JOHN R. RICE QUOTES OF THE WEEK

 "I am as good as most church members," someone tells me. Perhaps you are. In that case, you will go to Hell like every church member who is depending on his morality. You will go to Hell like every church member who depends on his confirmation or his baptism. You will go to Hell like every church member who depends on living according to the square and compass of his lodge, or keeping the golden rule or the Ten Commandments. I tell you frankly that every person who depends on his character and his morality will land in Hell, in the fire that never goes out and among worms that never die according to the clear teaching of the Word of God. - John R. Rice [Immanuel--God With Us, page 150]

As good as church members? Poor, lost sinner, that is not good enough! Jesus said, "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven." Not by righteousness of men, not by good works, not by human morality can a poor sinner with a black heart get into Heaven. It is only by the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, and by the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is accounted to the merit of a poor, undone sinner, that one can enter Heaven. As good as a church member is not enough! You must have a new heart, washed in the blood. You must have the righteousness of Christ counted to your credit. You must be born anew! - John R. Rice [Immanuel--God With Us, page 150-151]

“Jesus Himself also said, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36). When you trusted Jesus Christ, He saved you. I will pray for you that you will believe God and quit depending on your feelings and emotions. It would be wrong for me to be praying for God to give you the kind of feeling you want. That is not the way we are to know we are saved. We know we are saved because God said it and we have faith to believe it. Faith takes God's Word as true and relies upon it.”

― John R. Rice, Dr. Rice, Here Are More Questions

Excuses! Excuses! Lying, insolent, deceiving excuses! That is all that men offer when they will not have Jesus as Saviour and pretend that it is for some good reason. - John R. Rice [Immanuel--God With Us, page 151]

"I am as good as most church members," someone tells me. Perhaps you are. . . . But then, on the other hand, I doubt whether you are as good as church members. You critics, you Christ-rejecters, you who stand outside and point the finger of scorn at church people, let me tell you of a difference between you and them. Church people at least are for Christ, or claim to be, and you are against Him. Most of these in the church want Christ, and you do not want Him. They love Him, and you despise Him. They accepted Him while you rejected Him. They have confessed Him openly while you have denied Him. And every church member who is honest and has really come to Jesus Christ is a thousand times better off than the man on the outside who points the finger of scorn and either derides or imitates the church member. - John R. Rice [Immanuel--God With Us, page 151]

"I have doubts about the Bible," or, "How do I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?" That is the kind of excuse that others offer when urged to turn from their sins and take Christ as Saviour. I do not deny that some have doubts about the Bible. But they never earnestly sought to know the will of God about the Bible. They have never tearfully, prayerfully, and with holy zeal, set out to apply the Bible to their daily lives and to seek with humble heart the will of God. I do not have any doubt that some people really doubt the deity of Christ. Why should they not doubt? They have never, with all their souls, sought to find Him, the Fairest among ten thousand, the Chosen of God and the "express image of his person." They have not accepted Christ, so they do not know Him. - John R. Rice [Immanuel--God With Us, page 151-152]

Do you know why doubt flourishes in your life? It grows in the seedbed of a sinful heart and a sinful will. - John R. Rice [Immanuel--God With Us, page 152]