Sometimes we are so conscious of God's wrath against sin that we do not dwell upon, nor delight in, His mercy. We are sometimes so impressed with the mighty power of God, His knowledge, His wisdom, His infinite being, that we do not realize how tenderly He watches the most minute detail of our lives. - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 85]
In the days of Elisha a widow had a pot of oil and nothing else. Her young prophet husband had died, leaving debts that must be paid; but how? The creditor would take her two boys as bondslaves for the debt. What should she do? Oh, but when she appealed to the prophet of God, he knew the tender heart of God. She was instructed to borrow vessels abroad of all her neighbors and close their door and pour out of that little pot of oil. It multiplied and filled all the vessels provided. She could pay her debt and still have oil to live on, oil for herself and her sons! God hears the sigh of a widow. - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 86-87]
Once in a blessed revival campaign at Wichita Falls, Texas, I stayed in the home of a godly German farmer. We often prayed together. One day he said to me rather timidly, "Brother Rice, I notice that you often pray, 'Forgive us our many sins.' Are you just praying that in a general sense for all of us and our sins? You surely don't mean that you have many sins."
Oh, I assured him I do have many sins and I try so earnestly to recognize them, hate them, confess and forsake them day by day.
Oh, yes, we need to come daily to confess our sins.
I do not mean a morbid going-over of the things that are wrong. I simply mean to admit what is wrong, turn one's heart from it, and claim that it is forgiven and taken out of the way at once. - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 109]
This world is only an anteroom of the next. This short life is incidental compared with eternity. This world is not home to the Christian. ― John R. Rice, Bible Facts About Heaven
A Christian is told, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4; Dt. 8:3). And he certainly needs the Bible - all the Bible. A Christian ought to read the Bible through at least every year, and he should read some of it many times and some of it he should memorize every year. The Christian ought to read at least four chapters a day, and read the Bible through afresh every year. No one can be a good Christian who doesn't daily feed on the Word. - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 117]
I think most of the commentaries have missed the point of the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane. Matthew 26:36-39 tells us part of the story:
Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Notice that Jesus was "sorrowful and very heavy." He said to the disciples, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."
I think literally we must believe that Jesus was about to die with sorrow. His heart was broken. The pain of the sorrows of the world and the sins of the world were killing Him.
So when Jesus prayed, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt," He was not praying to be relieved from dying for sinners. Do you think God had any other way that He could save men except by the atoning death of Jesus on the cross? Of course not. Anybody who reads the Scripture must know that. Jesus knew it, of course. It was His plan as well as God's.
He was not praying against the will of God but praying in the will of God. So the Scripture says in Hebrews 5:7, "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared." Ah, Jesus prayed that He could die at the time the Scriptures has appointed.
You remember the Gospel is that "Christ died for our sins ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES." And if Jesus had died any other way but on the cross and on any other day but the day when the passover lamb died, He would not have fulfilled the Scriptures, and so He could not save anybody. So He prayed and was heard. He begged God not to take the cup away forever but t pass it on till tomorrow, till the right time, till it would fulfill the Scriptures, and then He drank it gladly. - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 131-132]
Jesus suffered, so we should not be too much above suffering. And as long as it is the loving hand of God upon us, we should not fret. Do you think the surgeon who wields a knife to take out a cancer is your enemy? Of course not. God may sometimes give us thorns, as he did Paul, who was exalted above measure. When God gives a thorn in the flesh to us as He did to Paul, in order to humble us, is God our enemy? No, God is our best Friend. He loves you and me and He is going to care for us. - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 138]
No comments:
Post a Comment