Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Here is a wonderful truth. As the sinner reads this Scripture, call his attention to the fact that because of His love for us, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Somebody had to die for sin. Either I must die for my own sins or someone who is worthy and sinless must die for me. So because of His great love, Jesus Christ died in my place and died in the sinner's place. - John R. Rice
Years ago in a great tabernacle service in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I preached on "The Banquet Invitation," the great supper to which many were bidden and many made excuses. I said, "Who here tonight will say, 'Brother Rice, I want to be at that great supper. Please tell the Lord Jesus that I accept His invitation and thank Him. If He will have me, I will be His and will be at that great supper'?" I asked the question more or less as a rhetorical question to bring decision in the mind. But a young man who had just gotten home from the Navy and was heartsick over sin jumped to his feet and said, "I will, Brother Rice! I will!" - John R. Rice
When I was saved, no one showed me the Scriptures so I would know that I had everlasting life. I asked my father if I could join the church and he implied that I was not old enough, that I had not been saved, and he took the matter no further. Years later I asked another preacher to pray for me and he said, "All right, I will, John, and you pray for yourself." But the matter could have been settled in five minutes with the Word of God. After three miserable years I was reading through the Gospel of John and came to John 3:36: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life...." I said to myself, "Well, that is the only thing I know for sure that I did when I went forward to take Jesus." I saw that when I trusted Jesus, I got the whole thing settled. And I am not conscious that I have ever had a moment's doubt since that time that my sins are forgiven, that I am saved. - John R. Rice
A few weeks ago my daughter was delivered at the hospital of a lovely baby boy, and the eight-pound, two-ounce boy was named for his proud grandfather, John Robert Rice, II. (His father is also a Rice.) But his parents did not leave the baby at the hospital! They brought him home and began elaborate care of the little fellow--feeding, bathing, changing diapers. So when you have a soul born, do not leave the lamb for the wolves; do not leave the new convert without assurance of salvation and without leading him in the road for success and happiness in the Christian life. In the Great Commission the lord Jesus said that when souls are saved, then we are to baptize them, "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." - John R. Rice
People sometimes say, concerning different denominations or churches, "We are just going to Heaven by different roads." But that is not true. Jesus said that there is only one road to Heaven, and that is a very narrow one, and the gate is strait, or narrow. There is only one way to Heaven. Many who say, "Lord, Lord," will not get to Heaven, but only those that do the will of the Father as regards the plan of salvation. Those who take His plan of salvation are saved by His blood. Those who depend upon their good deeds, their morals, their church membership or ceremonies or feeling or experiences are on the broad road that leads to destruction, and at death or the second coming of Christ they face the tragic awakening when Christ will tell them, "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." - John R. Rice
In Dallas, Texas, in 1932 in an open air revival, a woman in a great crowd sent me a note. "Brother Rice, I have been a member of a church twenty-two years. Most of that time I have known I was never converted. I am not a child of God. But I cannot stand the shame of confessing that I have been in the church unsaved. It would break my husbands heart. He would think I have been a hypocrite, and perhaps I have."
I sent her word that both she and her husband had better have the shame over with now, that she had better confess her lost condition and turn to Christ for mercy and salvation now, rather than wait until she faced the Lord Jesus Christ and hear Him say, "I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
The next night she came weeping to trust in Christ. She told me that she had been in church unsaved. She was baptized and has made a happy Christian. - John R. Rice
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