now, one of the things that I've emphasized again and again in this series of studies is this, that all that Christ is, he is with reference to the great work of saving his people. Is this just a mental exercise? Let me pause just briefly by way of application to show some of the implications of the reality of our Redeemer's human mind. What does that say to us?

22:27 Of what use is it for us to know this? Well, think for a moment of the implications this has with reference to the biblical doctrine of his sinlessness. If he is to bear sin for others, he himself must be sinless. If he is the Lamb of God to bear away the sin of the world, he must be the spotless Lamb who is in the language of the Scriptures separate from sinners, the one who does no sin.

22:58 Now God's law demands that His creatures love Him with what? We read it this morning. With all the heart, with all the soul, and with all the mind.

23:09 And as a man our Lord rendered to the Father the full devotion of a human mind. What did that mean? It meant that he never gained information in a way that would displease his father Never once was that mind stained with the fruits of idle curiosity Never once did he attempt to gain information at the expense of obedience to the revealed law of God Many a creature has sinned grievously against God by seeking to know in a path of disobedience to the revealed will of God. He never sought reality apart from the Word.

Implications: Sinless Savior and Perfect Pattern

23:54 You remember how he dealt in his temptations? It is written. Life is to be interpreted by the Scriptures. It is written.

24:03 It is written. Thus it must be fulfilled. The Scriptures cannot be broken. This allegiance to the scriptures by our Lord is a wonderful testimony to the implications of the acting of his human mind.

24:19 Never once did that mind judge unrighteously. He who said judge righteous judgment always obtained the information necessary before he made judgments. What does it mean that our Lord was a sinless man? It means that in all the multitudes of the activities of the human mind, which are the occasion of sin in us, were never once the occasion of sin to our blessed Lord.

24:47 So it ought to form the basis of awe and of wonder as you think of your Redeemer as the sinless Savior. But then it has implications with reference to our Lord being our pattern. when the Scripture says in 1 John 2, 6, He that saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk even as he walked. What does that mean?

25:11 It means that I who have a human mind am to exercise that mind as our Lord exercised his human mind.

25:22 You see, as surely as his sweaty brow and calloused hands in Joseph's carpenter shop have sanctified all labor. We saw that a few weeks ago, Lord's Day evening. His sweaty hands, his calloused hands, his sweaty brow have forever sanctified the most mundane forms of labor. So his studious observation, his careful analysis, his acquisition of knowledge, and the ability to use that knowledge which is called wisdom, this exercise of His human mind has forever sanctified every diligent mental activity.

26:05 When we read, as we did this morning, of our Lord's masterful putting to flight of His enemies, was His human mind in neutral, just the passive receptor of thoughts from God? No! There was the full employment of all of his human logical faculties. There was human analysis of the situation, all under the direct guidance and superintendence of the Holy Spirit.

26:38 And what a great blessing it was to me even this week to think of this in relationship to the preparation of the exposition of the Word of God, when that arduous mental activity trying to penetrate the mysteries of God with Scripture, seeking then to lay them out simply and clearly and practically, and at times one feels as though the head is going to split.

27:03 To know that there's one, there's one who knows what that kind of mental activity is, and he has set the pattern. When we see our Lord with His careful reasoning powers, when we see our Lord speaking so perceptively. We must recognize this is the God-man who speaks. And there is the full engagement of all of the faculties of that holy mind. And also, since he did not know the day of his return, our Lord knew what it was to resist idle curiosity to penetrate into the mysteries of God that are none of our business. It was disciples who said, Wilt thou at this time?

27:45 And the Lord said, It's not for you to know times and seasons that the Father hath put within His own power.

27:53 Do you see some of the implications? I don't want to pause to draw out more, but this is rich with tremendously helpful and pastoral teaching for us with reference to the use of our own minds if we are to walk even as He walked. But now I hasten to move on, and obviously time will only permit an introduction, to consider the subject of our Lord's human emotions. We not only find in the Gospel record that our Lord Jesus Christ possesses the properties and actings of a true human mind, but the acts and properties of human emotions.

Defining and Introducing Human Emotions in Christ

28:36 Now let me define emotions. when our feelings are aroused to the point of awareness we call them our emotions you kids you're going home tomorrow from school and the bully on the block is starting to walk towards you and he's got that look in his eyes that he gets when he's going after someone in the neighborhood now what happens your feelings of fear are aroused to the point where you're aware of them That's your emotion of fear. Or maybe your dad's been away for a week. And you're expecting him home any time.

29:13 And you hear that familiar sound of his footsteps coming through the front door. What happens? You're awakened and kindled with expectation and excitement. And you're thrilled.

29:24 What's happened? Your emotions have come to the point of awareness. Your feelings have been aroused to the point of awareness. We call that our feelings or emotions.

29:34 All right? in that category then are love, hate, excitement, dread, amazement, and the scripture set before us a Christ who has all the acts and properties of true human emotions. Now having defined what we mean by the emotions, there's a tremendous problem in seeking to grapple with this. With us who are sinners, sin has so disordered our whole humanity that it's almost impossible for us to disassociate sin from certain emotions.

30:07 For instance, anger. With us, anger is almost always tinged with some degree of sinfulness. That's why anger, the very word used of our Lord's emotion, is sometimes called the work of the flesh. Colossians 3.8 and also in Ephesians chapter 4.

30:26 Our fear leads to sinful timidity and cowardice. So for us, fear is always tinged with sin. Our joy so quickly spills over into giddiness. The scripture says it's the heart of fools that is in the house of mirth, not the heart of wise people.

30:43 Our love often becomes self lust or self sentiment Our grief becomes sinful complaint and petulance Our anger becomes vindictiveness So in order to protect our Lord from any association with sinful perversions of human emotions, we've done what the Greeks did with reference to their idea of moral perfection. We have neutered our Lord's emotions. and we've seen certain pieces in the box that when the scripture said put those into your understanding of Christ we said no no that cannot be because in us those pieces are always stained with sin but it's not our province to exclude them because we've perverted them

31:29 it is our responsibility to consider our Lord as he has set before us in the word of God now then consider the evidence with me In a profoundly moving and highly instructive essay entitled The Emotional Life of Our Lord by D.B. Warfield, there is a comprehensive treatment of every explicit incident in the Gospels in which our Lord is described as possessing and exercising human emotions. I've read that article some four, five times, other parts of it I don't know how many times.

32:01 It's been one of the most profoundly moving things that I've ever read of uninspired literature. I commend it to any of you who have the time to read it. It's in the volume called The Person and Work of Christ. But I can only give you a sampling this morning in the interest of time and in the interest of preaching as opposed to teaching.

Joy and Exultation

32:21 will you consider with me some of the descriptions of human emotion attributed to our Lord in the gospel records. Let's start on the high note of joy and exaltation. Turn to Luke chapter 10 if you will please. Luke chapter 10.

32:43 The 70 who were commissioned by our Lord and given peculiar authority and power have returned with joy, Luke 10, 17. The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in thy name. He said unto them, I beheld Satan fall and his lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall in any wise hurt you nevertheless.

33:15 In this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Here is a setting of great joy. Can you picture something of how they must have almost been delirious with joy, coming back, seeing that their mission was a mission owned and blessed of God, and the Lord, as it were, mildly rebukes them and shows them that the real ground of their joy ought not to be the peculiar gifts conferred upon them, these more spectacular manifestations of the grace of God, but that greatest of all blessings to know that you are one of God's own. Now verse 21, in that same hour, and now a stronger word than the usual word for joy is used.

34:01 In that same hour, He exalted in the Holy Spirit, and that phrase is critical. In other words, this expression of joy is an expression of joy that comes to fruition by the operation of the Spirit upon our Lord's human spirit. This is not the joy of God as God. This is the joy of the God-man as man.

34:30 He rejoiced in spirit, in the Holy Spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, Thou didst hide these things from the wise and from the understanding. Didst reveal them unto babes. Yea, Father, it was well-pleasing in thy sight. And then this great claim in verse 22, and now verse 23.

34:52 Turning to his disciples, he said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see. For I say unto you that many prophets and kings desired to see the things which ye see and saw them not. and to hear the things which ye hear and heard them not. Now this word for rejoice is the word translated in Matthew 5, 12 in most of our Bibles.

35:17 Rejoice and be exceeding glad. The common word rejoice is followed by the more intensive expression. Rejoice and be exceeding glad. Go beyond ordinary rejoicing and exult in your spirit.

35:32 it's translated greatly rejoice in 1st Peter 1 6 and exceeding joy in 1st Peter 4 13 the Holy Spirit is careful to choose a word and the best English parallel and I'm sorry that it's not a word in common vocabularies it ought to be. Ebulence is the only English word that comes near it. Here is a bubbling up joy and delight. It's not giddiness but it's not mere joy. It's something more intensive than that.

36:02 And how did Luke know this? The gospel writers never dabbled in being little psychoanalysts. They knew the measure of the joy from the register of the joy upon his countenance, in his voice, and in his very bearing. Our Lord was no stoic and said we must be reserved, stiff upper lips, show no grief, show no pain, show no joy.

36:27 They never indulged in reading into the secret, unexpressed inner life of our Lord.

Sorrow, Heaviness, and Amazement

36:36 Luke was able to say he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit because the expression of that ebulence was manifested in his very bearing. Now we go to the other end of the spectrum in which we find sorrow and heaviness and foreboding amazement described in the life of our Lord. Turn to that record in Matthew 26.

37:07 Our Lord's entrance into Gethsemane. And we read in that passage Matthew 26 verses 36 and 37.

37:21 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane. And he said unto his disciples, Sit ye here while I go yonder and pray. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.

37:48 Sorrow Heaviness Mark tells us in his account Mark 14, 32 to 34 He began to be sore amazed Now the word for sorrow is the word Matthew has already used in chapter 19 and verse 22 Matthew 19 and verse 22 You remember the rich young ruler? Our Lord lays the claims of discipleship before him He desperately wants eternal life, but not on our Lord's terms when the young man heard the saying. He went away sorrowful, a description of the human emotion, of deep grief. The grief of a man who wants eternal life and all that that would bring to a man,

38:36 but at the same time feels the pull of a contrary desire to cling inordinately to his own possessions. The sorrow of an awakened conscience that does not come to rest in the salvation of God in Jesus Christ. That same word. He went away sorrowful.

38:57 Our Lord began to be sorrowful. The word heaviness is found only two other places in the New Testament. In the parallel passage in Mark. And then it describes a human emotion in Philippians 2.26.

39:13 The very human emotion of one of Paul's companions.

39:19 2.26 of Philippians. I count it necessary to send Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my needs, since he longed after you all, here it is, and was sore troubled because he had heard that he was sick. Here's a description of a human emotion, a companion of the apostle who is sore troubled in his spirit.

39:47 And then as I intimated the word amazement as found in Mark's record of Gethsemane. It's the word used in Mark's gospel chapter 9 and verse 15. Mark 9 and verse 15. and straightway all the multitude when they saw him were greatly amazed.

40:11 It could well be that something of the glow of what happened upon the Mount of Transfiguration was still there.

40:21 But there was this great amazement described again in Mark 16 verses 5 and 6 and entering into the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side arrayed in a white robe and were amazed. And he said unto them, Be not amazed. You see, amazement is a human emotion. We've discovered something we did not anticipate. Or if we anticipated, the magnitude is so far beyond our anticipation that the wind goes right out of us. We feel utterly overcome. This is what our Lord felt when he went into Gethsemane. He who knew from all eternity that it was to be his portion to assume the obligations and debts of his people, and that that assuming of their debts and obligations would lead to the awful abandonment of Golgotha, knowing all of this, when he begins

41:12 to come to that hour, as we heard this morning in the adult class, when he must actually, as the God-man, drink the cup of the Father's frown and displeasure. His human spirit is overwhelmed with Sorrow with heaviness and with foreboding amazement.

Anger, Irritation, and Zeal

41:33 Then we see, recorded of our Lord, the emotions of anger, of irritation, and of zeal. I've grouped together these emotions. Joy and exaltation. Sorrow, heaviness, and foreboding amazement.

41:51 Anger, irritation, and zeal. turn again to Mark chapter 3 the incident in which our Lord heals a man in the synagogue on the Sabbath he does it in the midst of his enemies who are seeking occasions to find fault with him verse 5 of Mark 3 and when he had looked round about on them with anger. Orge, the word used for the anger of God. When he looked round about them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart. Do you see the human emotions of our Lord?

42:41 He looked with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their heart. In John chapter 2, we have the expression of that irritation and zeal and I don't know which word is more proper for there is holy irritation at the profaning of the place that ought to be a house of prayer. John chapter 2 beginning with verse 13 And the Passover of the Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and He found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting Now will you let this fall on your ear and use your mind? Instead of casting over that insipid cloak of the effeminate, soft-handed Christ,

43:32 who is the construction not of the biblical data, but of an emotionally neutered Christ, will you try to listen to this and use your imagination to see what John is describing? when he comes and finds all of this merchandising, this commercialism in the house of God, he made a scourge of courts and cast out all from the temple. Cast out! Our Lord did not go and tap someone on the shoulder and say, don't you think this is rather offensive to the God who instituted the worship in Israel?

44:12 Would you mind just... No, no.

44:14 A scourge of cords in His hand. And holy zeal, untinged by anything fleshly. Holy zeal and burning, divine indignation and irritation in His spirit. And I'm sure in His eyes.

44:32 He cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen. Poured out the changers' money. He finds their boxes of money and He turns them up. And you can hear the coins clinking and rattling down through the stone floor of the temple.

44:53 And over through their tables. He's not content to clear their tables. He takes them by the side and turns them over. If you were to come on that scene, you'd say, there's a madman loose in this place.

45:07 Someone's deranged. There's a madman. Look at him. holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.

45:20 The emotion of anger, irritation, zeal.

Agitation, Indignation, and Grief

45:29 Then there were emotions somewhat like unto these, but in a different category. Our Lord is described as possessing and exercising the emotions of agitation, and a troubled and disturbed spirit. Mr. Fisher directed our attention to one of those passages this morning in John 12.

45:50 Look at it again. John 12 and verse 27. Now is my soul agitated. My soul is troubled.

46:03 For years I was told that if you abide in Christ, every single circumstance that comes you just can float into it if you living in the Spirit and abiding in Christ And to sense that agitation of Spirit that comes when the will of God seems to be leading us into places of darkness places of turmoil and disruption of everything that is dear to us as human beings. The idea, you see, that I had for years, and I was told this, that any sense of that disruption and agitation and troubling of spirit was only unbelief, a lack of abiding in Christ. Well, what Christ? Not this Christ.

46:46 As he faced the realities of those coming hours, his soul is troubled, so that under the pressure of that troubling of a human soul, he prays a very human prayer. What shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? He's saying all that is in me as a true man would avoid the coming hours. But the mark of its sinless humanity was that nothing could dissuade him from obedience to the Father's will.

47:19 And so he consents in the language of this passage and freshly affirms that it's for this very hour that he has come forth. Back in chapter 11, there was a similar description of another aspect of this emotion of agitation and troubling of soul. And there's a whole section in Warfield in which he finally ends up saying, we don't know how to translate it. We don't know what is created, even some of these attitudes and dispositions.

47:49 There are similar passages in Mark where he charges certain people straightly or strictly is the translation. It's a poor translation. It's an element of irritation and almost vehemence. And we find it here in John 11 and verse 33.

48:04 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews also who came to her, He groaned in the Spirit. The marginal reading in the 1901. He was moved with indignation in the Spirit. There's something boiling up within His Spirit.

48:21 You remember the many times it is said Jesus sighed. The weight of his spirit, the agitation of his spirit Was expressed in these sighs that were audible and discernible By those who were with him and who beheld him And then the scriptures describe him With the actings of human love and compassion I don't have time to go into them But it's beautiful with regard to Lazarus Our friend Lazarus There was human friendship with this man Lazarus. There was compassion. He saw the multitudes.

48:58 There was that conscious stirring and yearning. There was grief and brokenness of heart. And I only direct your attention to one passage. Luke 19 and verse 41.

49:09 Luke 19 and verse 41.

49:15 And when He, our Lord, drew nigh, He saw the city. and he wept over it. This is precisely the same word used in John's Gospel to describe the activities of the professional mourners.

49:31 Warfield translates it, Wailed! He wailed over the city. There was uncontrollable yet controlled weeping. There was the giving full then to all of the brokenness of heart over the judgment to come, yet always under the control of one who did that which was pleasing to the Father.

49:57 It's the word used of Peter's repentance in Matthew 26, 75. And the translation there is more accurate. He went out and he wept bitterly. Jesus Christ beholding the city wept bitterly over that city.

50:13 Now this is not a select, this is not an exhaustive treatment. It's only a specimen treatment. But certainly the gospel writers do not set before us anything other than a divine human redeemer who expresses the full range of all human emotion. And the point that I want to underscore, I just suggested it earlier, but I want to underscore it.

50:44 Since these gospel writers were not playing psychoanalyst, and Warfield makes this point very, very powerfully, it was the outworking of these emotions upon his voice, upon his bearing, upon his bodily activities that formed the basis of the description. There was no thought that if you feel joy, you must not express it. Someone might think you're hyper-emotional. If you feel grief, you must not express it.

51:18 That shows lack of control. Stiff upper lip, you know.

51:24 When there was fear and dread, what do you get when you have fear and dread? A cold sweat and shortness of breath. The Son of God had more than cold sweat. He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood.

51:36 As all within him would recoil from the agonies that lay before him.

51:44 Grief and anguish that bring forth convulsive tears and brokenness that shake the whole frame.

51:54 Luke beheld this in his Lord.

51:58 For those who saw him weep reported it as Luke traced out all things accurately from the beginning.

Application: Christ the Leveler of Sinful Emotional Distortions

52:06 Our time is gone. We don't have time to point in the direction of the acts and properties of a human will, but they're there, I do want in closing to draw several lines of practical application.

52:21 As we beheld the actings of His human mind and something of what that says to us of our sinless Savior and His perfect pattern for us, beholding our Lord in His sinless emotions as a man, what does all of this say to us? It says that we are to admire and worship Him for the glory of His person which involves the integrity of His manhood as well as the integrity and glory of His Godhood. The object of our worship is the mediator, the God-man, Christ Jesus. And oh, how we ought to pour out our hearts affection to him. We ought to tell him in terms that are too sacred to be made public, but in the

53:13 secret place we ought to tell him how much we love him and how much we are grateful that he was willing to subject himself to all that is truly human. Not to add anything to himself, but to be an adequate redeemer for his people. It ought to be an incentive to trust him and to confide in him. We have an high priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

53:44 And when in the actings of our human minds we are tempted to pry where we ought to be worshipfully silent, we can remember our Lord never once sought information at the expense of the will of God. That human mind was subject to all the laws that a human mind ought to be subject to when it is a sinless human mind. We ought to gaze upon our Lord in the perfect pattern He has set for us. In our Lord, every human emotion is seen in perfect proportion and in balance.

54:23 Deep grief, burning anger, intense joy, but he's always in control. The emotions are subject to that one who is subject to the will of God. So that his grief never leads to petulance. His anger never leads to irrationality.

54:44 His joy never leads to irresponsibility. But it was true anger, true grief. It was true joy. I may just be preaching to myself this morning but few things in recent days have brought me more internal help than the recognition of this great principle I do not honor my Lord when in the course of his dealings with me in the course of his dealings through me in ministry there is that which brings joy and when there is inward exultation that would burst out in a hallelujah.

55:25 I'm not dishonoring the Lord if the inward joy breaks out in its hallelujah.

55:33 And when one of the flock of God does something that causes grief, I am not dishonoring God if I feel that grief and pain and it becomes evident to those around me that I feel that grief and that pain.

55:51 And you see, Christ in this way is the great leveler of all the sinful expressions of emotional distortion that get locked into societies and to cultures. That's another whole theme that I'd like to develop someday in a lecture.

56:07 You know what Christ says to the volatile Latin?

56:11 He says, you get your Latin temperament under the control of the Holy Spirit.

56:21 You know what he says to the phlegmatic German and to the stiff upper lip Britisher? He says, it's no virtue to act as though you were emotionally neutered.

56:33 You see, Christ is a great leveler. Now, does that mean he will make us all the same? No, the great diversities are there. But to the point and at the point that there is a restraint of valid emotional expression because of some inherent conviction that it is sinful, black must go.

56:57 When God says weep with those he weep, he didn't say except those who are English, Scottish, and German. Or Swedes. I'll pick on myself. I'm a Swede.

57:09 And also Scottish. That's my two bloodlines. Something got mixed up somewhere, I guess.

57:17 All the implications. Humanity has great implications for preaching. There are some who have the view that Reformed preaching is standing up and simply telling what God says. Don't let your own emotions enter in.

57:28 That's to prostitute the Word of God. That's a prostitution of the whole concept of preaching. It says, Jesus stood and he cried. If any man first, let him come to me and drink.

57:43 There are few things that have killed the spirit of true preaching. in our own country, in some of the most Orthodox seminaries, than this cursed mentality of emotionally neutered Bible talkers.

57:59 It's not a true view of preaching at all.

58:04 Well, you see the implications? I just must shut down all the avenues of thought. May God help us this morning, as we contemplate our blessed Lord, not to be embarrassed about the reality of his humanity.

58:20 The scriptures are not embarrassed to set him before us as a man touched with the feeling of our infirmities. But wonder of wonders, he's more than a man. And that's why where you've sinned in your emotions and your grief has led to self-pity and to petulance and your anger has been stained with a vitriolic vehemence and a vengeance that has been dishonoring to God and where your joy has been giddy and irresponsible. What a wonderful thing to point you to one who is not only true man, expressing every true human affection, imperfection, but he is also God and mighty to save.

59:01 And the great worth of his sacrifice upon the cross is found in the fact that it's the blood of God.

59:09 Therefore I can call upon you who have sinned against God with your wicked emotional excesses to find in Christ a perfect Savior from all those sins. The perfect pattern and example. The one who this very day is the succorer of His people. May God grant that we shall find Him precious to our hearts.

Closing Prayer

59:34 Let us pray.

59:43 O our Father, we feel that again we have trodden upon sacred ground in the contemplation of our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. O our Father we cannot contain the height and the depth of the mysteries of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ surely great is the mystery of godliness He who was manifested in the flesh but we thank you that He is all of these things

60:28 in the interest of the salvation of His people Oh, that we may love Him and trust Him And as His people find consolation in the knowledge That He is indeed touched with the feeling of our infirmities All points tempted like as we are Tempted to sins of the mind Tempted to sins of the emotions Yet without sin Oh, how we thank You We thank You for that blessed exception yet without sin. Therefore we look to Him to carry on His mighty work in us, subduing all of the emotional excesses that are stained with sin,

61:14 liberating in us all of the emotional restraints that are a negation of our humanity. O Lord, take us in hand and purge us of all that is unlike You in the power and might of Your own redemptive grace.

61:34 We pray that You will seal to our hearts the word preached this morning and help us that we shall further sanctify this day to our prophet and to Your praise. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

61:52 Amen.