John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

But somebody says, "Acts 2:38 says, 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.'" They are asking, "What must we do? We want what you people have here." All right, get saved, Repent and you will get saved, and then be baptized for the remission of sins. The word "for" is a translation of a little Greek preposition "eis". It is an indefinite preposition of reference. It may refer to "for, at, about, unto, into, toward," etc. It is an indefinite preposition of reference, so baptism refers to the remission of sins the believer has had. The Scripture says, "Repent, and be baptized," referring to the remission of your sins or illustrating the remission of sins. It is pointing to that, referring to that.
Even the word "for" does not mean "in order to" a lot of times. As it does not here. You praise a man "for" bravery. That is not to get him brave. It is because he is already brave. So you baptize people, not to get them saved, but referring to the fact that they are already saved. You praise a woman "for" her beauty. That does not make her beautiful. It is because she is already beautiful. You pay a man "for" his labor. That does not mean in order to get him to labor. He has already labored and earned it. So baptism is an evidence, and you are baptized because your sins are remitted or looking toward or referring to that. - John R. Rice

In Romans 11:6 says, "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." No one has a right to say "saved by grace" and mean baptism or church membership, living right or holding out faithful, etc. Grace is grace, that is, a free gift of God to people who do not deserve it. That is the only way people are saved according to the Bible. But baptismal regeneration teaching dishonors the Bible doctrine of grace. - John R. Rice

"Limited atonement!" I am shocked at the thought of it. What do I mean? You had as well call it limited love! That God only loves a few! Not that He loved the whole world, he loves just some and wants the rest of them to go to Hell, hyper-Calvinism teaches. It teaches that God selects certain people and will not call anybody else to be saved but those few. So limited atonement means limited grace, limited love. That puts a lie to all the sweet invitations in the Bible to sinners. And that is against the Scriptures. First John 2:2 says that "he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
- John R. Rice

Someone wrote to me with a lot of tirade, "Spurgeon was a Calvinist." Yes, but not a hyper-Calvinist, for he preached all the time, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." He invited people. he gave public invitations. I have recently published in THE SWORD OF THE LORD a copy from THE SWORD AND TROWEL from Spurgeon's own writing how he said he gave an invitation. Oh, yes, and had revivals and had hundreds of people saved and dealt with them. He was wrong about the Calvinist part but not as far wrong as those who are hyper-Calvinists, for Spurgeon openly preached that God loves every sinner and every sinner who wants to come can be saved. - John R. Rice

Now men are made by God. Does that mean that all men are the children of God? There never was a more foolish statement, and it has been widespread everywhere, that all men are the children of God. All that can mean, to honest men who know the Bible, is that men are creatures of God, are created by God.
You say, "I know that I am a child of God because God created me." Then a cow is the child of God in exactly the same sense you are, for God created the cow, too. If you mean we are creatures of God, that we are the offspring of God, that we are His invention, that He has a patent on us, that He made us, that He owns us--that is right. But you may own an automobile without it being your child. God made men, that is true. But there is not any spiritual sense in which we are the children of God by nature. By nature men are not children of God. - John R. Rice

We had as well face the fact that the whole human race is a race of sinners, a fallen race, a degenerate race. Now let me say a word to my post-millennial friends, my a-millennial friends, all who are trying to correct the world, and trying to make the world a better place in which to live. Now I am for you when you try to put down sin. I am for you in trying to vote out liquor. I will tell you what I would do: I would vote out this socialistic, pro-communistic, this pink, red New Deal administration that has gotten its tentacles on common people, and bribing you with jobs and taking other men's money that they earned and giving it to you, to plow up crops, to keep you from earning money and to buy the votes of you farmers and buy the votes of you who labor. I would vote out this ungodly, heathen, New Deal, socialistic, pro-communistic gang. I am for making the world better.
But you had better face the fact that you are not going to make it all right. This world is doomed! The race of mankind is a wicked, fallen race, alien from God. Oh, what men need is new hearts! The only way we are ever going to fix this world for Jesus Christ is to have Him come in person and clean out the Devil-possessed sinners and take charge. Now this world is a bad world. If you have not found out that, then you are a babe in the woods. - John R. Rice

"He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." If you find anybody who does not believe the Bible, that man is not of God. That is the trouble. - John R. Rice