JOHN R. RICE QUOTES OF THE WEEK

This year I was in Naples, Italy. I saw a hearse drawn by six horses, two abreast. Another time there were eight horses, two abreast, pulling the hearse. It seems the more horses they had, the more distinguished and illustrious was the person inside the hearse. But that didn't change the fact of death. All the pomp and circumstance and flowers and honorary pallbearers won't change it. All the oratory of the preacher won't change it. Death is coming. And if you die without Christ, it means Hell and judgment. - John R. Rice

Oh. judgment for all and Hell for impenitent sinners is coming. You may not like to talk about Hell, but the Bible does. You may not like the commandments: "Don't do this and don't do that!" But God gave commandments. And you may think God is too good to punish sin. If you think so, then you do not know the Bible, and you do not know the God of the Bible. You have made up a fake religion out of your human philosophy. - John R. Rice

Satan tried to kill Jesus out in the Garden of Gethsemane. When He was in agony there, Jesus said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Oh, how He prayed! And Hebrews 5:7 says that "in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared." He prayed and God d...elivered Him. Why? Because He said, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." Do you mean He was trying to get out of the crucifixion? No. What Jesus meant was, "I am supposed to die tomorrow on the cross, not out here in the Garden of Gethsemane with a broken heart and blood bursting from my veins." He said, "Father, I am not asking against your will; I want your will to be done, not Mine." And so God sent angels to succor Him, and He received His strength and went on to the cross, on the day and in the way appointed, according to the Scriptures. - John R. Rice

 

Oh do not think of Christmas as an end in itself! This is only the beginning. The Baby Jesus looked forward to a crucifixion day. That was why Jesus was given. [Is. 9:6]
If you stop with the birth of Jesus, or the wonderful life of Jesus, you haven't got what He came for. Jesus came to die. - John R. Rice

 

Perhaps someone will say, then, that it does not matter how a Christian lives if there is no danger of his losing his soul. How foolish and shortsighted such a statement! Would you say to my daughter that it does not matter how she lives since her position as my daughter is Secure? True, she is my daughter; she always will be. And I dare say that even my poor human father-love would not fail her, ...no matter what she did. But she could easily lose the sweet communion with her father, crush all his pride in her, and lose all the happiness which she now has.
So it is with God's children. Sin breaks the communion with the Father, takes away the joy of salvation and loses much of the reward a Christian might have. - John R. Rice

 

There can be no salvation either obtained or kept by man's goodness, lest in eternity "any man should boast."
Salvation is "the gift of God"; we are "justified freely." No man deserves it or ever will, either before he gets it or after. - John R. Rice

 

Man cannot get saved by his works nor keep saved by his works. You did not deserve salvation when you got it, and you never deserved it any single day you have ever lived since you got it. Salvation is of grace, that is, the loving mercy of God. - John R. Rice