I’ve recently begun re-reading R.C. Sproul’s book Knowing Scripture. Actually, a friend and I are going through it together. I’m only through the first chapter, but already I have been greatly challenged and encouraged. In chapter one, Sproul lays out reasons why we don’t study our Bibles, and reasons why we should. One of his arguments for why we don’t study is that the church has been infected by the culture in that we find it very difficult to do things that we don’t feel like doing. He calls this infection, “The Sensuous Christian.” Here are a few nuggets to whet your appetite… “Many of us have become sensuous Christians, living by our feelings rather than through our understanding of the Word of God. Sensuous Christians cannot be moved to service, prayer or study unless they ‘feel like it.’ Their Christian life is only as effective as the intensity of present feelings.” (p. 31) “Sensuous Christians don’t need to study the Word of God because they already know the will of God by their feelings. They don’t want to know God; they want to experience him.” (p. 31) “The highest law of sensuous Christians is that bad feelings must be avoided at all cost.” (p. 32) “The Christian life is not to be a life of bare conjecture or cold rationalism but one of vibrant passion. Strong feelings of joy, love and exaltation are called for again and again. But those passionate feelings are a response to what we understand with our minds to be true.” (p. 32) “Reflect for a moment. What happens in your own life when you act according to what you feel like doing rather than what you know and understand God says you should do? Here we encounter the ruthless reality of the difference between happiness and pleasure…happiness and pleasure are not the same thing. Both of them feel good, but only one endures. Sin can bring pleasure, but never happiness. ” (p. 33) “It is precisely at the point of discerning the difference between pleasure and happiness that knowledge of Scripture is so vital. There is a remarkable relationship between God’s will and human happiness. The fundamental deception of Satan is the lie that obedience can never bring happiness.” (p. 33) “The secret to happiness is found in obedience to God. How can we be happy if we are not obedient? How can we be obedient if we do not know what it is we are to obey? Thus the top and the tail of it is that happiness cannot be fully discovered as long as we remain ignorant of God’s Word.” (p. 34-35) “To be sure, knowledge of God’s Word does not guarantee that we will do what it says, but at least we will know what we are supposed to be doing in our quest for human fulfillment. The issue of faith is not so much whether we believe in God, but whether we believe the God we believe in.” (p. 35) Reading through chapter one, a familiar verse of Scripture that I learned as a young adult came to mind. It’s a verse that I frequently find myself drawn back to again and again, John 14:21…“Whoever has my commands and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” This verse is found in the passage where Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the Holy Spirit who is to come, and who will be another Helper like himself. In this potent verse, I’m struck by several things that Jesus said. First, Jesus defines what it means to really love him, namely, to know and obey his commandments. Second, Jesus gives a promise to those who do so…himself! Can we ask for anything more that to have Jesus, to know him, to have him manifest himself to us? How often do we hear Christians—perhaps ourselves as well—earnestly say “Oh, if only I could see Jesus. Then I would love him. Then I would obey him.” Here Jesus says in effect, “Do you love me? Do you want to see me? Then obey me.” This then leads us back to what Sproul seeks to prove in his book; if we want to know and obey Jesus, we must know him accurately, for who he truly is. How do we gain this knowledge? Through Knowing Scripture. –Pastor Dave