John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

Nice people approach with respect a governor. We may call him by his name but we use some title - Governor So-and-So, or His Excellency. And to a judge we say, Your Honor. And to people who are older, we address them Mr. and Mrs., showing proper respect. And we say Dr. So-and-So because it is a title of respect for his profession. With other such people it is proper to show proper respect. Then how wicked to use the name of God without the respect that decent people show even to other people. That is a sin. - John R. Rice

Falsely pretending to bless is a sinful use of God's name. So to ask God to bless, pretending to mean it when you don't, would be a sin. When you sneeze people say, "God bless you." You understand that is very courteous maybe and you may mean well, but to use God's name without meaning it even casually, even lightly, is a sin. - John R. Rice

There are people, there are preachers who can say without any feeling of compunction, "My Lord!" or, "My God!" You use it as a byword and as an expression, with exclamation. It is still a sin. You say, "Oh, I don't mean any harm by it." I know, and a wicked old sinner living for the Devil does not mean any harm by it as far as he intends to be against God. His heart is already against God whether he intends it or not. - John R. Rice

I remember a wicked man said to me one time, "Oh, I don't do much wrong. I just cuss a little bit."
I said, "Why don't you just say you kill a few people now and then? The wicked, black heart is in the same cursing and in the murders. It is the same kind of sin - a wicked heart against God." Put this down: Take God's name in vain and God won't hold you guiltless. People may but God will not. People say it doesn't matter but God says it does matter. - John R. Rice

You end a prayer, "This I ask in Jesus' name." But unless the Lord sent it, unless the Lord Jesus has okayed it so you can be certain of the answer, you are not to say, "In Jesus' name," because that means He okayed it, He sent it, and that you have a right to sign His name to it. Do not use the name of God in vain. - John R. Rice

You say, "Well, I am going to try to quit this and quit that." I hope you do. Anybody ought to set out to do right. But, oh, you have to have Jesus fix things inside. You need God to forgive your sins, change your heart and make you right inside. And God wants to do that. There is no cure for a bad tongue except to cure a bad heart. There is no cure for profane language until you cure the profanity of the heart inside. - John R. Rice

There is something awful bad wrong with a man who takes God's name in vain. You don't respect other people. You don't care about them. So you embarrass others and embarrass yourself and put yourself down on the plane of low and profane people when you take God's name in vain. I would ask God to help me. I would ask God to change me. I would set out to be a Christian in my heart first, then in my tongue.
And Christians, will you watch yourself and say, "I want God to give me such a reverence of heart that when I mention the name of God, it will always be with reverence. I want to feel free to call Him my God. I want to come and tell Him my burdens. I want to call God my Father and mean it. I want to thank Him and mean that"? - John R. Rice