JOHN R. RICE QUOTES OF THE WEEK

The miracles of God are beyond your human comprehension. There are lots of things you don't understand. I don't understand how the three Hebrew children walked in the fiery furnace in the days of Nebuchadnezzar and came out alive, without even the smell of smoke on their garments. But that is in the realm of the miraculous and the eternal. Where you and I do not know enough to speak, we take what God says. - John R. Rice

Christ's coming is imminent. That means Jesus may come at any moment. That means there is no other prophesied event which must occur before Christ's coming. Nothing else needs to happen before Jesus may come. No signs need to precede it. Jesus may come today. He could come at any time since Pentecost. It is a glad event hanging over us for which we should expectantly await. The coming of Christ is imminent. - John R. Rice

You must see that every word in the Bible points to Jesus. You must love Him and trust Him. Do you want to be righteous? Then Jesus keeps the law for you, and He will help you to be righteous. He will put His righteousness within your heart. Trust Him, the perfect One, to meet God's requirements and fulfill the law, for Christ is the answer to the Mosaic law, and "Christ is the end of the law for ...righteousness to every one that believeth." When Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished!" He meant that now you need not circumcise any more boys; that points to circumcision of heart, the new birth. Now you need not offer any more animal sacrifices; the one Sacrifice has now been offered. Now you need not a priesthood anymore, for Jesus Christ, our High Priest, is forever interceding for those who trust Him. - John R. Rice

 

You know we used to talk about a God-fearing man. And "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Ps. 111:10). Well, it is not a bad thing to be afraid of God. Oh, to be afraid we will displease Him, to be afraid of His wrath, yes, and to be afraid of His shame, if we do wrong! There must ever be a holy fear mixed with the Christian's joy. So then, "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling." Oh, that men would tremble before the Lord, and rejoice in His blessing. - John R. Rice

 

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Do you know the answer to that question? I am the answer to it and so are you. Why was He forsaken? In order that I might not be forsaken. - John R. Rice

 

Here are two things about God. Don't ever say about Jesus, that He loves but never hates. Don't ever say He rewards righteousness unless you say He punishes sin. "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above they fellows." If the rest of us were like Jesus, if always we loved righteousness and always hated sin, if always we took sides for the right and against the wrong, then the Lord would give us such power and blessing, too. - John R. Rice

 

Notice this: "the oil of gladness." The anointing of the Holy Spirit when Jesus came the first time was not at once, not immediately, and not to make Him happy and glad. The anointing in the New Testament brought tears and a burden for a lost world. It brought trouble to Paul - jail and beating and shipwreck and slander. And with us it will mean persecution. The Lord Jesus never won a soul until H...e was filled with the Spirit after His baptism in the River Jordan. We read this in Luke, chapter 3. I say until that time Jesus had never worked a miracle, had never preached a sermon, had never won a soul. And He began, oh, with heartbreak and tears for a dying world. And not with the oil of gladness. It is the oil of the Holy Spirit power. - John R. Rice