There are many forms of the sinner’s prayer. The following is an typical example.

“Jesus, I now realize I have sinned against you. Please forgive me of my sin. Please come into my life and change my heart. I want you to be my Savior. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.”

The problem with sinner’s prayers is that often the sinner does not understand what He or she is saying or committing to. Thus, there are many false conversions and more conversions that don’t last. Even worse are the many professing Christians including pastors and evangelists that declare once someone has said (prayed?) the sinner’s prayer, he or she is saved forever no matter how wicked his or her lifestyle may become. Of course, there is no biblical basis for such a declaration. The claim is that once the sinner’s prayer is uttered, grace kicks in and one no longer need be concerned about his or her salvation. In essence, they can ignore Paul’s words in Philippians 2:12 where he says, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

To explain what Grace is, and its role in salvation, and to explain salvation, let’s consider two sections of scriptures. In the parable of the rich man (Luke 12:16-20) who became much more wealthy, Christ Jesus the Lord teaches us a vital lesson. It wasn’t the fact that he was rich that got him in trouble, but that he was not rich toward God. What does that mean? It can only mean that the relationship between God and him was either poor or nonexistent. This is implied by the fact that he does not mention God in his future plan. He was all about the temporal realm, which also indicates that God was seldom if ever in his thoughts.

God said practically the same thing about the Laodecean church in Revelation 3:17-18. Although God said that they were lukewarm, He also said that they were “miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” Lukewarm means they had a little heat. At some point they had committed their lives to God through Christ Jesus the Lord. However, they were in danger of being violently thrown (vomited) out of God’s presence. Yet, no doubt He loved them, rebuked, and chastened them. Because of grace He gave them an opportunity to repent.

The truth becomes clear in God’s word that grace is not a hell insurance policy that one can simply purchase with the “sinner’s prayer.” It is not a license to sin, disregard God’s will, to focus on self-aggrandizement, riches and pleasure in the temporal realm. Grace is the blood of Christ appealing to the mercy of God on our behalf. Individuals that live according to their will have rejected the Lordship of Christ. Thus, they have also rejected salvation and the grace that comes with it.

To reject the Lordship of Christ (Romans 10:9) is to reject Him as Savior. No one receives the Savior that does not first and in the same moment receive His Lordship. Declaring Christ as Savior in the “sinner’s prayer” without first and equally accepting Him as Lord is not salvation. It’s just religion. Christ Jesus is the Savior, but He was Lord before He became a sacrifice. Romans 10:9-10 does not say to confess the Lord Jesus as Savior, but to confess Him as Lord. It says that believing in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead is believing unto righteousness, and that confessing Him as Lord is confession unto salvation. The formula is clear. If we confess Him as Lord, and hold deeply the veracity of His resurrection in our hearts, then He is our also our Savior. If He is not our Lord, it does not matter what we claim that we believe, He is also not our Savior.

How do we know that we have received Christ Jesus as Lord? If we confess Christ Jesus as Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we will not live as if we are autonomous and according to our whims and will. We will not live as the rich man and the Laodeceans. Instead, we will strive daily for full surrender to God’s will. We will develop a hatred for sin and love for sinners. Our hearts and minds will point toward God, not toward the tantalizing lure of the world system. The truth is that we will live rich toward God. Romans.10:12 says, “…for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.”

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of this world will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.” (Helen H. Lemmel)

The continual giving of ourselves fully to God is true Christianity. It is surrender from the depths of one’s soul; complete commitment to the will of God. However, contemporary Christians attempt to lure Christ into their non-surrendered hearts by engaging in what they have determined is enough religion to satisfy the requirements of discipleship. Then they wonder why Christianity doesn’t work for them. When the consequences of their weak commitment catches up with them, instead of going deeper, they head for more shallow water.

Eventually they will hear message from a timid pastor or hireling that never had a spiritual birthday.
They are food for the Pretend-a-lion of Hades. With such a plan for defeat, is it any wonder that the theme of most sermons churches is to inspire and comfort casual Christians. Why should pastors spend most of their ministry attempting to convince uncommitted professing Christians that the Kingdom of God is real and Christianity will work for them? An increasing number of them are rejecting true Christianity. They stagger (spiritually) into the Seeker Church of the Defeated or Emergent Church of the Deceived. There they can energize their sagging interest with a cup of coffee as they saunter into a shadowy auditorium where adrenalin-pumping music is playing. Eventually they will hear message from a timid pastor or hireling that never had a spiritual birthday. Both are conscientious of saying exactly what they know people came to hear. (Don’t offend them, they won’t come back.)

They come into the meetings, shallow and full of love for the world system, and leave the same way.
The “seeker” and “emergent” pastor’s goal is to sooth their convicted minds. He informs them that it is not their fault that Christianity does not work. He insists that Christianity is flawed and needs to be altered and corrected. Thus, casual Christianity is elevated to the acceptable standard. Conviction is abated by Sunday morning meetings where they come together for mass psychotherapy. Consequently, defeat is obscured by a thin (and in some cases not so thin) veneer of heresy. They come into the meetings, shallow and full of love for the world system, and leave the same way. However, they feel better about it because the Christianity they now accept makes less demands on them. They are headed down the path to eternal darkness, only now they are convinced that it is the parkway to eternal life. How tragic and sad.

Do you want to be productive; a vessel of God instead of a sponge for heresy?
Here is the truth for those who know deep in their hearts that something is wrong. There are only two spiritual positions, victory or defeat. There is no middle ground. Do you want to live a victorious Christian life? Do you want victory over sin? Do you want to be productive; a vessel of God instead of a sponge for heresy? Do you want more of God’s power? You won’t find it in some man-centered formula or an empty mantra. You absolutely will not find it in an apostate church where truth is the enemy; where light is considered to be darkness and vice versa. If you want to live a victorious, productive, Christian life, you will have to fully surrender Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior and to honor and obey God Christ will not be lured into a non-surrendered and uncommitted heart no matter how many tele-heretics and their clones declare otherwise.

He will not give Himself to those who have not first given themselves to Him.
All power in heaven and in earth has been given to Christ Jesus the Lord. We will have power when He gives Himself to us. He will not give Himself to those who have not first given themselves to Him. Christ Jesus the Lord gives Himself to us by the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit abides in us, we have the power to conquer sin, to overcome the works of darkness, to live a victorious Christian life.

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;” (Acts:1-8)

“All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give.
I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.
I surrender all. I surrender all.
All to Thee, my precious Savior, I surrender all.”

First, there is children’s church where we teach them religious nursery rhymes. We present very shallow Bible stories with puppets and cartoons. Then we let them color or make a craft, give them a treat, and send them on their way. Through the week they will indulge in secular cartoons, attend a public school, and never once hear or see anything that remotely reminds them of Christ or God.

When they become teenagers, we send them to youth meetings. Again, the hear shallow snippets of God’s truth, and only what is altered to be relevant for adolescent issues. They play games, listen to music that mimics secular music, and watch videos that have little or no scriptural substance. Then we send them away to spend the week listening to secular music, watching sitcoms or dramas depicting life without God, and movies (Twilight saga) that glorify the demonic.

Then we expect them to grow up prepared and willing to take the reins of church leadership and perpetuate what they have never known or experienced. Is it any wonder that we are witnessing Christianity being transformed into a semi-adult version of exactly what they were taught? What did we expect? This mistake cannot be corrected. The generations of young people that were taught from nursery age an alternative Christianity based on a diluted Gospel seeded with fantasy are now in charge.

They should have been taught the truth and brought into the adult meetings when they were young. Parents ought to have continued the teaching at home by word and example. You reap what you sow. Christianity has sown the wind and they are reaping a whirlwind. The only hope for a victory, if one can be had, is wholesale repentance by the generation that is fading into retirement, and a total commitment to evangelizing those generations with the truth. Otherwise, we are watching the apostasy that we planted come to full age and fruition.

Let me say in clarity that I am not against children’s church or youth meetings, but against those events becoming ends in themselves. Children and young people ought to have been taught in such a way as to progressively understand the true Gospel. If they are old enough to understand a message from the world system, they are old enough to understand a message from God. I do not read in the Bible where God gave cucumbers and tomatoes as gifts to bring the church to maturity and the fullness of Christ. While those aids may be beneficial, the veracity of the Gospel cannot depend on them alone. Otherwise, pardon my feeble wit, we are raising generations to become chopped salad for the devil.