THE PRAYER OF SALVATION – THE WEAKNESSES

 

  God loves prayer. He promises to hear and answer our prayers and even records the prayers of several men and women in Scripture. Martin Luther even wrote: “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”
  So you’d think that the popular “Sinner’s Prayer” (“Dear Jesus, I know I’m a sinner, and I ask Your forgiveness…) would be written out somewhere in Scripture and that we’d see numerous examples of people “asking Jesus into their hearts.” But we don’t. It’s not there. NOBODY in Scripture ever prayed anything like that in order to become a Christian.

   Of course that raises the question: Why Not? If God loves prayer, why wouldn’t He use this simple “Sinner’s Prayer” and tell the stories of New Testament people who came to Christ by praying this prayer?   

 THE “NEVER SURE” FACTOR.

  In an article in Christianity Today, a man named William Milam admitted “If there were a world record for the number of times asking Jesus into your heart, I’m pretty sure I would hold it. I’ve probably “prayed the prayer” more than five thousand times. Every time was sincere, but I was never quite sure I had gotten it right. Had I really been sorry enough for my sin that time around? Some wept rivers of tears when they got saved, but I hadn’t done that. Was I really sorry? Was that prayer a moment of total surrender? Did I really ‘get’ grace? So I would pray the sinner’s prayer again. And again. And again.” (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/julyweb-only/greear-ask-jesus-into-your-heart.html?utm_source=connection-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=7697495&utm_content=130904527&utm_campaign=2012)


THE “GOD DIDN’T USE IT” FACTOR.

  The main problem with the “Prayer of Salvation” is that God never used taught a “Sinner’s Prayer” in Scripture… but He did repeatedly use baptism “as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 3:21). In the book of Acts – which is a record of the growth of the early church – has several examples of conversions to Christ as illustrated in this graph:




 THE “PRIVACY” FACTOR.

  The beauty of the “Sinner’s Prayer” is that folks can do it in the privacy of their home or car. Baptism, by contrast, requires the involvement of 2nd person – the “baptizer.” In other words, immersion in water requires the involvement of “Someone Else” in the salvation act. And that “Someone Else” takes responsibility for the convert.

  In the first church I served, Frank, a member of the youth group, baptized his friend Philip into Christ. Frank was understandably excited because he’d been part of his friend’s salvation. But one day Frank came to my home and complained “Philip has stopped coming to church!” Frank was upset and wanted me to do something about it. And I saw something in Frank eyes that surprised me – he was so invested in Philip’s decision that he took Philip’s backsliding personally. So I said to him “You baptized him, you go get him.” And he did. 

  In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus commanded us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…” Notice this is a 3-step process: 1) go make disciples 2) baptize them, and then 3) teach them what they should believe. In other words, invest yourself in these people and disciple them after you bring them to Christ.

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