John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

Bob Ingersoll said in his book on -Some Mistakes of Moses-, "Atonement! The wrong man died!" Yes, that's right, the wrong man died- except He was the right man, if God's love provides Him. He is the right man, if a sinner is ever to be forgiven. So Jesus died in our place. Yes, love does supply for others. - John R. Rice

Now is Christ a fit substitute? Yes. When I played college football, if a man was to be a substitute, he had to be enrolled in school, he had to make good grades, and he had to be eligible otherwise. Jesus said, "I will be eligible." But Jesus, you will have to be born of a human mother, you will have to live in the surroundings of poverty and temptation. "All right," Jesus said. So Jesus gave Himself. God Himself thus came to be in the body of the fetus in the mother's womb, and the Virgin Mary bore Jesus. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He lived in our environment, He goes to our college, He is eligible for the team; so put Jesus in to substitute now! I couldn't make it if He did not substitute for me. - John R. Rice

A substitute? Is He eligible? Yes. If Jesus is going to bear my sins, He can't have any sins of His own. He must be the blameless and sinless One. He has to have righteousness. Jesus is the only Person ever born of woman who was blameless. Oh, there was nothing against Him. And so, Jesus is eligible and blameless. - John R. Rice

He gladly offers Himself. It wouldn't be right for God to seize somebody and make him suffer in my stead when he didn't love me, and didn't want to. But Jesus offered Himself and the Father gave His Son. Jesus is offered, and so the debt must be paid. What do I mean? Someone must suffer the torments of the damned. Somebody must suffer like I ought to suffer. Somebody must die like a sinner dies. So Jesus during those long years in Heaven looked forward to being the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He has always suffered for sinners. But on the cross His infinite righteousness and capacity for suffering was infinite. So Jesus suffered, tasting death for the sins of the whole world. - John R. Rice

Now nobody can blame God and say that God lets sin get by. No, Jesus paid it all. I believe that is what Jesus had in His heart when on the cross He cried out, "It is finished! It is done! It is paid for!" I think Jesus said, "That is it!" The Father said, "That is all right. That settles it." And while Jesus was on the cross He had to be like me. After prayer for others, He couldn't call God, "Father." Rather, He said, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He said that, not for Himself but to make sure of the teachings that you and I must know. God turned His face away from Jesus. - John R. Rice

Now then, I can be counted righteous. It is all paid. Up in Heaven the Lord says, "I'm going into the record department now with all the chief accountants." "What are you going to do, Jesus?" "I am going to change the record. I am going to take that record of all the old sins of John Rice and I am going to put my name down there, and then I am going to mark it 'PAID," with blood." And it is all paid. So, if up in Heaven you should go searching and ask the computers to help you out, you would find, thank God, blessed is the man to whom the Lord doth not impute iniquity! God does not charge anything against him. - John R. Rice

How foolish to charge God with wrongdoing because men go to Hell. Hell is the result of men's sins. Men go to Hell because they ought to, not because God hates them. - John R. Rice