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Bible Verse Links - A word of warning: The Bible Gateway - Gospelcom.net site gives the user access to some very helpful tools for Bible study. While the default version is the KJV, several modern versions of the Bible, including the NIV, NASB, NLT, among others, are also available. By having this link I am not promoting, nor do I condone, the use of these versions. In my humble opinion, you should use the KJV only.

“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?
“For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
“Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
“Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
“Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Romans 4:1–8

How was Abraham saved? One can be saved just one way. There is only one way in the Old Testament and New Testament. In the Old Testament, weren’t they saved by sacrifices? No, no.

In Acts 10:43, Peter says, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” There is one plan of salvation.

Well, didn’t Abraham offer sacrifices? Yes, but they were pointing toward and picturing a Saviour who would come. And back in Genesis 15, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness to be saved.

How was Abraham saved? Not of good works, because then he would be boasting about it. He would earn it that way. Abraham was saved by faith because he looked forward to a Saviour who died and took our place. People are saved by faith in Him.

Abraham, Like All the Rest of Us, Was a Sinner:

Now what is Abraham’s great problem, and yours? He is a sinner. He knows that. That is why he offers those sacrifices. You too are a sinner. You know that. We are all sinners. The Bible makes that clear. “There is none righteous, no, not one” Romans 3:10

In Phoenix, Arizona, a man said to me, “I want you to talk to my Catholic friend, my next-door neighbor. He is unsaved, and I can’t win him. Will you go with me to see him?”

After the service I went with him to see this neighbor, an Italian. He came from Italy when he was eight years old. In New York City he made a fortune. Then he moved to Phoenix for the sunshine.

We met out in a grape arbor between the two houses of these men. I said to this Italian man, “May I talk to you about the Lord?”

He said, “I’ve got my religion.”
I said, “Yes, and I’ve got mine too. Only your religion or my religion might take you or me to Hell. You need to make sure that your sins are forgiven and you are on your way to Heaven. You can have that settled for sure if you will turn to Jesus.”

He said, “Well, I am a pretty good man.”

I said, “Let me read you some Scripture.”

I turned to Romans, chapter 3:

“For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.”
“They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable.” Verses 9, 10, 12

I said, “Here it is, ‘both Jews and Gentiles’ are under sin.”

He said, “I am no Jew.”

I said, “If you are not a Jew, then you are a Gentile. It goes on to say here, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one.’ If there is not one righteous, then I am not righteous, am I?”

“No, I guess not.”

I continued, “If there is none righteous, then your neighbor here is not righteous, is he?” That pleased him. They were old friends.

He teased him and then said, “That’s right. He’s no saint.”

I said, “What about you?”

He paused, very serious; then he said, “Yes, I’ve done some wrong things too.”

And it wasn’t long until he was praying that prayer, “God be merciful to me a sinner” Luke 18:13. And he got saved right there.

Now everybody has this problem. You are a sinner. I see you wear glasses, brother. Do you suppose the angels have to wear glasses? I have to wear glasses when I read. There is something wrong with us. You and I are not like the angels. Is that right?

Fellow, your hair is graying just a little. So is mine. Do angels get gray-headed? And some of you haven’t much hair at all. You do it like you like. I don’t like it long, but some people wear it all on top, and some wear it around the fringes. I prefer mine on top. But some people are baldheaded. Do you think angels get baldheaded? Well, there is something wrong with the rest of us then. Angels don’t get bald.

Do you ever have to go to the dentist? Do your teeth decay? Do you suppose the angels have to go to a dentist? They don’t have gray hair, don’t have to wear glasses, don’t have to walk slow and easy. Since my heart attack I have had to take it easy. I can’t carry much of a load, and I can’t run up stairs. Do you suppose angels get feeble?

All of Us Must Die and Meet God:

That means the human race is a sinful, fallen race, and we are going to die and meet God. That was Abraham’s problem. And that is your problem too. You are going to die and meet God. “Oh,” you say, “I am young.” Yes, people die young or old, but they die. And you are going to die and meet God. What are you going to do about it? The Scripture says, “For there is no difference: For all have sinned” Romans 3:22, 23

So here is Abraham’s problem. What are you going to do, Abraham? “Well, I have to get things right with God.”

Cain said, “I am a good farmer. I will bring some cabbages and tomatoes and corn.” But the Lord didn’t like that. He would have nothing of that offering at all. Oh, Cain, that won’t do. You have to have a better sacrifice than that.

Yonder is a Pharisee who goes to the temple to pray. He prays, “God, I thank You I am not like other men. I am not like this crooked publican. No sir, not me. No, Lord, I don’t get drunk. I don’t commit fornication. I bring tithes every Lord’s Day. You would be surprised how good I am.”

Bud, that won’t do. Your good works are no good. That Pharisee died and went to Hell. That is not the way.

You are going to have to find God’s way of saving people. You have to face that problem of death.

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” Hebrews 9:27

Appointed to die—everybody here is getting ready to die. The fact is, you are partly dead already. So am I.

In 1956, I fell and cracked my skull. I lost my sense of smell. I have hearing aids because I can’t hear very well. And other things are wrong. This old ticker, my heart—I have to take it easy.

We are already partly dead, aren’t we? Everybody here is dying, young or old. Boys, you may have already the thing in you that is going to kill you. People die old, and they die young.

How Can a Sinner Please God and Be Saved?

Abraham had a problem. You do too. What are you going to do? Oh, then I must find some way to please God.

Yonder is Martin Luther, a Catholic monk. He wanted to be good. He read the Bible and prayed and fasted. He slept on a hard board instead of a good bed. He wanted to pay his way to Heaven by his goodness. All that, yet he couldn’t get any peace. Doing good deeds, fasting and praying are not enough.

In a little church in Rome, they have what they call the Holy Stairs. It is only tradition, but they say they brought the stones from Pilate’s judgment hall to Rome. They say those are the twenty-eight steps Jesus walked on.

And one day Martin Luther was trying so hard to earn favor with God, trying to make everything right, trying to earn his way to Heaven, that he was climbing those stairs on his knees and kissing each step as he climbed. Then down in his heart he remembered a verse of Scripture. “The just shall live by faith,” not good deeds. He thought, Then what am I doing climbing these steps on my knees? He came down and started the Reformation, preaching salvation by faith.

There was another man in England, an Anglican preacher’s son. He graduated from Oxford University. He said, “I am going to be a good Christian, a good man, God’s man.” So he and his brother and two or three others formed the Holy Club.

He said, “I am going to give my life to God. I have to earn my way to Heaven.” So he came as a missionary to the Indians in America. But he didn’t get Indians converted. What was the matter? He went back to England discouraged.

There in a meeting one night at Aldersgate, in London, Peter Boehler, a Moravian pastor, showed him as they were reading Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians how the just shall live by faith. And John Wesley, later the Methodist preacher (an Anglican preacher then and a missionary to the American Indians), saw it for the first time, and he was born again.

Good works won’t do it. You could spend your life preaching, you can do all the good works possible, you can give all your money, but that won’t get you a ticket to Heaven. You must come like Abraham, who ‘believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.’ One has to die and meet God and go to Hell, or he must find some way to get his sins forgiven.

First, it is not of good works. They tried that. This man did. “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” The Scripture says that Abraham believed God.

Someone says, “I am going to keep the Ten Commandments. I am going to live by the Golden Rule.”

Then don’t talk about Jesus. He died for sinners, not for the good folks who want to save themselves.

“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” Romans 4:3, 4

Another says, “I work to earn my way.”

Then go ahead and brag about it, but Jesus says you can’t earn your way. So it is Jesus or Hell. Which will it be?

All Sin Laid on Jesus and All Paid by His Death:

The Scripture says here that it is not by works of righteousness. Here is the man Abraham, on whom God looked down and said,

“I don’t see a sin in him.”

An elderly preacher in Florida some time ago was praying, “Lord, I am so sorry for all my sins,” and he says the Lord asked him, “What sins?”

The Bible does say, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” Hebrews 10:17. God says, “That is all paid and forgotten, blotted out, and I have nothing against him.”

When I was a boy in Texas, I went to a Methodist quarterly conference. They had to get an account of all the Methodist preachers assembled and tell them where to preach next year. The clerk would call the name of a pastor, and all the other Methodist preachers would cry out, “Nothing against him.” So he can preach another year in a Methodist church because there was “nothing against him.”

And if you call Abraham’s name up in Heaven, every angel will say, “Nothing against him.” Abraham believed God, and Jesus paid it all.

You can also call my name in Heaven, as poor a sinner as I am, and every angel will cry out, “Nothing against him.” My sins are all paid for. Jesus has blotted them out. Nothing is charged against me anymore. And that is true of every born-again Christian.

“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” Blessed is the man whose sins are forgotten by God.

One verse of my song “Remembered No More” says,

Now I am washed whiter than
snow and forgiven—
How much I gain, eternal gain!
My sins are all pardoned and
canceled and covered
And never remembered again

The way to get saved is to put your faith in Jesus as Abraham did. Oh, I am glad Jesus paid it all.

Jesus paid it all;
All to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain;
He washed it white as snow.

That Means Saved Forever, Everlasting Life:

Oh, I thank God that I can put my trust in Jesus and have salvation forever and ever! Isn’t that wonderful?

But you say, “I have sinned since I got saved.”

Yes, but Jesus died for you before you ever sinned at all. All of that was paid ahead of time. Do you think Jesus is going to come back and die on the cross again to pay for the rest of your sins after you got converted? No. That is all a part of the package. Jesus paid the whole business. Thank God for that! All our sins are paid for. Praise the Lord!

“Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.” Romans 4:16

“To the end the promise might be sure”—I sure was happy when I found I had everlasting life. Dr. Jack Hyles said he preached to a Nazarene convention one time, and the chairman introduced Dr. Hyles this way: “I believe Dr. Hyles has more than he knows. He is sanctified and doesn’t know it.”

When Dr. Hyles got up to speak, he said, “Yes, and the Nazarene chairman has more than he knows too. He is saved forever but doesn’t know it!”

If you get saved at all, you are saved forever. Remember 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.”

How long is everlasting? Forever; no ending.

Mr. Pat Neff was governor of Texas. He visited the state penitentiary and talked to the fellows in the prison. He asked a big, tall man, “How long are you in for?”

The answer was, “From now on.”

If you ask me how long I am saved, I will say, “From now on.” No if about it. I am already saved. I am not going to be saved. I am saved now. I have everlasting life.

I won a young fellow, sixteen years old, to the Lord in Spartanburg, South Carolina. I discussed with him John 3:16.

“Do you believe Jesus died for you?”
“Yes sir.”
“And you believe He wants to forgive you?”
“Yes sir.”
“Will you put your trust in Him now and claim Him as Saviour?”
“Yes sir.”
“Will you take my hand as a sign here and now that you take Him forever?”
“Yes sir.”
We shook hands on it.
Then I turned to John 3:36 and read to him, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”
He looked at that and said,
“Well, Jesus says I have everlasting life, doesn’t He?”
“That is what He said.
Do you want to tell the pastor?”
“Let’s tell him.”

“Everlasting” is the kind of salvation the Lord gives—not a little piece of it, but the whole thing. “We have now received the atonement” Romans 5:11. I am now a child of God. I am already a ‘jointheir’ of Jesus Christ. Already Jesus is building me a mansion in Heaven.

He says in John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

Praise the Lord for that wonderful, eternal salvation!

Now everybody ought to make sure of his salvation. How many of you have at times had doubts about your salvation? I went for three years bothered about it. Then you had better get it settled now. If you have trusted Jesus, He says He gave you everlasting life. Turn it all over to Jesus.

How do you earn it? You don’t. How many tears do you have to shed? You don’t have to cry, but you can. How much conviction is required? Just enough to come to Jesus. He said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” John 6:37. That is simple.

“But, Brother Rice, suppose I sin?” You have already sinned, but “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

“Suppose I get angry and I cuss?”

“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” He may tan you—God whips His children. But He is not going to throw His children out. “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

“Suppose, Brother Rice, I were to get in bad company and get drunk?”

That would be bad for sure. You would have a whipping coming, a chastising, but “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Mrs. Rice and I have six daughters. Suppose that in childhood one of them did something wrong. Would I kick her out of the family? No. She is mine. Neither does the Lord ever kick one of His out.

Paul could write in 2 Timothy 1:12, “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

Don’t you think now is a good time to get this settled? What do you have to do? Admit you are a sinner.

You who are saved admitted your sinful way, didn’t you?

I said to a little fellow the other day, “Are you a pretty good boy?” He said,“Well…er…I try to be.”

I said, “I try to be too. It is a hard job, and I don’t succeed too well.”

Yes, everybody sins. We all do. “There is none righteous, no, not one.” “For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.” “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8

We are sinners. The only people who get saved are sinners. The only people who get saved are self-confessed sinners, those who admit it.

And what else? You have to believe what the Bible says. Do you believe God loves you? Do you believe Jesus died for sinners? Do you believe that salvation is free to those who put their trust in Jesus? Then will you trust Him now?

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