John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

 It is a sad thing, but here is a church. They say, "Here is a professor in a college nearby. (Oh, he has a Ph.D. degree. I can almost see that little crown of glory on his head, that halo.) Let him teach the Bible to us." He is an infidel if he hasn't been converted, if he doesn't believe the Bible, if he doesn't have Christ in his heart as his own Saviour. But you say, "He has been to college, then to the seminary, and has written books." Then all the more he is a wolf in sheep's clothing. And the fact he is in sheep's clothing ought to make you even more scared of him. You ought not to have him in your church, you are not to hear him speak, you are not to have him teach your class and God knows, you are not to have him in your pulpit. The Bible plainly says, "He that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." - John R. Rice

Someone says, "To be a Christian is to be like Christ." No, to be a Christian is to trust in Jesus Christ. In some small way-- so small that sometimes you can't even see it or tell it-- since when one is born again he has Christ within, the Holy Spirit within, and so one is made just a little bit-- not much-- like Christ. But one day I will awake in His likeness. But it is not being like Christ that saves you; it is Christ Himself that saves you. It is not simply faith in Christ, but when you trust Him, it is Christ himself who does the saving. "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." When you come to Jesus, then you get salvation. - John R. Rice

This message is not only to undone sinners who never knew God, who never had peace and who never came trusting in Christ. I would have you know that the blood of Jesus Christ is the daily hope and assurance and cleansing and peace of every child of God. What man buys, he can sell. What man attains, he may lose. What man does can be undone.

If men save themselves, then men must keep themselves. If salvation is by men's works, then the keeping is by men's works. too. And yet no man ever made peace with God. Rather, God has made peace with men through the blood of Jesus Christ. - John R. Rice

Our Catholic friends think that by "elevating the host," that is, by the offering of the bread and wine, that a new sacrifice is made to God that is pleasing and acceptable. But it is not so! The Scripture plainly said, "There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins" (Heb. 10:26). God will have no more sacrifice! No more is needed, no more is wanted, and He will receive no more. The only Sacrifice God ever did want to pay for sins has been offered, and now, thank God, the veil is torn down, and men may enter in boldly since Jesus died. He tore down all the barriers between God and man!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! - John R. Rice

All things are judged by the cross, both man and God. Only a race of men degenerate, sin-possessed, with willful malice toward God and right, would shamefully crucify the Son of God. As Jewish leaders and the mob, with Herod and Pontus Pilate all joined in the crucifixion, so the whole race, Jews and Gentles, are guilty of the death of Christ. Cain, Korah, Judas and the Antichrist are alike proper representatives of the human race. Every unconverted man in the world is lost because he hates Christ, the Light, and deliberately chooses the wrong (John 3:19-21). - John R. Rice, from the book "And God Remembered..."

It is not strange that Jesus was born of a virgin. The Son of God could not have been born any other way. It is strange and unnatural to suppose the Son of God could be born any other way. I say, the virgin birth causes me no trouble. But I am lost in awe and wonder at the thought that He should be born at all! It is not amazing that Christ would be born as the Son of God must be born, with no human father, but it is the most amazing thing that human ear ever heard that one who is the Son of God would consent to be born at all of a human mother, that He should love men enough or have any purpose great enough that the Son of God should give up His glory as God and become a man! - John R. Rice

Here is the sweet meaning of John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And no wonder that Romans 4:7, 8 says: "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."

There it is in a nutshell. God cannot remember sin against the sinner who is forgiven, because his sins are not even charged up to him. They are charged against Jesus and paid. God is just who must require sin to be paid for, but God is so just that He cannot require that it be paid for twice. - John R. Rice