Over four hundred years ago God had said to Abraham, "For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (Gen. 15:16). Even then the idolatry, the lewdness, the devil-worship, the murderous lives of these people had grieved God years ago. But God gave them another chance. Abraham was not then allowed to take over the land. The cup of iniquity was not yet filled.
But the years have gone by. Sin has done its terrible work. Now God has commanded that the inhabitants of the land be driven out, be killed, and the land, which hundreds of years before was dedicated to a chosen people and for the religion of the true God and for the writing of the Bible and for the coming of the Saviour, must now become the possession of God's people. - John R. Rice
Someone said to me recently, "I do not like negative preaching. I think preaching should be positive."
I answered, "You are talking a language not used in the Bible. And the reason is that you have an idea not taught in the Bible." The Bible commands, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpeter, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins" (Isa. 58:1). We are commanded to "reprove, rebuke, exhort." Jonah was commanded to go to Nineveh, "that great city, and cry against it," and he went announcing the dreadful warning, "Forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed." The man who does not fight sin, the man who never makes anybody angry, the man who never offends or contends is not a true servant of Jesus Christ. - John R. Rice
I answered, "You are talking a language not used in the Bible. And the reason is that you have an idea not taught in the Bible." The Bible commands, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpeter, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins" (Isa. 58:1). We are commanded to "reprove, rebuke, exhort." Jonah was commanded to go to Nineveh, "that great city, and cry against it," and he went announcing the dreadful warning, "Forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed." The man who does not fight sin, the man who never makes anybody angry, the man who never offends or contends is not a true servant of Jesus Christ. - John R. Rice
It is insisted by some that love is the great rule of action. But they pervert and prostitute the Bible doctrine of love. The Bible says, "Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good" (Rom. 12:9). It is hypocrisy to speak of love as an excuse for disobedience. The true farmer who loves corn hates cockleburs and weeds. The true man who loves his chickens shoots the chicken hawks. True love hates evil and clings to that which is good. True love is selective. The honest, true husband does not love the harlot as he loves his wife. The true Christian does not feel the same fellowship for a child of the Devil as he does for a child of God. - John R. Rice
Oh, may God help us to be true! Twenty-seven years ago [this was written in 1961] THE SWORD OF THE LORD was founded. If you read the first issue and read the statement of principles and doctrine across the front page of THE SWORD today, you will find that they are the same. The third issue carried the first of a series of articles on "The Unequal Yoke." I believed and taught then what I believe and teach now. I practiced then what I practice now. I trust that I have grown somewhat in grace and knowledge, but there has been no shift in my great convictions about the historic Christian faith, about paying any price that would please God to serve Him acceptable. Oh, May God give grace so that I do not shift or change with the circumstances! - John R. Rice
How are you going to get saved? God loves you and He gave His Son "...that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Aren't you glad God loves sinners? That is the best thing I know about God. He loves righteousness, sure. Pharisees all love righteous people. Worldly people love righteous people. But God loved poor, wicked sinners. He went to all the lengths that a holy God could go to; He took out of Heaven his own dear Son, the fairest Jewel of Heaven, and let Him be born in this world in poverty, live a life of sacrifice and scorn; then God let Him have the bloody sweat of Gethsemane, then Pilate's judgment hall, the crown of thorns, the lash on His back, then up the Way of Sorrows to a hill shaped like a skull and nailed there. He was mocked six hours and God turned away His face and let Jesus die.
Thank God, there is a way of salvation! Thank God, it is all paid! - John R. Rice
Thank God, there is a way of salvation! Thank God, it is all paid! - John R. Rice
ONE WHO IS SAVED HAS EVERLASTING LIFE AND CANNOT LOSE HIS SALVATION
You may say, "Oh, but if I don't live right I won't deserve it." Of course not! You never did deserve it. Nobody ever gets saved by deserving it. You didn't deserve it the day you were converted nor one moment since. But Jesus Christ deserved it, and He paid for it, and He promised it, so He gives you everlasting life. - John R. Rice
You may say, "Oh, but if I don't live right I won't deserve it." Of course not! You never did deserve it. Nobody ever gets saved by deserving it. You didn't deserve it the day you were converted nor one moment since. But Jesus Christ deserved it, and He paid for it, and He promised it, so He gives you everlasting life. - John R. Rice
Oh, your children go bad when you follow the ways of the world. If you yoke up with the Devil's crowd, your children will turn out wicked.
How many good men there are who stay in a church where the money goes to support modernism! They know better than that, but they stay.
The Scripture says if one doesn't abide in the Bible doctrine of Christ, you are not to have him in your home, nor in your pulpit, nor to teach in your school. if you do, you will be guilty of his sin and God will hold it against you.
Somebody says, "yes, I know, but my mother was a member of this church." Or, "Well, I must be faithful and loyal to my beloved denomination." But YOU had better first be loyal to Jesus Christ. Yoking up with unbelievers is a way of sin. - John R. Rice
How many good men there are who stay in a church where the money goes to support modernism! They know better than that, but they stay.
The Scripture says if one doesn't abide in the Bible doctrine of Christ, you are not to have him in your home, nor in your pulpit, nor to teach in your school. if you do, you will be guilty of his sin and God will hold it against you.
Somebody says, "yes, I know, but my mother was a member of this church." Or, "Well, I must be faithful and loyal to my beloved denomination." But YOU had better first be loyal to Jesus Christ. Yoking up with unbelievers is a way of sin. - John R. Rice
It seems that in recent years there has been more confusion in the minds of the people about Heaven and less understanding of the Bible doctrine concerning that glorious place. For one thing, "isms" and false cults have increased to confuse the mind. Then there has been a great decrease in preaching about death, Hell, Heaven and judgment. Modernism and worldliness have discouraged the flabby, soft-living hirelings of the pulpit in preaching about death and the things which follow death. But you cannot dismiss Hell without dismissing Heaven. You cannot ignore or evade the fate of the unrepentant sinner and teach the saints the glories that await the redeemed of God. The so-called "social gospel" lays stress upon this life, not on the next. In many quarters it is now regarded as very old-fashioned and passé to urge people to prepare to die. Social security, better housing, relief for tenant farmers, better living conditions for the poor, and the care of underprivileged children have occupied so much of the teaching and preaching of these modern days that preachers have left poor, hungry-hearted people ignorant about Heaven. - John R. Rice
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