Examination of the Sinner's Prayer - Brandon Dukes

Welcome to the official podcast of the Church

of Christ Wheeler area. We're so glad that you've

tuned in for today's message. Whether you're

on your morning commute or if you're relaxing

at home, we're here to share the strength and

truth of God's Word with our community. If you're

in the neighborhood, we'd love to meet you in

person. Come see us at 1500 South Allen L. Bean

Boulevard right here in Wheeler, Texas. We gather

every Sunday morning at 1030 a .m. and in the

afternoon at 230 p .m. We meet again on Wednesdays

at 7 p .m. Right now, let's open our Bibles together

and dive into today's sermon. I had to work in

Lubbock this last week and so I was in the hotel

room on Tuesday night. I walked into the hotel

room and I clicked on the TV and a commercial

came on the TV. And it was somebody talking about

the Lord. This is good. It's good advertisement.

It's good to see people on TV talking about the

Lord, but at the end of the commercial He said

if you're out there listening to me right now

I want you to close your eyes and say this prayer

and he began to Recite this prayer right here

dear Lord Jesus. I know that I'm a sinner and

I ask for your forgiveness I believe that you

died for my sins and rose from the dead I turn

for my sins invite you to come into my life I

want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and

Savior. I pray in Jesus name. Amen It's beautiful

prayer. I think there's points of this prayer

and we'll talk about it as we go through there

that has basis in scripture you want to say this

prayer i'm not going to sit there and tell you

don't say this prayer the problem was what he

said after that he said if you just said this

prayer then you're saved from your sins you have

salvation the blood of jesus is covering your

sins and you have nothing to worry about and

he said now i want you to call this number and

somebody will be on the other end of the line

and they'll counsel you and they'll help you,

but God's gonna come into your life and change

your life now at this point in time. You know,

that's not the way I understand the scriptures.

So I've got to ask myself, what do the scriptures

say about this? We've just went through a series

of sermons on the history of the church. And

we've seen time and time again when some type

of doctrine would come into the church and would

become commonplace years down the line, but it

was nothing more than a tradition of men. And

so I have a responsibility to stand up here before

you and tell you what the truth is. I've got

a responsibility. learn what the truth is for

myself and I may get passionate about some of

the things we talk about and study about today

I want you to know that if you've said this prayer

and you felt like Jesus came into your heart

and you've received salvation I'm not mad about

that I'm not angry about that and I want you

to know that I have a responsibility to speak

the truth in love I don't believe this prayer

saves you from your sins and I want to go through

the scriptures and teach about that and show

you about that but I'm not mad if you think that

happened I don't want you to get the impression

that I'm mad I want to speak the truth and love

but part of speaking the truth and love is absolutely

speaking the truth it's being honest with the

scriptures it's examining the scriptures in the

way that we talked about through the course of

this last series that we just studied so I want

to take an examination of this so -called sinners

prayer this morning because I want you to know

There are thousands and thousands of people that

see that commercial and I don't know how many

respond to it. But I know that throughout the

course of the last 80 years, there have been

thousands and thousands of people that have said

that prayer and honestly and truthfully believe

that Jesus came into the heart and cleansed them

from their sins. And so I wanna examine, is that

what is happening? Or what does the Bible teach

us in regard to that? In 1 John chapter 4 and

1 John 4 · chapter mention

verse number 1, we're admonished, beloved. Do

not believe every spirit, but try the spirits,

whether they are of God because many false prophets

are come or gone out into the world, many false

prophets. The Bible warns or Paul warns elders

in the church he says that you need to take heed

to yourselves in the flock because they're going

to be grievous wolves that come out from among

you not spraying the flock they're going to be

false teachers and he said your job as members

of the body of Christ is to try the spirits don't

believe everything that you hear I remember Talking

to kids about, don't believe everything you read

on the internet. Don't believe that. Well, don't

believe everything you hear from people. Don't

believe everything you see on TV. Don't believe

everything that you read or see in a book. Try

those spirits and what are we trying them against?

We're trying them against the Word of God. We're

seeing if they measure up to the truth of the

Word of God. What does the Bible say? And let's,

again, like we talked about all through that

series, let's just go back and do what the Bible

says. Let's not make up something new. Let's

not try to do something different. Let's just

do what the Bible says to do. And if the Bible

says that a prayer saves your sins, then that's

what's true. And if the Bible says there's something

else that saves you from your sins, then that's

what's true. It doesn't matter what anybody else,

what I myself have said, believed, or taught,

or what you've said, believed, or taught, it

does not matter. What matters is what the scriptures

say. So your job and my job this morning is to

try this spirit. The spirit has been teaching

or the spirit of praying and receiving Jesus

into your heart is what's being taught. Let's

try that. Let's examine that this morning. First

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 19. It says,

do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophecies,

test all things, hold fast what is good, abstain

from every form of evil. That's a pretty simple

prescription for how to approach things that

we need to understand, things that pertain to

our salvation. Don't quench the Spirit. Don't

go against what the Spirit has said. What did

we learn through this last series? The Spirit

revealed things to the apostles. The apostles

wrote those things down. Jesus promised that

Spirit was going to come. He said, the Spirit

of life is going to put you in remembrance of

all these things. The Spirit of life came and

the apostles remembered. They were put in perfect

remembrance and they wrote things down so that

thousands of years later, you and I can read

those things and understand those things. If

something goes against those things that are

written, if something is contrary to what's written

in the scriptures, it is quenching the Spirit.

It's quenching the spirit. If something was prophesied

and then misapplied and people misapply a prophecy

today, they're despising prophecies. That's not

right. We're told not to do that. Don't quench

the spirit. Don't despise prophecies. Now let's

test all things. And so that's what we're going

to do for a little bit. I believe there's biblical

precedents for looking at these doctrines and

testing them and seeing if they hold up. Finally

in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse number 14, that

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

we should no longer be children, tossed to and

fro and carried with every wind of doctrine by

the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness

of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth

in love may grow up in all things into him who

is the head, Christ. So we want to do our very

best to speak the truth in love this morning

about this doctrine. And we don't want to get

tossed to and fro. We want to be steadfast, unmovable,

always abounding in the work of the Lord. That's

our goal. The only way to do that is to look

to the scriptures. The scriptures are unchangeable.

They keep us steadfast. They keep us true. They

keep us holy. And let's not be tossed to and

fro. So with that being said, let's begin to

look at another verse here and set the stage

for how we examine all... all different kinds

of doctrines. There's really two things that

set forth. And we talked about this again over

the course of this series. It's probably why

all these things are on my mind. But in Matthew

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

chapter 21 and verse 23, they begin to question

Jesus. Jesus has given them these teachings and

they come to him in the second part of verse

number 23 there and they say, by what authority?

Are you doing these things and who gave you this

authority? But Jesus answered and said to them

I also will ask you one thing which if you tell

me I likewise will tell you by what authority

I do these things. The baptism of John where

was it from? From heaven or from men? You know

the story goes on and they don't have a good

answer and they choose not to answer. But really

the meat of the matter here in this verse is

that Jesus has given you and I the blueprint.

He's given them the blueprint. Who gave Jesus

the authority? Jesus was given the authority

from heaven. Who gave them the authority for

what they were teaching and speaking out against

it was the traditions of men He's making a point

to them that the authority of heaven the words

of God the words of Christ have weight and When

we are speaking and operating under the premise

of those things We have the authority to speak

the truth in love every one of you in here have

the authority to speak the truth in love Long

as you're abiding by the scriptures, but when

you make a decision to go beyond what is written

and you make a decision to make up your own doctrine

or follow your own tradition that is contrary

to the scriptures, then you're operating under

the authority of men. And men have no authority.

Men have no authority to introduce new doctrines

into the church. And so what is this prayer?

Is it the authority of men or is it the authority

of God? Is it of heaven? or is it of men? That's

what we want to look at for the remainder of

our time together this morning. So my first question

is can we find this prayer in scripture? I'll

put it back up on the board there. We have a

beautiful amount of technology today that allows

us to search the scriptures. More easily than

any any time before and and it's a wonderful

thing, you know You can pull up eSword on your

phone You can type in a few words and and you

can see where they appear in in the Bible You

don't have to get out that old Strong's and go

through it page by page anymore. Now. That's

good exercise I encourage you to do that sometimes

but the wonderful thing is I can type these words

into that search Engine and I can see if they

appear in the Bible and I want you to know I've

done that in every different version. Let me

see how many versions I had to write it down

here. 64 versions, English versions of Bible

are on Bible Gateway. I use that resource a lot.

64 English versions of the Bible are on Bible

Gateway, and that's not in a single one of them.

Typed out like that. Now this man stood on his

TV and he said, if you will say this, you will

be saved. That's not in there. That's just the

truth. I'm trying to speak the truth in love.

I'm not trying to be mean. It's not there. You

can't find it. There's nowhere it says this prayer

will save you. You can find the Lord's Prayer.

You can type the words of the Lord's Prayer.

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. You

can find that. That prayer is there. That prayer

is a good resource to teach us how to pray. The

apostle said we need to know how to pray. Teach

us how to pray. He didn't teach them that prayer.

He taught him a different prayer. And the words

of that prayer we can find in scriptures. This

prayer we cannot find in scriptures. However,

as I mentioned, there are biblical principles

scattered all through this prayer. Biblical things

pulled out, and let's just be honest with how

we deal with it. Because if I'm gonna stand up

here and preach you the plan of salvation as

I understand it, I'm gonna say you need to hear,

believe, repent. Confess and be baptized how

many times have you heard that I? Can't turn

to one scripture in in the Bible and and show

you all those things get really close on a couple

But I can't turn to one scripture where we're

piecing that together and so maybe it is that

these individuals have Believed that they've

pieced this together through throughout the scriptures

and so where where have they done that you know

in Luke chapter 18 of verse number 13 We'll read

Luke 18 · chapter mention

all these verses in just a minute, but we can

see this concept of somebody standing before

God and saying they're a sinner and that they

need mercy, that they need forgiveness. We can

see that concept. We can see someone making this

statement or we know that this is a very true

statement, that Jesus died for our sins and rose

from the grave. Our whole faith is built on that,

brothers and sisters. Our whole foundation of

faith is built on that principle. And so you

can find that in the scriptures. You can see

where we're commanded to turn from our sins.

That's a very appropriate thing that has to happen

in order for salvation to occur. To say that

in a prayer, to ask God to help you for that,

there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Invite

Jesus into our heart. The Bible talks about Jesus

coming in and dwelling with us, the Spirit dwelling

with us. We invite those things. We want those

things to occur, that we trust and follow Jesus

and obey Him as our Lord and Savior. that is

a very biblical concept. If you're not following

and trusting in the Lord, what are you trying

to do in your Christianity and your Christian

faith? And then praying in the name of Jesus

is obviously a biblical thing as well. So all

these things are based on biblical principles

and you could almost just go through those things

just like you and I would go through the list

of the plan of salvation. And so what if somebody

does that with you and you encounter that and

they're going to scriptures? Does that make this

true? Does that make this right? You know, we've

got a responsibility to look at a concept and

apply good basis of how we interpret and how

we look at scriptures. And I want you to know,

and we've talked about this many times, context

is the king of all those things when we're trying

to figure out what a scripture's talking about.

Where does it apply? The context matters. Who's

speaking matters. Who they're speaking to matters.

Those things are important when we're trying

to interpret the scriptures. So I want to take

each one of these verses and I want to look at

them for just a second because these are verses

that I have encountered when speaking with people

about this prayer and I want to treat them honestly

and I want to say what do they mean? How do they

apply? Can we apply them to a prayer? Can we

put these concepts together in a prayer? Say

that prayer and be saved? Or these just good

biblical principles that we need to understand

and we need to pray about but that prayer doesn't

necessarily save our soul. First one, Luke chapter

Luke 18 · chapter mention

18 and verse number 13. Speaking of this tax

collector, it says the tax collector standing

afar off would not so much as raise his eyes

to heaven, but beat upon his breast saying, God

be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you this man

went down to his house justified rather than

the other for everyone who exalts himself will

be humbled and he who humbles himself will be

exalted. This is a pretty Good scripture to support

this concept, isn't it? Here we have a man that

was obviously a sinner. You know what the tax

collectors did? They stole money from people.

Basically, they went around stealing money. They

skimmed off the top. And so when somebody would

pay their taxes, they would skim a little bit.

They would keep a little money for themselves.

That's immoral. That's sin. We've got a sinner.

So this tax collector here is a sinner. He's

standing there with a publican, a man who was,

he's standing there with the Pharisee who was

a man of the law, a man who understood the law,

a man who followed God supposedly. Now he was

following his traditions more than he was following

God, but this Pharisee was a very prideful man.

And he said, you know, I'm glad I'm not like

this publican or this tax collector. I'm glad

I'm not a sinner like him. I'm fasting, I'm praying,

I'm giving to the poor. I'm doing all these wonderful

things. And so what's the concept being taught

here? The concept is that of pride and humility.

It's not about a prayer saving your soul. It's

about a situation where one man was prideful

and another was humble. And we're being taught

about humility. Now it says this man went down

to his house justified rather than the other.

This man was justified. Here's what we don't

know. We don't know. what happened in the background

of these men's lives. And furthermore, what we

do know is that this instance occurred under

a different covenant than the New Testament covenant.

So here we're having two men seeing this situation

play out in the Old Testament covenant or under

the law of Moses. There's no command for them

to be baptized under the law of Moses. There's

no command for them to say a prayer for salvation

under the law of Moses. How were they saved under

the law of Moses? Well, number one, you belong

to the household of Israel. And number two, year

after year, you perform those sacrifices that

would roll your sins back time after time after

time. This has nothing to do with salvation.

This scenario, the way this plays out has nothing

to do with salvation. It doesn't teach a New

Testament concept of salvation in the form of

prayer. What it does teach is the principle of

you should be humble. Don't be prideful. Don't

be built up with pride. You're not going to be

justified in the eyes of God. The only way you

can be justified in the eyes of God is to humble

yourself, realize you've got a ton of sin in

your life, and obey and follow God. That's the

concept and principle that's being taught. here.

So while the line is very appropriate in a prayer

that you love the Lord and you're a sinner and

you know you're a sinner and you want to ask

for forgiveness, while that's very appropriate

for the Christian, we're not shown anywhere that

that saves somebody that hasn't come to Christ.

Let's look at our next verse in first Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15 and verse number three for I delivered

to you first of all that which I also received

that Christ died for our sins according to the

scriptures and That he was buried and that he

rose again the third day According to the scriptures

first Corinthians chapter 15 if we back up a

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

couple verses Paul's going to say Brethren, I

want to declare unto you the gospel And he's

declaring unto them the death, the burial, and

the resurrection of Jesus. And we know the gospel

is what saves us. And to incorporate that into

a prayer is a wonderful and marvelous thing.

But there's nowhere in this passage, in the context

of this passage, that says if we say these words,

that we're going to automatically be saved from

our sins. In fact, he paints the picture that

we are saved by this gospel. We are saved by

the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

That's the principle that he's teaching us there.

That if this didn't happen, if Jesus didn't die,

if Jesus wasn't buried, if Jesus didn't rise

from the grave, we would not have salvation.

And so that's what he's teaching and showing

us. And if you want to pray that in your prayers,

it's a wonderful thing to pray, God be thanked.

That is a wonderful thing to be thankful for

and to pray about. But just saying the word simply,

we get no indication from this scripture that

that saves us in any way, shape or form. Acts

chapter three in verse 19, repent therefore and

be converted that your sins may be blotted out

so that the time of refreshing may come from

the presence. of the Lord. Once again, we are

shown it is very clear that we must turn from

our sins. In part of that prayer, I turn from

my sins. So important. You must turn from your

sins. You cannot, the Bible says, can we continue

in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Certainly

not. We cannot continue in our sins. We have

to commit that we're going to change, that we're

going to turn from our sins. And for you to do

that, before salvation is so important. It's

so important. But just the concept of saying

those words, we're not shown here that that saves

us. We're not shown that that allows us to obtain

salvation. Invite you to come into my life. That's

part of that prayer that's spoken. We invite

Jesus to come into our life. Certainly we want

Jesus in our life. Revelation chapter three and

verse 20, Jesus himself says, behold, I stand

at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice

and opens the door, I will come into him and

dine with him and he with me." Beautiful scripture.

Beautiful scripture of Jesus telling people that

if you'll just let me in. We sing songs about

that, don't we? Just let me into your life. That's

all we need from Jesus. We want him to come in

to our life. And so we read that verse and...

And I'll be honest, that verse right there is

pretty convincing when you just read it there

by itself. What's going on in the book of Revelation

here? Who's this being written to? And that's

where context begins to play a major and important

role when we're treating the scriptures fairly.

We have to use that context and understand that

context. Jesus is writing to a church, a church.

He's not writing to just people out in the world

and saying hey anybody if you'll just open the

door I'll come in He's he's writing to the church

and he's begging and pleading with the church

to let him in that the church needs to let him

in and let him have his way. He's begging for

them to obey him and accept his way and his path

and not try to vary that at all. And so when

we understand that, we understand a very different

concept. And prayer is very different for the

Christian than it is for the non -Christian.

As we move along in Acts chapter 2 and verse

Acts 2 · chapter mention

number 36, therefore let all the house of Israel

know assuredly that God has made this same Jesus

whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. The

next line in that prayer, I want to trust and

follow you as my Lord and Savior. Amen. Again,

a wonderful thing to pray, a wonderful thing

to say. But just saying the words doesn't mean

that he washes us and cleans us from our sins.

And then in John chapter 16 and verse 23, they

John 16 · chapter mention

pray in the name of Jesus. Obviously, I'm a big...

proponent of that I think we ought to always

pray in the name of Jesus and John 16 23 shows

that and in the day in that day you ask me nothing

most assuredly I say to you whatever you ask

the father in my name he will give you I believe

that our prayers should be directed to the Heavenly

Father in the name of Jesus and I think that's

appropriate I don't think that prayers closed

in an appropriate fashion so they're obviously

asking in the name of Jesus I have no problem

with that I have no no issue with that at all

Matthew chapter 6 and 9 shows us as the people

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

said teach as the Apostle said teach us to pray

show us how to pray Jesus said after this manner

you should pray our father in heaven Hallowed

be thy name and so he teaches us to pray in the

name of the father To and then this verse teaches

us to pray in his name I want to wrap this out

with with this verse because I encountered this

one quite often when visiting with someone about

the sinner's prayer James chapter 5 and verse

James 5 · chapter mention

15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick

and the Lord will raise him up and if he has

committed sins he will be forgiven. You know

that's probably the most compelling verse if

we just pull it out of the context there and

look at it because you can say all right I've

said all these things in this prayer and they're

biblical things. They're things I need to ask

for. I know I'm a sinner. I know I need to be

forgiven. I know I need Jesus in my life. I know

he needs to come into my life for me to live

and operate as I should. I've prayed that in

the name of Jesus and James chapter 5 and verse

James 5 · chapter mention

15 says the prayer of faith will save the sick

and if he's committed sins he'll be forgiven

and that is extremely compelling until you look

at who's the book of James written to? James

writes in James chapter 1 and verse 1, to the

James 1 · chapter mention

12 tribes scattered abroad. And so he's writing

to the 12 tribes and you scratch your head and

you say, is this the 12 tribes of Israel? Who's

he writing to? Well, the concept is in Romans

Romans 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11 that we would all be grafted in to

the nation of Israel. He said they're not all

Israel who are of Israel, but then he talks about

the concept of being grafted in. And the concept

of being grafted, you know a lot of people that

work in orchards perform this concept of grafting

and The example used in Romans is that you've

got this wild olive tree over here, and you've

got this good olive tree, this cultivated olive

tree. And he said, we take the branch off this

wild olive tree, and we cut off the branch, and

we bring it over here to this cultivated olive

tree that's good, and that's pure, and that's

right, and we graft it in. So we notch out a

little bit out of this olive tree here that's

good, and we put this wild olive tree into that

branch. It becomes part of That tree it becomes

part of that nation It becomes part of the saved

and so James in his writing in James chapter

James 1 · chapter mention

1 and verse 1 is saying I'm writing this to the

saved I'm writing this to the 12 tribes scattered

abroad those that are saved those that are already

have already attained salvation This is his advice

to them there when you're down and when you need

help and when you're sick pray You need to pray

and when you are when you have salvation when

you're part of the saved he says that prayer

will Forgive your sins then and so we've got

this difference between someone who is an alien

sinner never known Jesus Setting in front of

the TV in their hotel room in Lubbock, Texas

And and here's that prayer and they've never

known Jesus and they hear that and they say that

prayer will that prayer save them and the answer

is no but you've got somebody that's obeyed the

gospel that's let Jesus save them in his way

through the death, burial, the resurrection of

Jesus through obedience to that form of doctrine.

And they're sitting in front of the same TV and

they say, Lord, I've sinned tonight and I need

you to forgive me. The Lord is faithful and just

to forgive those sins in that scenario. That's

the power of prayer for the Christian versus

the non -Christian. And so we need to understand

that difference and that's shown very clearly

through here in the book of James that he is

teaching this concept to those that are already

saved. The next thing that we want to examine

is the concept of calling on the name of the

Lord. Because that's referenced many times and

in fact, I didn't put it on there, but right

above that graphic on this website. it had that

verse that whoever calls on the name of the Lord

will be saved and so that's the concept that

they believe they're following and I believe

for the most part people with honest hearts are

following that so let's talk about calling on

the name of the Lord for just a moment. Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 in verse number 21 it shall come to

pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord

shall be saved. This is a quotation from the

book of Joel. Joel had prophesied that there

would come a day when whoever called on the name

of the Lord would be saved. The scriptures repeat

in Romans chapter 10 and verse number 13, for

Romans 10 · chapter mention

whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be

saved. And so the question becomes, how do we

call on the name of the Lord? Well, in my insufficient

logical mind, it seems reasonable to me that

we would call the name of the Lord in prayer.

Doesn't it seem reasonable to you that we would

call to the name of the Lord in prayer? You know,

I can see how people believe that. I can see

how people understand that. But that's my flawed,

logical mind. And if I'm honest with the scriptures

and I begin to dig into scriptures and say, how

do I call on the name of the Lord? I begin to

see a different picture. The Bible actually tells

us quite clearly. how we call on the name of

the Lord. We don't have to wonder about that.

We don't have to make it up in our mind. It doesn't

have to be some some man -made definition of

calling on the name of the Lord. The Bible is

going to paint the picture and it's going to

show us how to do that. And in order to do that

and in order to walk through these other concepts

that we've talked about already this morning,

I want to turn to the book of Acts chapter 9

Acts 9 · chapter mention

and I want to go through a story, a retelling

of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus and so we're

gonna be in Acts chapter 9 and Acts chapter 22

Acts 9 · chapter mention Acts 22 · chapter mention

and we're gonna look at this conversion and we're

gonna see a picture of maybe a man that thought

this prayer concept would work. and how he's

told how to call on the name of the Lord and

how to obtain salvation. Because at the end of

the day that's all we want to know. I want you

to be saved and go to heaven. I want to be saved

and go to heaven. I want everybody in this town

to be saved and go to heaven and understand the

right process to follow so that they can be saved

and go to heaven. And the Bible paints the picture

for us. I'm not making this stuff up. The Bible

is painting the picture for us and so I'm going

to let it do that for us. Acts chapter 9 beginning

Acts 9 · chapter mention

in verse number 3. This is speaking of Saul.

It says as he journeyed he came near Damascus

and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.

Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice

saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting

me? And he said, who are you, Lord? Then the

Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

It is hard for you to kick against the goads.

So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord,

what would or what do you want me to do? Then

the Lord said to him, arise and go into the city.

and you will be told what you must do. And the

men who journeyed with him stood speechless,

hearing a voice but seeing no one. Then Saul

arose from the ground, and when his eyes were

opened, he saw no one, but they led him by the

hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was

three days without sight, and neither ate nor

drank. Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus

named Ananias. And to him the Lord said in a

vision, Ananias, and he said, here I am Lord.

So the Lord said to him, arise and go to the

street called Strait and inquire at the house

of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold,

he is praying. And in a vision, he has seen a

man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand

on him. So here we have the story of Saul, and

he encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus.

He's struck blind. He wants to know what the

Lord wants him to do. He's confessing the name

of the Lord. And he said, go to the city, and

it'll be told there what you must do. So he goes

to the city he's blind it says for three days

He did not eat or drink And it also says that

during that period of time he was praying So

here's a man that's that's doing these things

as logically one might do God wants Ananias to

go to him to preach to him to heal him so that

he can receive his sight again I want to go now

to Acts chapter 22 This is the same account,

Acts 22 · chapter mention

but it's Paul telling it from his perspective

And so he's recounting it to a different group

of people about what what was happening in that

situation So now Paul is speaking, he says, then

a certain Ananias, a devout man, according to

the law, having a good testimony with all the

Jews who dwelt there, came to me and he stood

and said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight.

And at that same hour, I looked up at him. So

I want to recount what's happened to Paul or

Saul in this story thus far. Number one, he has

heard the voice of Jesus. He's heard the voice

of Jesus. Acts chapter nine and verse number

four tells us that, that he heard Jesus say words

to him. He has believed. called Jesus Lord. In

Acts chapter 9 verses 5 and 6 he refers to him

Acts 9:5

as Lord. First he says who are you Lord? Then

Jesus answered him and says I'm Jesus whom you

persecuted and then he says Lord what would you

have me to do? And so he knows whatever's happening

here must be from the power of the Lord on high.

Jesus reveals himself to him and now he says

what do you want me to do? I believe that you

tell me what I need to do and I'll go and do

it. He asked, what do I need to do? Acts chapter

Acts 9 · chapter mention

9 and verse 6 again. I honestly want to know,

Saul says, I honestly want to know what do I

need to do? And he's told to go into the city.

So he obeys a command. He's not just told what

to do, but he's listening now. I will do what

you want me to do I'll obey whatever command

you give me and and I have no doubt if Jesus

would have told Saul to go clear across the country

to some way foreign land He would have done just

that he would have made sure and I have no doubt

if Jesus would have told Paul There's a pool

of water right there. You need to be baptized

right now He would have done that right then

and if he would have told Saul that hey go into

the city and say this prayer That's what he would

have done. He would have obeyed whatever. But

the command at that point was you need to go

to the city. He said, okay, I'll go. Three days

he fasts once he gets there. Three whole days

he fasts. He does not eat. He does not drink

for three days. He is focused on knowing I'm

a sinner, knowing I've done something wrong,

knowing I need to change, worried about what

to do and how many more days he would have went,

I don't know. But luckily, God goes ahead and

sends Ananias to him. During that period of time,

he's praying. I've heard people say he prayed

continually. I don't know if he prayed continually

during that time or not, but I know he's praying.

And here's another caveat in the whole story.

God knows he's praying. I'll be honest, I've

stood up and taught against this sinner's prayer

before and said, God does not ever hear a sinner

pray a word. I don't believe that's true. The

scriptures say when a man was healed and received

his sight one time, when people ask him who was

Jesus and how did Jesus do that, he said, you

know, we know that God doesn't hear sinners,

but if a man is a follower of his, him he heareth.

So we know that Jesus couldn't have performed

this miracle if he was a sinner. And so I've

used that scripture and I've said, we know God

never hears a word that a sinner says. I don't

think that's true because God knew Paul was praying

or Saul was praying. Now, was he answering everything

Saul was putting down? No, it doesn't look like

it, but he knew he was praying. He knew he wanted

help, and so sometimes a sinner can cry out for

help and God may put help in their path. Sometimes

a sinner can cry out that they need somebody

in their life and God may put somebody in their

path, but Paul's here praying, very intently

praying and fasting, and he's still... evidently

has sin in his life. And then at the end of this,

where we just laughed off, he's gonna receive

a miraculous healing, not of his sin, but of

his eyesight. So he's struck blind and now Ananias

comes in and says, brother Saul, receive your

sight. And immediately his eyes are open and

he can see again. And so I want you to think

about this man and what he's been through and

what the process is. And again, my week, Logic

of my mind, if we stopped right there, I might

look at that story and I might say, that's gotta

be a saved individual. He's got to be saved.

He's heard the voice of Jesus. He believes Jesus

is Lord. He has asked and inquired what he needed

to do, been told what he needed to do, obeyed

what he had been told to do up until that point.

He's fasted, he's prayed, and he's received a

miraculous healing of his body and of his physical

elements. He must be saved. And yet we read in

Acts 22 and 16, and now why are you waiting?

arise and be baptized and wash away your sins

now listen calling on the name of the Lord how

was he supposed to call on the name of the Lord

well he was supposed to call on the name of the

Lord when he was baptized that's how he called

on the name of the Lord not through a prayer

now again my weak and logical mind I have a trouble

connecting the dots. I have trouble saying, well

this looks like calling on the name of the Lord

and this doesn't. I don't have to rely on my

weak and logical mind. I can rely on what the

scripture says and it says that this man who

believed, who fasted, who prayed, who obeyed,

who had a miracle worked on him, the Bible says

he still had his sins and the thing that he needed

to do was arise and be baptized and wash those

sins away. because that was the act of calling

on the name of the Lord. You see, we don't have

to wonder, and we don't have to doubt, and we

don't have to piece all those things together.

We just have to read what the scriptures tell

us, accept what the scriptures tell us, and believe

that I can be saved just like He was saved. He

was not saved by prayer. He was not saved by

fasting. He was not saved by a miracle. He was

saved when He went down into a watery grave of

baptism. Had his sins washed away and was risen

to walk in newness of life. That's what happened

to Saul of Tarsus That's the process. That's

the model. That's what the scriptures show us

The second thing that I want to look at this

briefly as we wrap this up is the other part

of that equation. So number one, we've seen this

sinner's prayer is not from heaven. We can't

find it in the scriptures. We can't find it in

the apostle's doctrine. We can find segments

of it, but they're taken out of context. We're

never told that a prayer saves a sinner. We're

told that prayer can forgive sins of a Christian,

but we're never told that a prayer washes away

sins in the same form that baptism washes away

sins. So the second question is, was this developed

by men then? If it didn't come from heaven, was

it developed by men? Is it a tradition of men?

Can we see in the history of time this developed

after the conclusion of the New Testament was

written? And the answer to that question is yes.

We see people begin to preach and talk about

this inward renewal in the 1700s and emphasize

an inward renewal. And I believe an inward renewal

is very important. I believe that we need to

change our hearts. and change our ways. I don't

believe that if you're baptized and never repent

and never change that salvation occurs. I don't

believe baptism is that powerful. I believe a

change has to happen, a commitment to change

and inward renewal and wanting to know what Jesus

says, letting Jesus dwell in you through the

word, obeying the word and having a desire for

that. I think all that's important. But this

overemphasis on this led to this concept of the

mourner's bench in 1801 and there was a specific

revival that was held and this mourner's bench

was held and they invited the crowd to come up

and just kneel down on this mourner's bench and

start praying. And originally they had to pray

for a long, long time. They had to pray and really

sweat and really get into that prayer and beg

and beg and beg and maybe after a while of intense

and powerful prayer and all this time, maybe

then Jesus will forgive you. And that was that

initial concept. That's where this whole idea

got started. Later... evolved into just a general

altar call that if you want to be saved come

up here to the front and people will pray for

you and be saved and we I'll be honest have some

of that tradition in the church in that we have

the invitation song we'll sing a little bit that's

a tradition of men we we can have that we don't

have to have that that's not something that's

necessarily prescribed we give people an opportunity

to respond don't think there's anything wrong

with giving people an opportunity to respond

But their idea was you come, you get down on

your knees, and you start praying again, and

you pray hard, and you pray long, and you pray,

and you pray, and you pray, and hopefully, at

the end of that prayer, he's gonna forgive you.

And then we see in the late 1940s and 1950s,

as there was this rise of... Crusades not not

crusades in the sense of war but but evangelistic

Crusades going on and we get to see this on the

TV and now we really need something That people

can see on the TV and say and be saved. We really

need something like that And so what happened

you start to see this scripted sinners prayer

that prayer that I put up there that really short

really precise really You know Click and cover

some things and make sure that you receive Jesus

into your heart and are saved. None of that's

in the Bible. None of that's in the Bible. And

again, I want to speak the truth in love to you.

You may have done that. You may have said that

prayer. You may have felt saved for years because

of that prayer. Because you know what happens?

When somebody says that prayer, when they're

feeling the weight of sin, and they're feeling

the burden of sin, and they get out on their

knees and they say that prayer, They're going

to feel something different. They're going to

feel a burden lifted. You're going to feel saved.

But feeling saved doesn't make you saved. And

so I want to close with just a couple scriptures

where people said, what do we do? And the Bible

specifically told them what to do. That's all

I know to believe, brothers and sisters. That's

all I know to do. We can break down scripture

after scripture, verse after verse, but at the

end of the day, when somebody said, what do I

need to do? An apostle told them what they needed

to be do. That's what I want to do. That's what

I want to do I just want to follow the pattern

acts chapter 2 and verse number 37 now when they

Acts 2 · chapter mention

heard this they were cut to the heart and Said

to Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and

brethren. What shall we do? Perfect time for

him to say recite this prayer What you have to

do recite this prayer and you'll be saved. There's

a perfect opportunity Peter has all knowledge.

He's been endowed by the Holy Spirit with a perfect

remembrance of everything Jesus has said and

done. Perfect opportunity, but that's not what

he does. He says instead, repent, let every one

of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ

for the remission of your sins and you'll receive

the gift of the Holy Ghost. Don't quench the

Spirit. Don't quench the Spirit by saying you

receive the Spirit through a prayer. You don't

receive the Spirit through a prayer. You receive

the Spirit when you repent and are baptized.

That's when you receive the Spirit. Don't quench

it. Don't quench the spirit. The second verse

I want to read is Acts 16 and verse 30. He brought

him out and said, "'Sirs, what must I do to be

saved?' A very clear question. I want to be saved.

I need to know what to do. This man was in a

little bit different situation than those in

Acts 2. In Acts 2, Peter had already preached

to him. In Acts 2, Peter had already told him

who Jesus was. In Acts 2, Peter had already convicted

him of their sins. This man didn't know Jesus,

never heard of Jesus, didn't know anything about

Jesus. And so he said, what must I do to be saved?"

And they said, you need to believe on the name

of the Lord Jesus and you'll be saved. So what

did they do? They took him and spoke the word

of the Lord to him and to all that were in his

house. He needed a base knowledge of who Jesus

was and that Jesus could take away his sins.

So he needed to believe first. He didn't know

how to believe. They taught him how to believe.

And when he believed, what happened? What was

the result? Immediately, it says, he and his

family were baptized. What do I need to do? You

need to know who Jesus is you need to believe

in Jesus and So we're gonna teach you and speak

to you the word of the Lord and when he knew

when he heard the word of the Lord The word of

the Lord convicted him that he need to be baptized

He didn't say a prayer Perfect opportunity for

that to show us in the scriptures that he needed

to say that prayer But he didn't say that prayer

he and his family were baptized I want to circle

back to what we read at the first. Don't quench

the Spirit. We just talked about that. You receive

the Spirit when you obey the gospel, when you're

buried with Him in baptism. Don't quench the

Spirit. Don't despise prophecies. The prophecy

of Joel was that the day will come when anybody

that calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

What does that mean? Well, we read in Acts 22

what that means. It means to be baptized. It

doesn't mean cry out, Lord, Lord. Matthew 7 says,

not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, will...

be saved not everybody that says to me lord lord

is going to inherit eternal life that's not the

way it works that's not calling on the name of

the lord maybe i think that's calling on the

name lord maybe you think that's calling on the

name of the lord but we're despising a prophecy

if we take that prophecy and say what it is without

applying the biblical interpretation so i believe

today we've tested this and we're going to hold

fast what's good we're going to continue to teach

the gospel plan of salvation. And if you're here

today and you need salvation, there's one way

to obtain that salvation. And that's to be buried

with Him in baptism. That's to confess the name

of Jesus, repent of your sins, and then be baptized.

I know that you believe. I know that you've heard

what Jesus can do for you and that you believe

in that. And so... Today, hold fast to what is

good. Don't try to find a man -made solution

to an eternal problem that only Jesus can help

with. Thank you for listening to today's sermon

from the Church of Christ Wheeler area. We hope

this message encouraged you and strengthened

you in your faith this week. Don't forget the

door is always open at 1500 South Allen L. Bean

Boulevard. at 10 30 a .m on sundays 2 30 p .m

on sunday afternoons and recharge with us midweek

on wednesdays at 7 p .m for more information

or to hear past messages follow us on your favorite

podcast platform look us up on facebook and instagram

we hope you have a blessed week and we'll see

you next time