John. R. Rice Quotes of the Week

We are all sinners. Everybody is a sinner. That is one of the great essentials of the Christian Faith. You whip children to make them mind, to grow conscious of a moral standard. Parents set the standard until the child is old enough to have his own standards to live and control and discipline himself by. And until we have discipline, until law is enforced, and the death penalty for murder is again restored, and until parents whip their children like they ought and teachers whip the children who need it, there will be no morality. Without discipline and dealing with the sin question there is no morality. And the preacher who doesn't deal with the sin question does not get many people saved. - John R. Rice

It is not a question of what church; it is a question that all of us are sinners, and all of us alike need the Saviour. A Baptist who is not converted will go to Hell just as quick as anybody else who is not converted, or a Methodist, or a Presbyterian, or an Episcopalian, or an Assembly of God, or a Christian Church man, or a Catholic. - John R. Rice

A woman in Sherman, Texas said to me, "I am of a nice family. I have been true to my husband. I have raised decent, fine young people. And I am just as good as your church members."
I said, "Maybe you are, outwardly, But Jesus said you must be born again. The Bible says, 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?' You need to be born again."
She said, "Brother Rice, ask any of my neighbors- I have been helping them all these years. One ...of my neighbors had a fire, and do you know what I did? I got out and got clothes for the children and bed clothes and furniture. And I helped them out. I am always helping people. You ask any of my neighbors."
I said, "Jesus said, 'Ye must be born again.'"
Indignantly she said, "Brother Rice, I tell you I am a good woman."
I said, All right, you go on to Hell then. Jesus didn't die for a good woman. The only salvation God has is for sinners who come and admit their sin." - - John R. Rice

One of the best things I know about the Lord is that He loves poor sinners. He saves people who don't deserve saving. A man almost in tears said to me the other day, "Brother Rice, I'm not fit to be saved. I ought to have gone to Hell." Yes, he ought, and I ought, too, but God loves us and Jesus saved us. He can save you too. Don't you want to trust Him today? - John R. Rice

Somebody said to me, "Why would one have to wait and plead for the power of the Holy Spirit?"
I said, "Do you give the scissors to the baby to play with? Do you let a six or eight year old boy drive the car?" Of course not! And you have to mean business if you have the power of God. - John R. Rice

It is a good idea sometimes to argue with God. Recently there was a great shortage of paper in this country. The paper companies all over this country couldn't give us more. Our contract was only for enough paper to run 16 pages for 250,000 copies. We had been running over 300,000 and now this year up to 350,000. The company said it couldn't give us that much paper. The company said we would have to go back to eight or twelve pages.
But I prayed, "Now Lord, other people may t...alk about a paper shortage, but you don't have any paper shortage. I'm not going to think there is some difficulty which You can't handle. You don't have any recession. You don't have any paper shortage." I argued with God. Then one man called us. "We're in a tight. A man ordered 250,000 pounds of newsprint. It is already cut and in rolls. Now he can't take it. Can you use it?" And to do the man a favor, we bought the paper we needed!
I'm just saying, God doesn't have any paper shortage. It is not a bad idea to argue with God sometimes. - John R. Rice

The Scripture says the disciples had gone to town to buy bread. And they got some food and came back and they thought, "What does Jesus mean- talking to that shabby woman?"
Oh, how many of us are like that! We look on people who are not our kind. Maybe they are poor. Maybe they are ignorant. Maybe their color is not the same. Maybe they have crude ways. Maybe there are a lot of things about them we don't like. Oh, but they have immortal souls, and they are dear to Jesus. - John. R. Rice