John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

You say, "But I was baptized." And so what if you were? If you depended upon baptism, you went down into the water a dry sinner, and came up a wet sinner. The water does not change the heart. Water will not save- it takes blood! Perhaps you were sprinkled as a baby, and someone else took your vows for you. Do you believe that could change the nature of your heart with all its inherent taint of sin? As a baby you were kept safe by God's mercy, but when you became an accountable sinner, you were lost, and nothing but the blood of Christ can save you. It may be you were confirmed. It may be that some preacher or priest told you that your sins were forgiven. But I tell you now earnestly and prayerfully that you need more than the word of any man for this. You need the absolute certainty of God's own Word and the sweet assurance of the Holy Spirit within. - John R. Rice

Someone else tells me, "Well, I am a Mason. If any man lives up to the rules of Masonry, he will get by." That is what Masonry tells you, but Masonry is a false religion. It teaches men they can save themselves by good deeds, but the Bible says, "Without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. 9:22). Peter said in Acts 4:12,"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." - John R. Rice

Dear friend, your religion may suit you all right now, but I will tell you frankly, unless you are in the narrow way, unless you entered by the strait gate which is Christ Himself alone, then yours is a false religion. If you are depending on your good deeds, on baptism, on church membership or morality, then I earnestly plead with you to hear me, for you are doomed and lost! - John R. Rice

I rejoice again about a man who was wonderfully saved in Sherman, Texas. He was a bootlegger and made his living that way. He got wonderfully saved and the next day they told me about it. That little redheaded woman was laughing and crying and praising God as she told me. She said they went home and pulled out jug after jug and bottle after bottle of the bootleg liquor and poured it down the sink and praised God. He would pour one down and laugh and cry. She would pour one down and say, "Glory to God!" until they poured it all out. And they turned out to be wonderfully good Christians. Isn't it good God made him so he didn't want to sell it anymore, didn't want to drink it any more, didn't want to make money that way? - John R. Rice

Isn't Romans 10:13 simple: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord"? It doesn't say if you call in a smart way. That thief on the cross prayed the silliest prayer: "Lord, when you come to Your kingdom, remember me." Jesus could have said, "You go on to Hell and in two or three thousand years I will come back and set up My kingdom and I will think about you." The thief didn't know how to pray but Jesus knew what he needed and Jesus knew his heart-hunger, and Jesus said, "I won't wait until the kingdom, but will save you today. Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise." - John R. Rice

Let me say again, that one who does not believe the Bible is ignorant. Not only that, if you are nor trying to find out, you are not only ignorant but insincere. Psalm 14 says, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." One is a fool to say there is no God, because he is not looking up the evidence. - John R. Rice

In Luke , chapter 24, Jesus, risen from the dead, spoke to the two men on the road to Emmaus and said, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" So Jesus said the man who is even slow to believe the Bible is a fool. He is a fool because he could check up and he doesn't. He is a fool because he could have found out and he didn't. So don't think a man is intelligent when he is unbelieving. He is a man who has neglected to find out, or didn't want to find out.
In II Peter 3:5 we read that some people are "willingly ignorant" of Christ's second coming and Bible facts. Willingly ignorant! - John R. Rice