Sermon #1098 The Sinner s Prayer A New York Times article referred to Southern Baptist David Platt as the youngest megachurch leader in America when at age 26 he took the reins at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, AL. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/opinion/07brooks.html?_r=0. He gained further notoriety for his 2010 New York Times bestseller, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. Platt, unafraid of rocking the boat, sent shockwaves through the Southern Baptist Convention when he assailed a long-cherished, Southern Baptist evangelistic tool - the Sinner s Prayer. The managing editor of Christianity Today, Ted Olson, spoke of the Sinner s Prayer as a hallmark of evangelical conversionism. Conservative Christians, meanwhile, have long denounced the Sinner s Prayer as unscriptural; they object to the Sinner s Prayer as a modern human substitute for the divinely ordained plan of salvation taught by the apostles and practiced by the Lord s church in the book of Acts. What alarmed Southern Baptists was that such a prominent preacher within the denomination would protest. This could not be ignored! What did Platt preach about the Sinner s Prayer to generate a firestorm within the Southern Baptist Convention? In a June 20, 2012, Christianity Today article titled, Southern Baptists Debate the Sinner s Prayer, Ted Olson reported the portion of Platt s message at the Verge Church Leadership Conference that ignited the debate almost four months earlier: "I'm convinced that many people in our churches are simply missing the life of Christ, and a lot of it has to do with what we've sold them as the gospel, i.e. pray this prayer, accept Jesus into your heart, invite Christ into your life," Platt said. "Should it not concern us that there is no such superstitious prayer in the New Testament? Should it not concern us that the Bible NEVER uses the phrase, 'accept Jesus into your heart' or 'invite Christ into your life'? It's NOT the gospel we see being preached, it's modern evangelism built on sinking sand. And it runs the risk of disillusioning MILLIONS of souls." (emphasis BH) While Platt s initial Luther-like boldness was admirable, unfortunately, Platt buckled under the enormous pressure brought to bear for his Bible-backed bravado. An article on ChristianityToday.com by Platt on June 28th sounded as if he were torn between recanting and holding his ground. Since his daring declaration, Platt said he voted in favor of the Southern Baptist resolution defend(ing) the use of a sinner's prayer in evangelism. He added later, Do I believe it is wrong to pray a prayer of salvation? Certainly not Fascinating, but we can rely neither on Platt nor a vote by the Southern Baptist Convention to determine truth. What is the Sinner s Prayer? If it didn t originate in Scripture and wasn t started by Jesus and the apostles, then who started it? Does the origin of the Sinner s Prayer even matter? Should we even care? We pray you will carefully evaluate these important questions in light of relevant Scripture. We would be hard-pressed to find anyone in any church who would proclaim outright that he is ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Few phrases generate more energy than the gospel of Christ. This is due in large part to Paul s eloquent declaration in Romans1:16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. The gospel of Christ is THE power of God to save; that means, obviously, any OTHER gospel is powerless to save. If we choose any other gospel over the gospel of Christ, even if unintentional, we demonstrate we ARE ashamed of the gospel of Christ. 1
The Sinner s Prayer by Brett Hickey, sermon #1098 2 of 5 Ponder this: if we are NOT ashamed of the gospel of Christ, why don t we preach it EXACTLY as it was proclaimed by the apostle in the New Testament age? Paul is even more emphatic on this point in Galatians 1:6-8, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed Paul said there is the gospel we have preached and there are other gospels; the gospel the apostles preached is preserved in the New Testament; no improvement possible! Judaizing teachers promoted the competing gospel Paul addressed. These men sought to make keeping the Law of Moses necessary for salvation. Paul cut them no slack. But, did Paul limit the offense only to this one rogue gospel? Look back at Romans 1:16. Paul did NOT teach a host of gospels save and only the gospel of the Judaizers would not save? No! He did speak of the Judaizers gospel as different and perverted, but Paul presents a much more restrictive picture than that. He says there is the gospel of Christ (singular) and if an angel or man preach ANY OTHER gospel besides the one we preached let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8). Friends, this is serious business. Jesus said in John 14:6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. There s just one way Jesus way isn t there? In the context of doctrinal teaching, Jesus says in Matthew 15:13, "Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Ephesians 4:4-5 says there is one body one hope one faith, one baptism In Jude 3, we see we must contend earnestly for THE faith which was ONCE FOR ALL delivered to the saints. Solomon writes, Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar. So, these Scriptures answer earlier questions about how important the origin and originator of a particular gospel is. We know the Sinner s Prayer did NOT originate in the New Testament. Will Samson writes in his book, Enough: Contentment in an Age of Excess (140, 2009) It was Dwight L. Moody who developed the sinner s prayer made popular during the 1950s with the ministry of Billy Graham and with the development of the Four Spiritual Laws model by Campus Crusade. Charles Fuller developed the phrase personal Savior in the mid-twentieth century as a way to help sell Jesus into a marketplace of increasing consumer choices. Thus many of the most-used metaphors for understanding how we relate to god through Christ are quite new in the nearly two-thousand-year history of the church. (see also Viola, F. & Barna, G. (2007) Pagan Christianity? Exploring the roots of our church practices, Tyndale, 104). Paul Chitwood writes in his 2001 doctoral thesis at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, The Sinner s Prayer: An Historical and Theological Analysis, that Dwight L. Moody was the first to develop a generic form of a sinner s prayer. Charles Spurgeon, a nineteenth century contemporary of Moody recommended a similar prayer in one of his sermons (41-42). While some form of a sinner s prayer grew more common early in the twentieth century, Chitwood attributes Billy Graham and Bill Bright with popularizing the sinner s prayer in the 1950s in Graham s Steps to Peace with God and Bright s The Four Spiritual Laws (54-58). http://digital.library.sbts.edu/handle/10392/4153. Bright s tract alone has had a distribution of two billion copies in over one hundred languages. 2
The Sinner s Prayer by Brett Hickey, sermon #1098 3 of 5 Large institutional machinery and evangelical celebrities have generated momentum for the practice, but the well-grounded Bible believer will not blindly go along; instead, he will test (1 John 4:1) the Sinner s Prayer to see if it is truly the gospel of Christ. Will you obey the gospel according to Jesus and the apostles OR the gospel according to Dwight L. Moody and Billy Graham? ONLY the gospel of Christ is the power of God to save! From within the largest institutional machine promoting the Sinner s Prayer, David Platt says, " we've sold them as the gospel, i.e. pray this prayer, accept Jesus into your heart, invite Christ into your life. Should it not concern us that there is no such superstitious prayer in the New Testament? Should it not concern us that the Bible never uses the phrase, 'accept Jesus into your heart' or 'invite Christ into your life'? It's not the gospel we see being preached, it's modern evangelism built on sinking sand. And it runs the risk of disillusioning millions of souls." As David Platt admits in his book Follow Me (188) released February 5, 2013, After all, a specific sinner s prayer like we often think of today is not found in Scripture or even in much of church history. We never see anyone in Scripture saying, Bow your head, close your eyes, and repeat after me, followed by a specific sinner s prayer. The phrase, Sinner s Prayer is not found in either the Old or New Testament. In fact, the very idea is frowned upon in Scripture. Sin interferes with God s willingness to hear prayer; we do what God says to get rid of our sin SO HE WILL hear us. Isaiah 1:15, God says, Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. David tells us in Psalm 66:18, If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. Proverbs 15:29, The LORD is far from the wicked, But He hears the prayer of the righteous. Proverbs 28:9, One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination. Micah 3:4, Then they will cry to the LORD, But He will not hear them Because they have been evil in their deeds. (see also Isaiah 59:1-2; Proverbs 1:28-30) The Holy Spirit says through Peter in 1 Peter 3:12, For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil." The apostle John adds in 1 John 3:22, And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. After the church was established, the CLOSEST we get to a Sinner s Prayer saving is Cornelius conversion. Cornelius lived an upright life and prayed to God, but did his prayers save him? He was a praying sinner who even had an angelic vision; many today would take this as if Cornelius was saved. But when we let the Bible speak, the answer is no - Cornelius is NOT saved by a Sinner s Prayer. Instead, the Spirit says, Acts 10:4, "Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Admittedly, that is quite an honor, but, the bottom line, the angel did NOT tell Cornelius he was saved and could go on his merry way. Cornelius is told, Acts 10:5-6, send for Peter.He will tell you what you MUST do." Cornelius is clearly NOT saved by the angelic vision nor his many prayers. AFTER the vision and many prayers, we read more precisely in Acts 11:13-14 that Cornelius was told, Peter will tell you WORDS by which you WILL BE SAVED. What did Peter tell him? Please note: He DID NOT tell him his prayer or faith saved him. No! We read in Acts 10:33-35, Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God. Then Peter opened his mouth and said: In truth I perceive that God shows 3
The Sinner s Prayer by Brett Hickey, sermon #1098 4 of 5 no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. Ah! Get that? We can accept Jesus, but if we are not accepted BY Him we have no hope! When preaching Jesus to Cornelius, Peter says in Acts 10:43, To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins." Then, in Acts 10:48 Peter commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. In Acts 9, Saul of Tarsus tried his own Sinner s Prayer after Jesus confronted him on the Damascus Road. In fact, he fasted and prayed for three days, but it didn t work then and it won t work now. Saul was a penitent believer, Acts 9:6, So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do You want me to do? " But, similar to Cornelius conversion, Saul was told, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be TOLD what you must DO." His sins were not yet forgiven. In retelling his conversion, he was told AFTER his Sinner s Prayer in Acts 22:16, And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. This, my friends, is the gospel of Christ. Some try to extract a Sinner s Prayer from the phrase calling on the name of the Lord. Such people must have missed the rest of the story; he had been doing praying for three days and was still in his sin. It is more likely, as Coneybeare suggests in his Life and Epistles of St. Paul, "It is a reference to the confession of faith in Jesus which preceded baptism." (see also Acts 8:34-38). When people believe in Jesus like the crowd on Pentecost and cry out for a solution to their sin problem like the Jews on that day, WHY preach any gospel different from what Peter preached? We KNOW he preached the gospel of Christ. What did Peter tell these believing sinners in Acts 2:38? Accept Jesus and pray the Sinner s Prayer? No! "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (ESV) THAT is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I will never be ashamed of it; I will NOT turn aside from it. Will you? Have you submitted to the gospel of Christ or another, more modern gospel of man? Strange, isn t it? Men reject baptism for salvation as being works salvation, while the modern evangelical substitute for Bible baptism, the Sinner s Prayer, requires more work than one baptized in water? An individual who submits to immersion does no work ; he simply allows the preacher to lower him under the water and bring him up out of the water (Acts 8:34-38). Listen, if one man can develop a Sinner s Prayer as an alternative to the biblical plan of salvation, why can t another substitute sprinkling for immersion? Why can t another declare repentance not essential? Perhaps you have heard of the man who dreamed he was trapped in his house during a flood. He began praying God would rescue him. He envisioned God s hand reaching down from heaven and lifting him to safety. The water started to rise. His neighbor offered him a ride to safety in his pickup. The man yelled back, Oh, no. I m waiting for God to save me. He kept praying as the rising water forced him on to the roof. A boat came by with people yelling at him to grab a rope and they would take him to safety. He refused; he was waiting for God to save him. The man kept praying as the waters rose steadily, believing with all his heart God would save him. A helicopter flew by and a voice over a loudspeaker offered to lower a ladder and take him off the roof. The man waved off the helicopter, shouting he was waiting for God to save him. The floodwaters engulfed the house and swept him away. He drowned. 4
The Sinner s Prayer by Brett Hickey, sermon #1098 5 of 5 When he reached heaven and asked, God, why didn t You save me? I believed in You with all my heart. God replied, I sent you a pick-up, a boat and a helicopter and you refused them all. Many people are like the man who drowned. They are praying for salvation when there is nothing to pray for! God sent His Son. Jesus died for our sins. The Holy Spirit tells us how to be saved in the New Testament. Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Stop praying and start obeying before YOU drown in your sin! If where you assemble they are not preaching the gospel EXACTLY as the apostles proclaimed it, won t you honor the author of the gospel of Christ by aligning yourself with those who do? Contact us today and we will help you obey the gospel of Christ! Thank you for watching Let the Bible Speak. We pray you have heard God speak to you through His word. Call or write for a copy of this sermon,, Before our song and wrap up, we want to encourage you to begin a life-changing Bible study by mail at no cost to you. I ll be back in a moment for a final word. Please send us any comments or questions you may have about today s message or any related question about the church of the Bible. Tune in every Lord s Day and join us for worship at one of the congregations listed shortly. Call or write for a transcript, CD, or DVD of #1098, The Sinner s Prayer. As the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 16:16, the churches of Christ salute you. Until next week, goodbye and God bless! Are you searching for the truth of God's word and have a sincere desire to learn about the Bible? Do you want to know what the Bible says about salvation and about Christ and His church? If you are looking for Bible Founded discussion on these topics and many others, then please accept this invitation to explore "Let the Bible Speak" and then contact us for additional studies. We are members of the church of Christ as found in the New Testament. We are not members of a denomination or earthly religious organization. We are a brotherhood of believers, joined by a common bond, Jesus Christ. We try to live and worship following the patterns found in the New Testament. (For manuscripts of other sermons visit: www.letthebiblespeak.com) COPYRIGHT Let The Bible Speak. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. IMPORTANT COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Express permission is granted to distribute any video, audio, or transcript of any broadcast message as long as the material is: unedited and attribution is given to Let The Bible Speak; a hyperlink to LetTheBibleSpeak.com is included for electronic distribution; a text reference is included to www.letthebiblespeak.com for printed distribution; and the original author receives attribution. An irrevocable, world-wide, royalty free license for distribution is granted as long as such distribution has the intent of: supporting the truth as presented; giving glory and honor to God; and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. 5