The Danger Of The Sinner's Prayer

Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."  (ESV)

The sinner's prayer usually consists of an admission of sin, asking for forgiveness, asking Jesus into your heart, and thanking God.  A person is usually told to repeat the words of this prayer in order to be saved.  After the person has said the prayer he is told he has assurance of salvation and is told never to doubt his salvation.  

Has anyone ever considered that the sinner's prayer is not in the Bible?  Why do we insist on it if it is not even in the Bible?  Could it be that our evangelism is not Biblical?  And could it be that we are getting things wrong by making our evangelism man centered?  We have tried to reduce the gospel down to three easy steps or four spiritual laws.  The gospel is much deeper and richer than a few easy steps.  

How many times have we heard about someone who lives a worldly lifestyle but points to a time in their past when they prayed the sinner's prayer to give assurance of their salvation.  The Bible never tells anyone they are saved if they have said the words of the sinner's prayer.  Instead we are told to examine ourselves by God's Word to make sure of our salvation.  

The sinner's prayer and our whole man centered evangelism produces many false converts.  Many people are deceived into thinking they on their way to heaven when in reality they are on the road to hell.  The true believer is not someone who has said some words to a prayer but the one who does the will of God.  

A true believer was dead in his sins and has now been made alive by God.  He has been born again or regenerated.  He was dead to God and is now alive to God.  If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation.  The true Christian trusts in Christ alone for salvation.  He has repented of his sins and continues a life of repentance.  A true believer is characterized by living in obedience to God.  The true believer still sins but his life is not characterized by sinful living.  

A person is converted to Christ through the proclamation of the full gospel.  It is the work of God and not the work of man.  We cannot create true belief in any person, it must be done by God and his Word.  God draws the person to himself and he then repents of his sin and places his faith in Christ for salvation.  

Unfortunately many false converts have been assured of their salvation wrongly by others telling them they are okay because they prayed the sinners prayer.  The churches are filled with people who have never been regenerated or born again because of our man centered, easy believism evangelism.  

We need to know who God is and what he is like.  People need to be presented with the attributes of God.  Only when we understand who God is, will we understand that we are totally depraved sinners in need of a Savior.