John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

What about our country where about a million unborn babies were killed "legally" last year by wicked women who just wanted the pleasures of a wife or mistress but not the responsibilities of a mother, and by the wicked doctors who were glad to take money to murder? And when it is legalized by law and recommended by Baptist conventions, what hope is there that America can escape the judgment of God? Will it be war as has sometimes been in the past? Will it be revolution? Will it be financial disaster and utter depression? I do not know, but I know that no city nor nation can get by with sin. - John R. Rice

Bartimaeus was helpless. He was blind, a beggar. There was nothing he could do. His case was hopeless. How like a poor lost sinner that is! A man cannot save himself. A man has no remedy for his wickedness unless God will change his heart. A man has no sense of forgiveness for his sins unless he can rely on Jesus Christ that they are paid for, and trust Christ to forgive them, as He promised. So the healing of Bartimaeus must be an act of mercy, undeserved. There is nothing he can pay. So it is with every poor sinner who comes to Jesus. - John R. Rice

Bartimaeus was a beggar. He had on a beggar's garment, I suppose some distinctive dress so people would have pity and give him something. But when he came to Jesus- "he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus." Ah, he will need that beggar's garment no more! Now he can see. He can work. He can make a living, as do others. Jesus will heal him. And in that faith, when he came to Jesus, Jesus asked, "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" And Bartimaeus said, "Lord, that I might receive my sight." Jesus responded, "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole." And "he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way." - John R. Rice

I must confess that I too have sometimes gone to sleep when I tried to pray. Sometimes our human resources fail and it seems we cannot hold on to God longer in persistent prayer. That means, then, that we ought to get rest when we need it, and we ought to be especially on our guard, for had Peter watched and prayed as he ought, he surely would not have fallen into such temptation as Jesus had warned him of.
Sometimes Christians ought not berate themselves for their weakness and their frailty. There is a tender note here when Jesus, after He had prayed through and seemed assured that God had heard Him, said to the disciples, "...Sleep on now, and take your rest" (Mark 14:41). God knows how frail we are. He remembers that we are dust and, "like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him" (Ps. 103:13). - John R. Rice

So Judas went and hanged himself. The body hung and swung until the rope broke, and falling, his body burst open. I think he had sinned unpardonably. I do not mean that God could not forgive him, nor that God's offer of mercy to any poor sinner was not still held open for him. But he had so sinned against light, had so wickedly rejected every opportunity, that now he was set in character and found no place of repentance. He could not turn his wicked heart to repent.
It is always so about the unpardonable sin. It doesn't change God; it just changes the sinner so he cannot and will never accept the mercy of God. And what a terrible thing that is! - John R. Rice

I have sometimes preached on that wonderful text in Matthew 27:22, and I have asked people to first analyze the question. It is an "I" question. It is a "Jesus" question. It is a "do" question. You have to do something about it, about Jesus. What will you do? - John R. Rice

The tomb is sealed. Soldiers watch outside. There Jesus lay in the grave "three days and three nights," as He plainly said He would (Matt. 12:40). We believe Jesus was crucified on Wednesday. He was in the grave then Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sometime Saturday night He arose from the dead. As Dr. R.A. Torrey said, "He must be in the grave as much as 72 hours; He could be more and fulfill the Scripture but not less and fulfill the Scripture of 'three days and three nights.' " - John R. Rice