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The “I have prayed the
prayer” test! So, you have prayed the prayer? You
know, the prayer at the close of some gospel tract or the prayer that
some
“preacher” told you to pray. Maybe the “preacher” told you to ask Jesus
into
your heart. Or, maybe he said repeat this prayer after me and you will
be
saved. After you prayed some kind of prayer you were then told, “You
now have
eternal life and no one can ever take that away from you no matter
what!” You
know, no matter how you live your life, no matter that you don’t pray,
no
matter that you don’t read your Bible, no matter that you don’t live
for God.
After all, you’ve prayed the prayer. Is
that what you’re trusting in? A prayer you prayed? I hope not! If, and I do say IF. If you are
trusting in a prayer you prayed to save you
are trusting in the wrong thing! Prayer has never saved anyone! Christ
ALONE
saves! Maybe you have prayed a prayer. Maybe you are really saved. If
you are
trusting in Christ and nothing else and he has changed your life then
you have be
saved in spite of your prayer not because of it. BUT, if you say you
have been
saved, and your life has not been changed then there is something
vitally wrong
with your “salvation experience”. No matter what a “preacher” has told
you
about your prayer. Where in the Bible is a sinner ever
told to, “ask Jesus into your heart” or
“pray the sinners prayer” anyway? Where? I’ll tell you where – no
where! That
right, NO WHERE! You see, in the word of God, men are not confronted
with a
prayer they must pray they are confronted with God’s Holy Law, their
wicked
Sin, and God’s ONLY remedy for lawbreaking sinners. Have you ever been confronted with
your sin? Are you really a child of God?
Do you really have eternal life? Let’s see: Have you every told a lie (be honest)? Have you ever stolen
something (even
something small)? Have
you ever taken God’s name in vain? What is your answer? If you have
ever lied, stolen anything, our taken God’s name in vain then you are a
lying,
thieving, blasphemer! Remember the Ten Commandments? Of
course you do, because the work of the
Law is written in your heart and your conscience bears witness to that
fact (Romans
2:15). You know that taking the Lord’s name in vain, and stealing, and
lying is
WRONG (Exodus 20:3-17)! You know they are
wrong, not just because you say they are
wrong. They are wrong because God’s Law says they’re wrong - Dead wrong! “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23)
and “… sin is the transgression of the law.” (I John 3:4). Have you ever lusted about someone?
Jesus said, “…whosoever looketh on a woman
to lust after her hath committed
adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28)
Have you ever hated some one in your heart? Jesus
considers this murder (Matthew
5:21-22). If you have ever lusted or hated a person without cause you
are an
adulterer and murderer at heart. So you have asked Jesus to come into
your
heart? Why would Jesus want to come into your filthy wicked heart
anyway?
Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately
wicked: who can know it?” You don’t need to asked Jesus into your
heart! What you
need is a new heart! Your heart is not good! You stand
condemned as a law breaker before a Holy
God! You have violated His Law! As the Holy Judge of all the earth, God
has
already given his verdict – He says you are “condemned already” (John
3:18). He
says, “…all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags;
and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have
taken us
away. (Isaiah 64:6), and “…your iniquities have separated between you
and your
God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear”
(Isaiah
59:2). This should trouble you! God is Just! He has never and will never
overlook sin!
He has never and will never overlook YOUR sin! It matters not that you
“say” –
even in a prayer. God knows how you really are – He knows your heart!
And, you
MUST face your sins. You must be punished for your sins
or you must have some one that God will accept take your punishment. If
you do
not have a substitute, this too should trouble you! Lawbreaker, are you troubled?
Worried? Depressed? Concerned? Guilty? Broken
hearted? Good! But, those feelings are
not even good enough to save you! However, if you do feel that way,
then I have
good news for you! God graciously sent His only begotten Son
the Lord
Jesus Christ into this world to suffer, bleed, and die in the place
of guilty,
helpless, condemned sinners.
Jesus is God’s
gracious provision of a satisfactory substitute! It is God’s demands that must be met! Your
wicked
heart and life cannot meet God’s demands. God satisfied His own
inflexible
justice by mercifully sending His beloved Son to die in the place of
guilty
sinners. Notice what the scripture says,
“…Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his
blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,
through the
forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness:
that he
might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” It
is God
who is “just” and “righteous”! So just
and so righteous that He will not let one sin slip by. So just and so
righteous
that if a person is to find God’s favor at His bar of Justice their
sins must
be paid for! So just and so righteous,
that
God put on Christ’s account all the sins of all those who come to faith
in
Christ. And, having put on Christ those sins, God there and then
punished
Christ for all the sins of all of His people. You see, Jesus did not die for His
own sin, because He did not have any. I Peter 2:22 says, concerning
Jesus that He, “…did no sin...” Truly
Jesus Christ was and is “…holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from
sinners…” (Hebrews
7:26). Jesus did not die for His sins. He died because the sins of all
of his
people were put to his account. He died as a substitute in the place of
sinners. In doing so, Jesus satisfied the just demands of the God’s
Holy Law
for all those he died for. It was Jesus, “Who his own self
bare our sins in his own body on the tree…”
( I Peter 2:24). It is in Jesus that, “…we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”
(Colossians 1:14).
It was, “…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).
Jesus
did not come to save good people! Jesus was sent and came to save bad
people!
Sinners! Guilty, helpless, condemned sinners! “This is a faithful
saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save
sinners…” (I Timothy 1:15) But that is not all! After Jesus
paid in full the sin debt of His people,
He then arose from the grave to prove that He has completely cleared
our guilty
standing before God. Romans 4:25 say concerning Christ that He, “…was
delivered
for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” The
resurrection
of Jesus Christ is proof that God has accepted the sacrifice of Christ
in the
place of guilty sinners. Jesus cried aloud concerning his work of
redemption
when he died on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). On the third
day
after His death and burial, God proved that He had accepted the
sacrifice of
His Son by raising Him from the Dead. Salvation is not in a “prayer” you
pray, it’s not “asking Jesus to come
into your heart”, it’s not believing in a “time” you believed. It’s not
even
our faith that saves us. The object of our faith is WHO saves us.
Salvation is
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ! What are you trusting
in for
your salvation? Or better yet, WHO are you trusting in! God has made
full
provision for guilty, condemned, heartbroken sinners. Repent and
believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you will enjoy “FULL PARDON”! “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” (Acts “He that believeth ON him is not condemned:
but he
that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed
in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John If you are now trusting in the FINISHED WORK
of the
Lord Jesus Christ and NOTHING ELSE you will know that God has forgiven
you of
your sin debt, and you will know that you have received full pardon,
and your
life will be changed forever! As a pardoned sinner you are a new creature,
with
new desires, and a new direction for your life. All true Christians are
new
creatures because II Corinthians As a pardoned sinner, you now have new
desires – a
new heart. You now desire to live for Jesus who died for you. It will
be His
love for you that constrains you to live for him. Out of gratitude for
Him taking
your place as a condemned sinner you will want to serve Him and obey
Him more
and more day by day. “For the love of
Christ constraineth us… that they which
live should
not henceforth live unto themselves, but
unto
him which died for them, and rose again.” (II Corinthians
5:14-15) As a pardoned sinner you will be going in a
new
direction. Before you lived as you pleased, and did what you wanted to
do, but now
you will start living “unto him which died for you, and rose again for
you”. Jesus “…gave himself for us, that he might redeem us
from all
iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good
works. (Titus
2:14). May you serve, love, and obey Jesus, not in order to obtain
eternal
life, but because He paid your sin debt in full. If you are saved,
really
saved, you will! As a pardoned sinner, Christ’s love for you expressed
on the
cross will move you to love, honor, serve, and obey Him – If it doesn’t
then
your not pardoned! |