Sinner's Prayer? NOT in the Bible! (Bible Salvation Part 1)

 

DON'T BE DECEIVED!

OK, most of us claim and believe in "Sola Scriptura" (Scripture Only is to be followed), right? Well, there is no "Sinner's Prayer" in the bible other than the tax collector's prayer in one parable of Jesus and it is not even explicit about accepting Christ. Nor is there any prescribed sinner's prayer to become born-again in the whole Bible!

Therefore, praying the formula sinner's prayer DOES NOT MAKE YOU BORN-AGAIN! 

So, what makes one truly born again?

Modern Christianity erroneously bases evangelism on Paul and the book of Romans and Galatians. The early church did not even have these epistles on hand. What they did have were the gospels of Mark and Matthew and that was their main evangelistic tool. They did not start with Paul. Instead, they started with Jesus. They gave emphasis to the SHOUTS of God and not his w-h-i-s-p-e-r-s.

Here is the gospel according to our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, it is the MOST REPEATED principle in the gospels and will make us understand the rest of the New Testament:

1. Matthew 10:34-39 - Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
2. Matthew 16:24-26 - For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
3. Mark 8:34-36 - For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 35
4. Luke 9:23-25 - For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
5. Luke 17:34-36 - Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. (Reflect on v.32)
6. John 12:24-26 - Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
7. Luke 14:26 - If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, HE CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE.

Being born again is a specific event. Being truly born again begins with a voluntary and deliberate trade (This is NOT works! Just a simple act of faith!). We call this the LIFE-EXCHANGE trade. Christ came to offer us eternal life and the abundant life. 

True, we DO NOT WORK for our salvation. But GOD IS NOT FOOLISH to give us something for nothing!!! Only the modern "cheap grace" gospel says that but that is false teaching.

So he requires our very life to be offered on the altar. St. Paul confirms this in Romans 12:1, "offer your BODIES a living sacrifice". Note that the verse LITERALLY demands our bodies and not our souls or spirits simply because it is our bodies that carry our souls and spirits and it is our body which is succumbs easily to the sin nature (human nature actually!)

We trade ALL of our physical life in exchange for ALL the eternal and abundant life that Christ came to offer. This is an all-or-nothing-trade. One cannot be born again unless he renounces his WHOLE LIFE and body and offer it ENTIRELY to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has to become your Lord BEFORE he can become your savior, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!

When Jesus is truly your Lord and Master (as in a master-slave relationship), you still have free will but that is also offered to God. You no longer have a life (you have been bought at a price by Christ) other than serving your Master FULL TIME, (this is NOT part time and this is NOT optional). You are no longer a slave of sin but a slave of righteousness. Present day Christians REALLY need to know what SLAVE means.

Conclusion: 

Anyone who continues to love this world and what it can offer compared to what Jesus offers (slavery to righteousness and the gospel) is not born again. Anyone who has personal ambitions, desires, aspirations, pre-occupations other than what Christ wants us to have (slavery to righteousness and the gospel which realizes the abundant life and ends in eternal life)  is not born again. Anyone who continues to master the things of the world but be ignorant of the things of God (the Bible, what else?) is not born again (for how can you know your Master's will if you don't know the Bible? Where else will knowledge of your Master's will come from?). If you do not know the Master's will, then you have no master, you have no lord. NO LORD = NO SALVATION.