John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

Jesus, Baby Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man,
Tempted, poor and suff'ring, no one knows us as He can!

Holy, righteous, blameless, fitting sacrifice complete.
By His blood atonement, God and sinners in Him meet.

Jesus, Baby Jesus, There's a cross along the way.
Born to die for sinners, born for crucifixion day!

- John R. Rice

I tell you, Heaven is a real, literal, physical place, a city as material, as physical, as literal as Chicago or London or New York or Tokyo. - John R. Rice

I believe all the great fundamentals of the Christian faith. The Bible is the infallible Word of God. Christ is the pre-existent Creator, the virgin-born Saviour who died for our sins and rose bodily from the grave for our justification. Believing the Bible, I have no trouble in believing all the historic Christian faith clearly taught therein.
I believe in the premillennial second coming of Christ. Although that position is not what we were taught in college and seminary, it is the position to which we have been forced by a believing, childlike study and faith in the Word of God. - John R. Rice

I was born the first time December 11, 1895. My mother and father told me so. I was born the second time when I was a lad about nine years old. It was one Sunday in the First Baptist Church at Gainesville, Texas, when I trusted Jesus Christ to forgive my sins and save me. My Heavenly Father tells me so in His Word; He tells me that when I believed in Christ, I then received everlasting life. I have more reason to believe my Heavenly Father than to believe my earthly father; so I know I am born again, am saved. - John R. Rice

The virgin birth of Christ is an essential doctrine interwoven with all the Word of God. To deny the virgin birth is to deny the deity of Christ, the inspiration of the Bible, the foundation of Christianity. - John R. Rice 

Joseph stands out as a man of the finest Christian character. First, he was just and merciful. Second, he was thoughtful, anxiously and prayerfully seeking to do right ("while he thought on these things . . ." Mt. 1:20). Third, he was a man of deep faith, immediately believing the angel. Fourth, he willingly obeyed the command of God to take Mary as his wife and he named the baby JESUS, according to command. Fifth, Joseph must have been a man of great restraint and strength of character since he "knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son . . ." Though Mary lived in his house and was legally his wife, he allowed her to remain a virgin according to the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14. One might preach a blessed sermon upon Joseph. - John R. Rice

The angel came "to a virgin." This matter is so important in God's plan and such a majestic miracle that we are not surprised it was foretold. God promised Eve that "her seed" should bruise the serpent's head, that is, the seed of a woman, not of a woman and a man (Gen. 3:15). Jeremiah told of the wonder that "a woman shall compass a man" without normal process of reproduction (Jer. 31:22). And Isaiah 7:14 promised, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." - John R. Rice