This continues the "...Yea But" eBook series where I take common objections that many raise regarding the Bible and I seek to answer them biblically.
The New Testament no where exhorts people to look to a past decision to confirm a present condition. The Word of God has no commands to pray a certain prayer in order to be saved. Nowhere does Jesus lead a person in a prayer so they may be saved. Nowhere does the Bible command people to “ask Jesus into your heart.” As common as it is today, it’s totally devoid of biblical support.
In fact, asking Jesus into one’s heart, or as it’s commonly termed: “the sinner’s prayer” has done more to promote easily believism, a sort of ‘Carnal (unChristian) Christianity’, and thus has deceived countless souls into thinking that they’re actually saved because of something that they did when in fact they still are lost, dead in sin, and headed for hell. Praying a prayer can satisfy many in thinking that it’s a sort of “fire insurance” to get them out of hell but this self-assurance has no biblical support.
We must understand what the Bible teaches regarding salvation.
- Salvation is wholly and entirely “from the Lord” from beginning to end (1 Cor 1:30; Rom 11:36). God is the initiator, the accomplisher, the sustainer, and the guarantor of true salvation.
- The gospel call is to: “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). Repeatedly, Christ went preaching repentance (Luke 5:32) and He called all His followers to preach repentance (Luke 24:47). The prophets preached repentance (Ezek 14:6; 18:30) as did the Apostles (Acts 17:30).
- The prophets, the Apostles, and Christ Himself did not model the idea of leading people in a sinner’s prayer to get saved.
- God does not need a sinner to “invite Christ into his heart.” Rather, God sovereignly invades a dead sinner’s heart by His sovereign power, undeserved love, and unstoppable compassion.
- Before the sinner responds to the gospel (in repentance and faith), God the Spirit first quickens the spiritually dead soul so that it is a heart alive to God, thirsting for God, seeing the depravity of sin, and it is thus able to respond to the gospel call in repentance and faith. But the first and primary work of salvation is when God regenerates the sinner’s soul which then enables that person to see Christ as glorious and trust in Him alone as Savior and Lord.
- The New Testament does not call Christians to look to a person’s past decision or event to certify the genuineness of one’s salvation. Rather, it calls for examination of the life that is now being lived and to assess the fruit of one’s conduct. Truly regenerated people will be bearing the fruits of the Spirit. Those who love the world and live like the world as a way of life show they have never been changed and, regardless of what they profess with their lips, they are devoid of eternal life and are workers of lawlessness (Matthew 7:21-23).
- Many may make the profession that they “asked Jesus into their heart” or “they made a decision to surrender to Jesus” and it can subtly be the case that some may trust in their decision to follow Christ more than they trust in the righteousness and propitiation of Christ Himself. In other words, some rely more on their wise choice for Christ rather than in the crosswork of Christ. Why are they saved? They would answer: “because I asked Jesus into my heart.” Thus, they are subtly boasting in self and in their decision rather than in Christ alone.
