I remember with what godly fear I regarded my saintly father. I can remember only once or twice when he whipped me and the whipping was severe, but I was not primarily afraid of chastisement. But to feel that I had been unworthy of my father, that I had grieved him, that I had disappointed and shamed him - such a thought was terrifying to me. I had such reverence for his goodness and his wisdom and his high standards that I would have ridden the wildest horse before I would let him think I was afraid, and I would have attempted the impossible task before I would let him think I was a quitter! Fear, the right kind of fear, is a noble motive. And a holy God should inspire fear in the breast of every thoughtful and reasonable person. O dreadful God! O great and terrible God! - John R. Rice [Is God A "Dirty Bully"?, pg. 15-16]
Hell is not only an absolute essential of the historic Christian position. It is the most awful fact in the universe of God! Christianity stands or falls on the Bible fact of Hell. If there is no Hell, there is no Heaven. If Hell is not true, then the Bible is not true. If Hell is not true, then Jesus Christ is not true for He had more to say about it than any prophet of the Old Testament or any apostle of the New. If there is no Hell, then the atonement is a farce and the death of Christ would be the stupidity of God! Any so-called Christianity that leaves out Hell is not philosophically intelligent, is not morally respectable and could not claim to be historic Bible Christianity. But Hell is so awful that it should make every thoughtful person shudder. Hell is a sign of the fury of a terrible, dreadful God who hates sin and must punish it! - John R. Rice [Is God A "Dirty Bully"?, pg. 25-26]
You may quibble about the fire [in Hell]. I do not. Jesus said fire, and I am not one to change the words of Jesus. He said a "furnace of fire" (Matthew 13:42, 50). He warned people to avoid at any cost being "cast into everlasting fire" and "cast into hell fire" (Matt. 18:8, 9). - John R. Rice [Is God A "Dirty Bully"?, pg. 27]
It is true that Nehemiah called God "Terrible," and Daniel called Him "Dreadful." But both of them said, ". . . keeping the covenant and mercy for them that love him and to them that keep his commandments. . . ." In the death of Jesus Christ we see, not only the demanding God, but the loving, merciful God. We see not only a holy God with burning indignation against sin, but we see God so moved with holy compassion for ungodly sinners that He would pay the torments of the damned Himself, in the person of His Son, to keep sinners out of Hell! - John R. Rice [Is God A "Dirty Bully"?, pg. 33]
Infidels cannot move me with their foolish cavilling about the flood in which the Bible says that God blotted out all the human race but eight souls in the ark. I know that Mercy had cried with a broken heart to every one of those sinners and that they would not hear. I know that Mercy had offered every pleading argument that even a holy God could give, and they would not repent. And I know it was God's mercy to cut off little children before they should go into the same hardened wicked attitude. Thank God He could take the innocent little ones to Himself, and He could stop the poisoned, rebellious race from further propagating. - John R. Rice [Is God A "Dirty Bully"?, pg. 33-34]
How can God be a great and terrible God, a consuming fire, and yet be a loving God offering mercy and forgiveness freely to every penitent sinner? That question is answered in Jesus Christ. Jesus bore the wrath of God. In His own body, He bore our sins on the cross. He made it so God could be just and at the same time be the justifier of wicked sinners who put their trust in Jesus! - John R. Rice [Is God A "Dirty Bully"?, pg. 36]
The Psalmist foresaw the coming Saviour when he said, "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Ps. 85:10). God's truth and righteousness that punish sin and God's mercy to save sinners are met together in Jesus Christ. God's righteousness to condemn sinners and God's peace granted freely to those sinners when they turn to trust Jesus Christ are united at the cross. Oh, in Jesus, mercy and truth are met together. In the sacrifice on the cross, righteousness and peace have kissed each other! Thank God, the believing sinners conscience is purged from sin and he stands without fear before God. A holy God but a forgiving God. And I stand with my sins blotted out, forgiven. I am not afraid of judgment, though I properly fear God. I rejoice in mercy because my sins are paid for. - John R. Rice [Is God A "Dirty Bully"?, pg. 36-37]
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