E-MAIL QUESTIONS ANSWERED
DAVID L. ODOM
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
I would like to respond to the following comment on a religious web site for
those who are interested in believing and practicing only the Truth:
>The site explains to inquirers that a
personal relationship with God is possible by >confessing sin and putting
one's faith in Christ. It suggests a prayer to repeat: "Lord >Jesus, I
want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my
>sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior
and Lord. >Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and
giving me eternal life. Make >me the kind of person you want me to be."
>We must individually RECEIVE Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior; then we can know God >personally and experience His love
John 1:12 "As many as received him, to them he >gave the right to
become children of God, even to those who believe in his name."
Please notice the Scripture says that when we
'receive' Jesus (His
teachings), He gives is the RIGHT to become children of God. Receiving
Jesus does not MAKE us children of God! Thus, when those on the day of
Pentecost that 'received' His Word, they were not 'added' until they were
'baptized' into Christ (Acts 2:38,41). Notice also in Acts 2 that NO ONE was
told to 'pray a sinner's prayer' in order to receive 'remission of sins'.
>Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by
grace that you have been saved, through faith." This does >not depend
on anything you have achieved, it is the free gift of God; and because it is
not >earned no one can boast about it."
Question: Do we do ANY kind of a 'work' in order to
be saved? What about our 'faith' itself? Does God do the 'believing' for us, or
do we do that? Look at John 6:28,29; "They said therefore unto Him, What
must we do, that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent."
This 'work' that we are to do is authorized from the Creator! In fact, everything
God tells us to do is a 'work' from Him that we are to DO, if we truly love
Him! So you can throw into that category 'repentance', 'confession', 'baptism',
etc. These are NOT the works the inspired apostle Paul is speaking of in Eph.
2:9? He was referring to the works of man (from man: mans doctrines &
commandments; Mt. 15:8,9)
So that is why we find passages that tell us to: "...Work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to
work, for His good pleasure." Philippians 2:12,13. Again we see God's Word
having free course within us when we obey His will, thus allowing Him to
control our lives. Study James 2:14-26 carefully.
>Receiving
Christ involves turning to God from self (a spirit of repentance) and trusting >Christ
to come into our lives to forgive us of our sins and make us what he wants us
to >be. Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and
that he died on the >cross for our sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to
have an emotional experience. We >receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act
of our will. Jesus Christ is waiting for an >invitation to come in to your
life. In fact, he says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; >if anyone
hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in" (Revelation 3:20). Perhaps
>you can sense Christ knocking at the door of your heart. You can invite him
in by faith >right now. God knows your heart so it doesn't matter exactly
what words you use. Here's >a suggested prayer:
>Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross
for my sins. >I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my
Savior and Lord. Take >control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and
giving me eternal life. Make me >the kind of person you want me to be. If
this prayer expresses the desire of your heart, >pray it right now and Jesus
Christ will come into your life just as he has promised. Once >you invite
Christ into your life, he promises to never leave you.
Will someone please show me the 'sinner's prayer'
in the New Testament? I can't find where any inspired apostles or prophets
taught this to 'believers' or 'non-believers'! I can find that God doesn't hear
'sinners' (John 9:31). I can find a man who, upon hearing 'Jesus preached unto
him' said; " Behold, here is water, what doth hinder me to be
baptized?" (Acts 8:26-39). I can find a man who 'prayed to God always'
who, upon hearing the Gospel, was commanded to be baptized (Acts 10:47). Dear
reader, NONE of those souls that were preached to in the first century by the
inspired apostles were ever told to 'pray' in order to be saved! Read the book
of Acts very carefully that you can discern good from evil. We can't go to heaven
if we follow the doctrines and commandments of men.
Question is: Where does the 'forgiving of sins' take place? I encourage you to
study your Bible closely concerning this important question. If you are looking
for only God's Truth, you will find that God has specified that our sins are
washed away in water baptism (John 3:3,5; I Peter 3:21; Titus 3:5,6; Hebrews
10:22; Ephesians 5:26; Romans 6:3-6; Galatians 3:26,27; etc.), not through a
'sinner's prayer'. But don't accept my word on it, I am not inspired, go to
God's Word and let IT be the ONLY authority.
If I teach the 'sinner's prayer' doctrine, I am NOT teaching what the inspired
apostles taught in the first century! I will be found to be in the situation
put forth in
Matthew 7:21-23?
Your servant in Christ, David
