John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

Christianity is not a creed; it is not a way of life; it is not a doctrine; it is not an organization. Christianity is a Person and that Person is Jesus Christ. If you accept Him, trust Him, receive Him as your own personal Saviour in penitent faith, then you are saved, born again, God's own child and assured of forgiveness and Heaven. If you reject Him, you are then condemned already, without hope and without God in the world! You must do something with Jesus. - John R. Rice

Pilate was willing to make friends with his enemy, Herod, to get Christ off his hands, to avoid the fateful question, "What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" But Herod, after making fun of Christ and mocking him, sent him again to Pilate, and Pilate again had Christ on his hands. PILATE HAD TO DECIDE FOR HIMSELF. He could not dodge the issue, and neither can you. Every man and woman and child must say yes or no to Christ for Himself. - John R. Rice

Christ is the Creator. Other men are only men. You may love them, hate them, ignore them- they are only men. You may scoff at this humble preacher who pleads with you on the printed page. You may never see my face. You owe me nothing. I did not make you, I do not keep you, I will not judge you, I cannot save you. I am a man. Christ is the Creator. He made you, formed you in the womb. "All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made," we are told in John 1:3. Christ is different. You must face Him. - John R. Rice

Christ the Creator, Sustainer, the Saviour will be the Judge. Before Him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess at the last judgment of the unsaved dead. Before Him poor cringing sinners will be dragged out of Hell, will enter again into bodies brought out of the grave to stand before Christ Jesus, before Christ the inescapable! YOU CANNOT DODGE CHRIST! What will you do with Him? - John R. Rice

When I was five years old my mother talked to me about God, I had told her a lie, and she told me how wicked that was and how it grieved God. I believe that day I became accountable for my sins. I know I became conscious of them and I never had peace entirely until I found it in Jesus Christ. Conscience says that man must die, must meet God, must be judged for his sins and suffer for them. It is but natural that men should fear death. An eight-year-old boy, converted in a Sunday School class in our church in Dallas, said with a great sigh of relief, "I certainly am glad to have that settled!" When I had won a thirteen-year-old girl to Christ, she turned to me with a bright smile on her face that was wet with tears, and said, "Now I will never be afraid to go to sleep at night any more!" - John R. Rice

Here is God's last invitation to the sinner in His blessed Bible. At last God is about to close the canon of Scripture. Covering a period of fifteen hundred years God has used about forty men in writing the Bible. Now the aged John, the beloved disciple, an exile on the Isle of Patmos off the coast of Greece, is writing the closing chapter of the book of Revelation. God seemed to say to him, "Wait a minute, John! Don't close the book yet. Don't write the last amen until I give you one more blessed and urgent invitation for sinners. 'The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'" God was not willing to close the Book of books without another invitation to poor lost sinners. And so in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, the Lord Jesus has it written down for us again, "COME!" - John R. Rice

On many a door there is a sign, "Employees Only." I passed the beautiful grounds of a private country club and the sign said, "Members Only." Men like to be exclusive about their good things. A restaurant at a lake resort had a sign that announced, "For Gentiles." Jews, the race of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David and Paul and Peter and John and James- the race of the Lord Jesus Chris- Jews were not wanted. Of course I did not go in. And may God forgive any Christian who ever does enter a place that hates the Jews, the people so dear to God, beloved for the fathers' sakes. Some hotels do not allow colored people. Hitler would reserve many privileges for the Nordic races only. There is much discrimination among men here on earth. But thanks be to God, in the Father's house there are many, many mansions. Jesus said, "If it were not so, I would have told you." If there had been any limitations, if there had been any lack of room, if any had been unwelcome, the Lord Jesus would have told us. But there was none. No, thank God, the gates of Heaven are never shut by day and there is no night there! - John R. Rice