Errors of the Sinners Prayer

INTRODUCTION
The sinners prayer is quite popular. Many, many denominational churches use it in their
worship assemblies. Church camps use it to convert teenagers. Missionaries use it as they
convert unbelievers to Jesus Christ. The sinners prayer is remarkably popular despite the fact
that there is no Bible verse that uses it, implies it, or exemplifies it. The reality is that nowhere
in the Bible does anything remotely resembling the sinners prayer appear (Gebhards, 135).
Gebhard could not be more correct when he points out Nevertheless, all evangelism
methods should be subject to biblical scrutiny.
WHY IS THE SINNERS PRAYER SO POPULAR?
Gebhards gives us these reasons: 1.) It is doable. Anyone can do it, anytime, anywhere.
2.) It is easily reproducible. You can reproduce a prayer with a handful of words quite easily. It
doesnt take much time or effort to reproduce a prayer. Gebhards says, It is the TV dinner of
modern American evangelicalism (137). 3.) It is measurable. You cant actually count the
number of people who are converted to Jesus Christ, but you can count the number of people
who have publicly identified having said the sinners prayer.
So whats wrong with it?
IT MINIMIZES THE GOSPEL MESSAGE:
Every aspect of the Gospel message is minimized or distorted in some way through the
sinners prayer: 1.) The nature of God; 2.) Sin; 3.) Jesus as the Savior; 4.) mans response.
First, God has always expected man to follow up his faith with obedience. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord and God gave him the commandment to build the ark. Noah was
not saved by faith alone. Some 38 times throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites were
reminded to do all the commandments of Moses. When people say the sinners prayer, they are
seeing a one-dimensional God who doesnt expect action in addition to the faith.
Second, before one can be saved, he/she has to have an accurate understanding of what
sin is. A prayer that flies off the tongue is not sufficient. We have to study the word of God and
understand that we were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following
the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at
work in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:1-2). We must be convicted of our sins before
Christ can change our hearts. That takes study; it takes meditation; it takes self-reflection. Before
we will truly seek to be saved, we have to feel lost.
Third, the sinners prayer in that it dehydrates the Gospel dishonors Jesus Christ.
Where is the blood of Christ in the sinners prayer? Where is the new birth in the sinners
prayer? When Nicodemus asked Jesus how to inherit the kingdom, Jesus did not give him a
prayer to pray! Where is the washing of regeneration in the sinners prayer? You can say a
prayer and invite Jesus into heart but where are you put into Jesus Christ?

Fourth, the Bible simply is not silent on how man is to respond to the grace of God.
Where is repentance in the sinners prayer? Yet the word is found 56 times in the New
Testament. Where is baptism in the sinners prayer? That word is found 20 times as well as in
other forms like washing and new birth. Well discuss more about that in a moment
THE SINNERS PRAYER HINDERS THE PROGRESS OF BELIEVERS:
When a person says a prayer to receive Jesus in his heart, he thinks he has a
relationship with God right then and there. He has not yet yielded his heart to Christ and
recognized Him as Lord.
When Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, he told the Jews that through His
resurrection, Jesus was acknowledged by heaven to be both Lord and Christ. Before you can
accept Jesus as Lord, you have to humbly submit to what He says not make up your own plan
of salvation. We have to take up our cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23).
So, once again, believing in faith only as it is exemplified in the sinners prayer robs
discipleship of the need the necessity of obedience. Becoming a Christian is not necessarily
easy and painless. It is acknowledging that Jesus is Lord of your life and obeying Him as Lord.
The word obey is found 35 times in the New Testament and obedience is found
another 21 times.
THE SINNERS PRAYER GIVES FALSE ASSURANCE:
When someone sincerely without a doubt does something taught sincerely without a
doubt by a preacher who is loved and respected, but that prayer that is taught is simply not
from God, then the sinner believes he or she is saved when all they have done is obeyed man, not
God.
When we study the Scriptures to become a Christian, we have to study the Scriptures.
The Jews were no spiritual-push-overs. They had convictions. They had a spiritual backbone and
when Paul and Barnabas arrived in the city of Berea, those Jews searched the Scriptures daily to
see if what Paul and Barnabas were doing was authorized by the Scriptures! (Acts 17:11). We
can/should do no less.
Everyone who comes to Christ must examine himself (2 Corinthians 13:5) and submit
every action, every belief, every thought to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians
10:5).
THE SINNERS PRAYER IS AN (UNAUTHORIZED) ALTERNATIVE TO THE GREAT
COMMISSION:
If Billy Graham were to come to Paris today, I would not I could not participate with
him in any type of city-wide evangelistic effort. Why? Because he does not teach what Jesus
taught. Billy Graham teaches the sinners prayer.
Jesus told His disciples: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that

I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew
28:19-20).
I want you to pay attention to the words in this verse. There is really only one command
in the verse make disciples. How do you make disciples? Notice Jesus does not tell the
apostles to teach anything remotely resembling the sinners prayer. He says you make
disciples by doing two things notice the participles: baptizing in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Thats
how you make disciples of Christ.
The fact that baptism is integral to the making of disciples is seen vividly in Mark 16:1516: Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and
is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. The people who
practice the sinners prayer rearrange the words of Jesus and make Him say, Whoever
believes will be saved and afterward, should be baptized. Now, you tell me whether someone
can be saved who perverts the teachings of Jesus Christ!?
Every example of someone being saved from their sins in the book of Acts was baptized
for the forgiveness of those sins: Acts 2:38; 8:12-13; 8:38; 9:18 (22:16); 10:48; 16:15; 16:33;
18:8; 19:5.
So, finally, what does baptism do for you that the sinners prayer cannot? Baptism is
what puts us into the blood of Christ (Romans 6:3-4). Baptism puts us into the Church of Christ
(1 Corinthians 12:13). Baptism is what makes us children of God (Galatians 3:26). Baptism is
how we clothe ourselves with Christ (Galatians 3:27). Baptism cleanses us and sanctifies us
(Ephesians 5:26). Baptism is when sins are removed from our hearts (Colossians 2:11-12).
Baptism is when the Holy Spirit washes us and regenerates us (Titus 3:5). Baptism is when our
hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience (Hebrews 10:22). Baptism is when we grasp
that living hope available to us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter
1:3). Baptism, simply put, saves us from our sins (1 Peter 3:21).
How can you take baptism out of the plan of salvation and substitute a prayer in its place?
Prayer has a place in the life of a Christian; it does not play a role in the plan of salvation.
Gebhards, again: Considering the fact that nothing like the sinners prayer is found in the
Scriptures, and considering the dangers of the prayer, it simple does not seem reasonable to
continue to use it as if it marked the entrance to the Christian life (146). Amen!
Lets go back and teach what Jesus and His apostles taught!
Next week: Gospel meeting
This lesson utilizes the criticisms of the sinners prayer found in the chapter entitled
False Assurance: A Biblical Look at the Sinners Prayer by Kurt Gebhards, Former
Childrens Pastor at the Grace Community Church working with John MacArthur, editor of the
book in which the chapter is found, Evangelism: How to Share the Gospel Faithfully.