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A man came into my study this week struggling with sin, salvation, and a sense of God\u2019s presence in his life. He told me he was saved but he had never seen God work in his life.<\/p>\nA man came into my study this week struggling with sin, salvation, and a sense of God\u2019s presence in his life. He told me he was saved but he had never seen God work in his life.<\/p>\n
While I could have pointed out that God is at work in the lives of all people to one degree or another (John 16:8-15), I first decided to run a spiritual diagnostic to determine his spiritual condition. I used versions of the Kennedy question. First, I asked him if he were to die today, did he know where he would go to spend eternity. He said, \u201cYes, I will go to heaven.\u201d When I asked why, his response was, \u201cBecause I\u2019ve prayed the sinner\u2019s prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n
This sent up a small red flag, but knowing that many who \u201chave prayed the sinner\u2019s prayer\u201d are just confused, I went on to my next question. I asked, \u201cLet\u2019s say hypothetically, that when you get to heaven, God meets you at the gates and asks, \u2018Why should I let you into my heaven?\u2019 what would you say?\u201d<\/p>\n
This time, his response rung crystal clear\u2014not with truth, but error. \u201cWell, I make people laugh. I have good manners. I have tried to live a good life. I\u2019ve done some bad things in my life, but I\u2019ve always repented. I\u2019ve never denied Jesus, and have always believed that He is God\u2019s Son.\u201d<\/p>\n
The small red flag turned into alarm bells. Recognizing that only God knows the heart, I gently told the man that none of the things he had listed, including his \u201csinner\u2019s prayer\u201d were mentioned anywhere in Scripture as conditions for receiving eternal life. I took him to passages like John 3:16, 5:24 and 6:47 which show that the only condition for receiving eternal life is believing in Christ for it.<\/p>\n
He said it sounded too simple; too easy. I told him, \u201cIt is. Eternal life is a free gift of God\u2019s grace to all who simply believe in Jesus Christ.\u201d I went on to explain how God could make this offer and why faith in Christ is all that is necessary to receive it.<\/p>\n
He left that day without believing, but a seed was planted. I trust and pray that he and I will meet again and that the Holy Spirit will continue to convict, convince, and draw him.<\/p>\n
But one thing was confirmed in my own mind. The \u201csinner\u2019s prayer\u201d is a dangerous witnessing tool.\u00a0It can leave many people thinking that they are going to heaven because they have \u201cprayed a prayer\u201d yet never understood that eternal life is received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.<\/p>\n
What have been your experiences with the sinner’s prayer? Is it a valuable step in evangelism and witnessing? Why or why not?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The sinner’s prayer is a popular evangelistic tool, but can lead to disastrous results. The Bible nowhere tells us to lead people in the sinner’s prayer. If you are using the sinner’s prayer in your evangelism, it might be a wise idea to stop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1591,19,1249,1649,1647,39,1648],"class_list":{"0":"post-32636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"tag-assurance","8":"tag-discipleship","9":"tag-evangelism","10":"tag-security","11":"tag-sinners-prayer","12":"tag-theology-salvation","13":"tag-witnessing","14":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n