JOHN R. RICE QUOTES OF THE WEEK

 The best Bible teacher in the world is the Holy Spirit. Every Christian, every time he opens the Bible, should prayerfully ask the sweet Spirit of God to make clear what He wants to say through the Word of God. To the open and contrite heart the Spirit makes clear spiritual truth. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pg. 47-48]

People misinterpret John 16:13. Jesus said, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." They say, "The Holy Spirit never speaks of Himself," as if the Holy Spirit were so modest that He would not reveal any truth about Himself! But that is not what the Scripture means, nor what it says. What it really says is that the Holy Spirit always says what Jesus wants Him to say, and that the Holt Spirit does not work independently of Jesus and the Father. He speaks what is given Him to speak. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pg. 48]

Any student of the Bible will find that the Holy Spirit who moved on the hearts of the men who wrote it, the Holy Spirit who is the real author of the Bible, wrote much about Himself. But everything He wrote, He wrote because the Father and the Son agreed with Him that it should be written. The Holy Spirit does not work independently of Christ and the Father. He speaks about Himself and about Jesus and about the Father, but He does it as all are perfectly agreed, and He represents the others as much as Himself, Jesus said. So as the Holy Spirit guides one in understanding the Scripture, one can know just as much as if he could sit down with Jesus and hear the dear Saviour Himself explain the Word of God. For the Holy Spirit tells us just what Jesus would tell us. He is our teacher and guide! - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pg. 48]

Jesus came to be my pattern. But of course I was born with a sinful nature and Jesus was not. I needed to repent and Jesus did not. I needed to be born again and Jesus did not. So nothing that I did or could do on the other side of my regeneration could be following Jesus. Only when I have trusted Christ as my Saviour and when the Holy Spirit made me a new creature and made me a partaker of the divine nature, can I follow the example of Jesus. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pg.65]

Do you want to know what people will do if they are filled with the Holy Spirit? Then go and see what Jesus did. Do you want to know how they will act? Then go and see how Jesus acted. Do you want to know what outward manifestations are necessary when one is filled with the Holy Spirit? Then see what manifestations, if any, attended the coming of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus, and do not require any manifestations that are not shown there. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pg.71]

To be filled with the Holy Spirit does not mean having the carnal nature eradicated. It does not mean cleansing from sin. It does not mean "sanctification," The dear Lord Jesus had no sin. He had no evil to burn away. He did not need any cleansing. So the fullness of the Spirit does not mean cleansing, does not mean purification, does not mean sanctification. God's people do need cleansing, and may have it. But the fullness of the Spirit is something else. Jesus is our pattern in this matter, and the fullness of the Spirit did not mean that Jesus was cleansed or purified or sanctified by this experience. The fullness of the Spirit means something else. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pg.71]

Jesus, when He was filled with the Holy Spirit, did not talk with tongues as an outward manifestation. There was no sound of a cyclone, a rushing mighty wind, as at Pentecost. There were no visible tongues like as of fire resting upon Him. Why would Jesus talk with tongues? All these present were Jews, all understood the same language, and Jesus did not talk in any foreign language, and did not need to. That is never given in the Bible as a sign of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And if Jesus did not need that evidence, then neither do we who are commanded to follow His example. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pg.71]