Friday, August 06, 2021

John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

 The Saturday Sabbath Was Ceremonial Law . . . The Sabbath was never commanded to anyone until God gave it to Moses and Israel in Exodus 16:23-30. "So the people rested on the seventh day" (vs. 30) and that was the first time that men ever observed the Sabbath on earth. It is never mentioned that Adam, Abel, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob ever knew about the Sabbath or observed it. It was never commanded before Exodus 16. - John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 157]


The Saturday Sabbath Was Ceremonial Law . . . The Sabbath was never commanded in the New Testament. The moral commands of the Old Testament are repeated concerning idolatry, profanity, murder, adultery, stealing, covetousness, and lying. But there is no New Testament command about the Sabbath. In all the list of virtues and good works, the Sabbath-keeping is never mentioned, and in all the lists of the sins of the flesh, Sabbath-breaking is never mentioned in the New Testament. The ceremonial law was never commanded to anybody but to Jews. - John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 157-158]


The Saturday Sabbath Was Ceremonial Law . . . It is true the Sabbath is in the Ten Commandments. But God does not separate the Ten Commandments from the rest of His law. In the context of the Ten Commandments God gives both moral and ceremonial laws. The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 start out, "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt." And in Deuteronomy 5 where the Ten Commandments are repeated, the passage starts off, "And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them." The Ten Commandments were addressed primarily to Israel. - John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 158]


The Saturday Sabbath Was Ceremonial Law . . . Nehemiah 9:12-14 plainly tells us that the Sabbath is a part of the ceremonial law, made known at Mount Sinai.
"Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go. Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant."
Exodus 31:12-14 says plainly that the Sabbath was a sign between God and Israel and it is repeated in verse 17. Then Ezekiel 20:12 says, "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them." So Israel was set apart from the Gentiles, with a Sabbath given them as a sign of their separation.
- John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 158]

The Saturday Sabbath Was Ceremonial Law . . . Colossians 2:13, 14 tells us how Christ "having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross." So the ceremonial law is not now binding. And verses 16 and 17 give some details: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." So the Sabbath is a part of that handwriting of ordinances that was nailed to the cross, it was a shadow of things to come, it was a ceremonial picture, object lesson of spiritual truth in Christ. Now Christ is come and a New Testament Christian is not to be judged about the ceremonial Sabbath of the Jews. - John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 158-159]

Since the command is that you are to make good an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth (See Exod. 21:24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21.), you are not only to pay what you really owe but more if it is demanded [Luke 6:27-31]. If you smote a man on the cheek, you must allow him to smite you back, in restitution, and then you should offer the other cheek. The idea is that the Christian must be so insistent on paying every debt and making good every wrong that he is willing to go further than simple justice demands, in order to prove his love and honesty. - John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 170]

Luke 10:1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and, sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither, he himself would come.
Who were these seventy? We do not know the name of one. They were, we suppose, not very mature Christians, but rather earnest, new converts. They were "lambs," not sheep, sent "among wolves." So any convert should at once become a soul winner. And God would hold the hearers of such a witness to solemn accounting. - John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 251]

No comments:

 
mobile='yes'