Re: The Sinners Prayer: Does it Save You?
"Yes, this would show the way it is done by the Holy Spirit, because the HS knows the timing of when a person is ready."
If the Holy Spirit waited for when we were "ready" according to the flesh, we would never be saved, because we would never be ready in the flesh.
John 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
John 3:6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 1:13
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 3:8
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:14
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
So tell me how can someone make a "decision" for Christ when they consider the whole idea of Christ to be foolish? Until someone has been born again and has the Holy Spirit, they cannot choose Christ.
John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit...
Why is all this very important to understand? Because salvation is of the Lord, and not of man one iota! Man seeking to take part of the credit of salvation by saying he/she made a "decision" for Christ and that is why they are saved over someone else because they did this, therefore salvation ultimately lies in the sovereignty of man and not God is not the truth! And when it comes to salvation, knowing truth is more important than ever.
Matthew 11:27
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
The choice is in God's hands, not ours. Oh people hate that with a passion, but this is what the bible says over and over.
Yes, we are told to believe, and we should. We are also told to be perfect as our Heavenly father is perfect. Can we do either of these apart from the Holy Spirit? No! And the latter can only apply to us because of Christ's perfect righteousness imputed to us and no other way.
Apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5) And that includes making a decision for Christ. Once again, those that are in the flesh and have not been born again of the Spirit, cannot choose Christ because doing that would be foolishness to them. No one can put their trust and faith into something they consider foolish.
And how are we born of the Spirit? Does the bible say that's done by our will or our decision? Or is it by God's will?
John 1:13
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
I believe this is why we have so many false converts of people that have walked the aisle and said the sinner's prayer. They were not born again of the Spirit. They felt pressure to come to the front or some family member or friend pressured them to make a decision for Christ, and they did that in an outward show, but they did it out of the flesh and did not truly believe.
For those that do truly believe when they say the sinner's prayer or make a decision for Christ, that's wonderful! But what is not wonderful is that they go away trusting that it was their decision saving them when the truth is it was God saving them by grace alone, causing them to be born again, and anything they do in making steps toward Christ is a result of God saving them, and not a cause.
What's the difference between someone saved and someone's neighbor that is not saved? Is it that one made a decision for Christ and the other one didn't? Maybe they both walked the aisle and maybe both said the sinner's prayer. Maybe both made a decision for Christ in front of witnesses. But yet both are not saved? Why? Grace!
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Because don't think for a second people don't boast about their decision for Christ over someone else that didn't make a decision for Christ. They are boasting inside even if they don't say it outright.
But I say all this knowing it takes God to reveal this truth, otherwise people cannot believe it because it's a very hated truth. People do not want God to be completely sovereign over salvation. They want to be in control of it. They don't want salvation to be truly all of grace.
Romans 9:14
14What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16So then it depends not on human will or exertion,b but on God, who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—