John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

The deity of Christ hinges on this matter. And you will find that everyone who does not believe in the virgin birth does not believe in the actual deity of Jesus. And they do not believe in the actual, inerrant, eternal, verbal inspiration of the Bible. This is part of the essentials of the Christian faith, and one who believes the Bible believes in the virgin birth. - John R. Rice 

My birthday comes two weeks before Christmas. I remember at four years of age the little Christmas Sunday School lesson in the little country church in Cooke County, Texas. I remember a one-eyed deacon, Brother Finley, taught the card class. He had a little card with a picture and the golden text was, "There was no room for them in the inn." The picture was of a manger and a donkey was standing by and a man was coming down out of a hayloft with a pitchfork of hay and there was Mary upon a bed of hay in the picture. We memorized that golden text. And as they told me about Jesus, I though, "There was no room for Him. Now, that is bad. Why, this world must be awfully wicked." I thought, "My sister and I have a little trundle bed." (It was rolled out at night from under Dad and Mama's bed and the little sides were lifted up and there we slept in that bed. And in the daytime, because we had a small house for a big family, it was folded up and rolled back under the big bed.) "But Jesus had no room." - John R. Rice

Jesus was born of a virgin. He is God in human form. That means He was fit to be a sacrifice, to take my place. I am a sinful one, but the Innocent must suffer for the guilty. And the pure Lamb of God takes the place of the guilty sinner. So Jesus is the virgin-born Son of God, God in human form, without blot or blemish of any kind. - John R. Rice

Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He was born of a virgin mother. And that is why He is called the only begotten Son of God, the only person physically begotten of God. I was begotten spiritually of God and I became a child of God spiritually. But in human form I was begotten of my father on earth. Jesus is born of a virgin; and what a Saviour He is! - John R. Rice 

Jesus is the firstborn Son of Mary. Mary then was a virgin, but she did not remain so. She was married to Joseph, and it was proper and legitimate to now live with her husband and to bear him children. That is why the Bible says the "firstborn son," for after Jesus was born, then Joseph and Mary had children. Some of them are even named for us in Matthew, chapter 13. One was Jude or Judas, the man who wrote the book of Jude by God's help. One was James, who was inspired to write the book of James. One was named Simeon. And there are sisters, but their names are not given. - John R. Rice

Long ago I found a sad thing. I started out to be an evangelist. Christmas approached and I was invited to preach in a town in North Texas. I thought, "Oh, it is Christmastime- a glorious time to have a revival!" But I found that most everybody was entertaining their kinfolks, and buying and getting their gifts wrapped, cooking the hot mincemeat and pumpkin pies and getting ready the turkey and dressing, and making their eggnog. So these people did not have much time to come to church, nor much burden for souls at Christmastime.
No room for Jesus at Christmas! Isn't it strange? - John R. Rice

The dear Lord Jesus- no room for Him! Isn't that strange?
He was poor. You need not be surprised that it was to the shepherds that He was announced by the angels. You need not be surprised that Herod six miles away in Jerusalem, ruling over the province, did not know about it. Other famous personages did not know about it. But Jesus is born in a stable. He is despised and rejected of men. - John R. Rice