The Sinner’s Prayer: Friend or Foe?
Saturday, September 30th, 2006The Sinner’s Prayer: Friend or Foe?
Two sides to an important question
——————————————————————————————————— 85% of Americans self-identify as Christians.
BUT… ONLY 33% of US adults say they have ALL of these things:
- They have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ as their Lord
- They know that when they die, they will go to Heaven because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.”
- Believe their faith is very important in their life today
- They know that when they die, they will go to Heaven because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.”
ONLY 5% of US adults have those plus ALL of these things:
- Believe they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians
- Believe that Satan exists
- Believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth
- Believe God to be the all-knowing , all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today.
Believe that the eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not worksBarna.org———————————————————————————————————
- Believe that Satan exists
This means a lot of people who call themselves Christians need to get saved! How did we get here?
Partially it is our use of the sinners prayer. We bring people to a place to pray a prayer through whatever means we may have. We say, “If you believe in Jesus, then say the prayer and you will be saved.” Where is the biblical proof text for this?My father-in-law was a perfect example of this. At fourteen years old the pastor caught him between Sunday School and Morning worship and told him that he had reached the age of accountability. He then told him to come to the front of the church during the altar call and that he (the preacher) would take care of the rest. My father-in-law obeyed, said the prayer he was led in and then the pastor baptized him that evening. He was assured he was saved. In fact, pastors continued to assure him that he was saved because of that prayer when he was an alcoholic adult. It was not until he was forty years old that a pastor reached him with the truth. Then he confessed Jesus as his Lord and he meant it with all of his heart. Praise the Lord, he pastored two churches before he retired and even pastored a mission church on a reservation after he retired.
When the prayer is used like this it is a foe to Christianity. As a result we have people who have been inoculated against becoming a real Christian with a sinner’s prayer. Becoming a Christian requires us to commit our lives to Christ as our Lord. Yes, we confess it with our mouth, but a prayer as a public confession if it is not backed up by a sincere belief in both Jesus and the commitment we make from the heart… does more damage than good.
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Romans 10:8-11 (NIV) But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
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Romans 10:8-11 (NKJV) But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
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Romans 10:8-11 (NLT) Salvation that comes from trusting Christ—which is the message we preach—is already within easy reach. In fact, the Scriptures say, “The message is close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who believes in him will not be disappointed.”
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Romans 10:8-1011 (TMNT) “The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest.” It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!” Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.”
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More to come…