By: John Mitchell
There are some people who believe that if they say the “sinner’s prayer”, they have become a “born again” Christian. Some believe they are “once saved always saved”, and have a guaranteed place in heaven reserved for them. Saying a onetime prayer, to God, on one day of your life, will not make you a Christian, and it won’t get you into heaven. If a person will read the Bible they will discover that to be a Christian you have to follow and obey God’s plan of salvation. It’s not a one day a week part time job. Being a Christian requires us to follow and obey God’s will for us, all day and every day until we die. Let’s look at the “sinner’s prayer”. Many people use Romans 10:9, out of context, for the “sinner’s prayer”. It is, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” The next verse, Romans 10:10 is not included as part of the “sinner’s prayer.” It is this, “For with the heart one believes UNTO righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made UNTO salvation.” Verse 10 starts with the word “for” which means it is explaining verse 9, the previous verse. The first part of verse 10 is, “For with the heart one believes UNTO righteousness,” Just to say you believe is not enough. With your heart you have to believe UNTO righteousness. We have to work at being a righteous person, and continue to work, at continuing to be a righteous person. (James 2:19,20), tells us that just to believe is not enough. “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” The first part of verse 9 is, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus.” In (Matthew 7:21-23) Jesus tells us, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, But he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and did many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” Practicing lawlessness meant that they were not submitted to, and obeying, the laws of God. God is kind, loving, compassionate and a forgiving God. God is also a righteous and just God, who has commandments and laws that we need to obey and follow. (Romans 10:1-4) is such a good example of this. Paul had been a pharisee, and he became a Christian. There were pharisees and other people in Israel, who had not accepted Jesus to be the Son of God. They were still faithfully obeying the laws of the Old Testament, and did not accept the New Covenant of the New Testament. The following is the scripture written by Paul. “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Being a Christian is a full time “job”. We have to walk by faith and not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7) And we have to trust, and have faith in God, and in His holy inspired words of the Bible. (Proverbs 3:5-6) tells us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” If a person goes to a worship service on Sunday morning, and sings some hymns, and says to the preacher about his preaching, “Yes, amen. I believe.” And then the rest of the week he doesn’t daily pray and seek to follow God’s will for his life. He is busy doing whatever he thinks is right for him to do. He only focuses his life on God, for only one hour of one day each week. (Proverbs 14:12) “There is a way that seems right to a man, but it’s end is the way of death.” In (Philippians 2:12b) God tells us to, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Matthew 10:22), and (Matthew 24:13), and (Mark 13:13), all 3 say the same thing. “he who endures to the end will be saved.” We don’t have any guaranteed place in heaven reserved for us. God’s not looking for part timers to spend eternity with Him in heaven. God’s looking for full timers who He can trust, and who will spread the Gospel Message to as many as we are able to. “And He said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16) God wants everyone to be saved. As (2 Peter 3:9) tells us, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” It is God’s desire that everyone repents of their sins. We can clearly see that everyone does not repent of their sins. How truly sad it is that so many people do not repent of their sins. How truly wonderful it is to be a Christian daily following God’s will for us. In a Christian’s life there are blessings, and there will be some tribulations. God will give us peace in the midst of problems, and will be with us for His scripture to guide us through, and out of, our problems as they arise in our life. Christians and non-Christians both have problems in this life on earth. God is an ever-present help, and provider of peace and comfort as we, Christians, with God’s help, overcome our problems. When problems come into the non-Christians life, he is on his own to defeat or be defeated by his problems as they appear in his life. If you are not “full time” daily obeying, and submitted to God’s will for you, then you are not a Christian. “Whoever is not with Me is against Me. (Luke 11:23) “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24) A Christian is a member of the body of Christ, who has been baptized for the remission of his sins. And Christians obey the two great commandments that Jesus talked about in (Matthew 22:36-40). “Teacher which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” I will end with this. If you don’t become a Christian, and remain faithful and obedient to God for the rest of your life, you will never know what wonderful blessings and plans, God had prepared for you. And you will never be able to experience how wonderful it will be, to be with God in heaven for eternity.