John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

You say, "Brother Rice, since I have been saved I have had more trouble than I did before." You know, sometimes it just seems like one of the old Devil's crowd can live like they want to and get by. He seems to make more money, doesn't he? And seems to get along all right. Well, the reason is, he is going to Hell anyhow and God says, "Now this child of mine, I've got to work him over now. This lost fellow--I will have forever to do that; but this fellow is going to Heaven, and I've got to work him over now." God whips His own children because of their sin. - John R. Rice [Sweet Family Ties in Heaven and Hell, pg.136-137]

Once in Dallas, Texas, there was a bunch of girls playing out in our front yard. There was always a gang of girls around our place. I am really quite a lady's man! I'm pretty much of a sissy. I had six girls at last count! So there was a bunch of girls in the front yard playing. They got into a row and got to crying, and arguing, and pulling hair. Mrs. Rice came out of the house and straightened that crowd out. She snatched up two of those little girls and took them into the house. The others went home. I heard the two she went into the house with say, "Ouch! Ouch!"--whack, whack, whack--"Ouch, Mama! I'm sorry, I won't do it anymore." Now, let me see. Which girls belonged to Mrs. Rice? The ones who went off without a whipping, or the ones whom she took in the house? Now, who do you think God is going to be the quickest to chastise for wrongs? His own children or the Devil's? Do you see that? Punishments, plagues, and troubles come. - John R. Rice [Sweet Family Ties in Heaven and Hell, pg.137]

You know, the Devil's way is always to jump on you at your strong point, because that is where you are not looking. The meekest man who ever lived in the world was Moses. And yet do you know how he missed the land of Canaan? By flying into a rage and beating on the rock when the Lord said to speak to it. The meek man lost his temper. - John R. Rice [Sweet Family Ties in Heaven and Hell, pg. 164]

"And when he came to himself, he said... I will arise and go to my father, ... and he arose and came to his father." --Luke 15:11-20.
You know, I like that guy! He played the fool, but boy, when he hit bottom he bounced! He had sense enough to come to himself. Some of you don't have that much sense! You never did "come to yourself." Many people never did stop to consider at all. The Lord says in Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." You never did come and reason with God. You never have stopped to see where you have gone. This boy came to his senses. He said, "I am going to arise and go to my father." - John R. Rice [Sweet Family Ties in Heaven and Hell, pg. 168]

I remember once I started preaching on the prodigal son, and I preached it as if he were a backslider. Then I thought, "This must picture a lost sinner." So I changed, and the next time I preached on it, I preached that this was a lost sinner coming back to God. Then somebody said, "Well, look here; it looks to me like he was a backslider who was saved but drifted from fellowship and is now coming back." And I saw the secret after awhile. This means anybody who ever went away from God! The prodigal pictures those who are unconverted lost sinners. It also pictures wayward Christians. - John R. Rice [Sweet Family Ties in Heaven and Hell, pg. 168-169]

Back in the years before the war, when you could buy a car, you got a warranty, a ninety-day warranty on the car. That meant you not only got the car, but you got ninety days' upkeep. That is nothing beside what God gives. He gives everlasting upkeep! Why, that is in the bargain! "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (I John 1:9). What do you mean "faithful"? That means He keeps His promise. That was in the bargain. That is in the guarantee: everlasting life and all the things that go with it. Jesus said, "I am come that ye might have life." That is the point you see; God wants you to have more abundant life, too. That is in the bargain. So if you have a puny kind of Christian life, come and get it abundantly. - John R. Rice [Sweet Family Ties in Heaven and Hell, pg. 170]

The only way to get somebody saved is to tell them about Jesus. You have to tell them about their sins, too, and we'll talk about that. But Paul's preaching about Christ is on the sin question. Jesus Christ is the only Saviour. People are not saved by joining a church, by paying their debts. People are not saved by being good to their family, or because they quit drinking and cursing and lying. People are saved only through the person of Jesus Christ. - John R. Rice [Sweet Family Ties in Heaven and Hell, pg. 179]