Most Christians have heard of what is known as the sinners prayer. Usually recited at altar calls. It goes along the lines of something like this:
“Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I believe You died for my sins so I could be forgiven. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Thank You for coming into my life. Amen.”
Now while the above may seem all in order when it comes to Scripture, there is a slight problem:
The important part is the heart behind the prayer and when someone is led to recite a prayer formula guaranteeing their salvation, very quickly error can creep in.
Can you imagine if you wronged someone, and for your apology to them, you had to recite words written out for you by someone else - or a repeat after me “sorry” to that person. How sincere is this? If I need someone to guide me to say sorry to the one whom I have offended, Am I really sorry? It is possible to pray the sinner’s prayer without meaning it or knowing the true significance of what you are saying. You can teach a five year old to recite the sinner’s prayer as he/she would learn a poem. When they recite this prayer, does it mean they are now saved?
I am not saying that if you have prayed a prayer like this, you are not saved. I am saying that praying a prayer like this is the beginning of your walk with God. Now you need to finish the race with endurance and win the prize - not all win the prize (1 Cor. 9:24). It is not the prayer that saves you but the Lord Jesus who saves you. However, there are conditions which most are unaware of. Particularly after you have come into the vine, you need to remain there (John 15:4-6) for your entire life. There is a strong warning for those that do not keep abiding in the Lord as seen in John 15:6.
The conditions to be the Lord’s disciple are very clear in His word and for some reason most of them have been overlooked. Every person needs to know that following Christ is not a once-off act but it is a lifelong journey with Him as you abide in Him and He in you. To be in relationship with Him requires commitment - to be faithful to Him until the end of your course.
In essence, after you have said the sinner's prayer, you are told that you have eternal life, and you cannot go to hell anymore and that you are saved from perdition. As wonderful as this may sound, biblically this is not the case.
Please have a look at the following verse in Matthew 24:13, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” If believing was a mere simple prayer - a once-off act, why would the Lord Jesus Himself speak these words? Is it not a warning to the believer? The context is also important. Matthew 24 happens during a time of tribulation - though it specifically refers to the great tribulation under the reign of the antichrist, it can apply to any tribulation as well. During times of tribulation or trials, it may not anymore be convenient from a worldly perspective to be a Christian. In this case, the Lord indicates in Matthew 24, that His disciples will be hated by all nations and that they will be delivered up and killed because of the testimony of Jesus - as also echoed and emphasized in the book of Revelation. Right now it may be convenient to be a Christian. You may be respected in society but what happens if all of a sudden, you are hated by all because you follow Christ. Will you still proclaim that Jesus Christ is your Lord, even if it carries a death sentence? Let us not be ignorant that this has happened before, it happens now in certain parts of the world and it will happen at a greater scale in the future. You can refer to Revelation chapter 6 where we see that when the fifth seal is opened by the Lamb of God there is indication of a dramatic increase of Christians who are being martyred.
A true follower of Christ is faithful right until the end of their life. It is not so much about how you have begun, the question is, will you finish the race while keeping the faith - “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:6-7). Why would Paul indicate at the point of his martyrdom that he has kept the faith - if it is purported that it can never be lost. Paul’s very words indicate to us that indeed it is possible to finish your course without keeping the faith. He also uses other terms such as “others who were shipwrecked in their faith” or “fallen away” in other parts of his epistles to the churches.
Respectively, a shipwrecked vessel never reaches its destination - yes it did set sail for the destination but it never made it in the end. In fact, right now shipwrecked vessels can be found right at the bottom of the ocean. The implication is that when a Christian gets shipwrecked in their faith, it is the equivalent to falling away from the faith. On the note of falling away - this is a matter that is clearly represented in the Bible, but for some reason has been overlooked by so many sermons, and somehow has been purposely shifted aside. Please have a look at the following verses:
Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12).
At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. (Matthew 24:10).
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, (1 Timothy 4:1).
Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
“You who have forsaken Me,” declares the Lord, “You keep going backward. So I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am tired of relenting! (Jeremiah 15:6).
For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. (2 Peter 2:21).
But My righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. (Hebrews 10:38).
But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:39).
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6).
This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. (1 Timothy 1:18-19).
Once again, we have to ask the question. Are these unbelievers falling away or those who claim to be Christians? If they are unbelievers, what are they falling away from? An unbeliever cannot fall away from the faith because he is not even in the faith to begin with. These are people who once knew Christ but fell away from Him in times of deception, turmoil and tribulation.
This has happened in history to many that began the race and did not finish, or they began with a zeal for the Lord but became lukewarm through minor compromises here and there in the faith, to the point where their condition became lukewarm. The Lord Jesus Christ has warned those who are lukewarm that they need to repent or else he will vomit them out of His mouth (Rev 3:15-16; 18-19).
Similarly, the Holy Spirit through Paul’s writings mentions those who have fallen away (1 Tim 4:1). You cannot fall off a horse if you are not riding on it already in the first place. In other words, it is not unbelievers that fall away. They are already perishing. It is those that profess to know Christ, or began the race, yet as they journeyed on this earth, somewhere along the line, they stopped believing and refused to repent and fell away from Him.
Again I remind you of the Lord’s words in Matthew 24:13, “he that endures until the end, shall be saved”. Just before this verse, the Lord Jesus indicates that in the last days (the days which we are living in now), most people's love will grow cold. What a severe warning to those who once knew love. Remember that God is love. If the love in a Christian grows cold (lukewarmness), it is a terrible thing and it has eternal consequences.
If we look back at the race running analogy. How can someone who began a race decide to stop running and still expect some sort of reward. In earthly terms, this notion is preposterous but how much more serious is this matter concerning the kingdom of God - where you are not merely running for a perishable crown (1 Cor. 9:25; 2 Tim. 4:8) but an eternal crown of righteousness.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
Notice the last sentence of the verse in bold above. Here Paul himself indicates that if he does not discipline his body, he too runs the risk of being disqualified in the race. What a sobering word!
In conclusion, following Christ is the ultimate blessing, goal and purpose of any human life but that being said, it is so important to count the cost. This is not just some light-hearted matter. When you decide to follow Christ, you must mean it. There is no room to test His patience and play with His grace. The evidence of our believing in the Son of God is our obedience to HIs word without any compromise.
Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:25-33).
YOU NEED to count the cost!
Finally, the Lord’s words in the following verses cannot be more clearer. Those who love Him will keep His commandments; conversely, those who disregard His commandments, do not love Him
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. (John 14:21)
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. (John 14:23-24).
May the Lord Jesus bless all those who have read this word. It is not too late. There is still time to repent and turn away from compromise and being lukewarm. Be encouraged! You have a free will. Count the cost and choose to follow the Lord Jesus wholeheartedly. Endeavor to read His word often in a prayerful way and PLEASE take His word seriously. If there is one being in this universe that wants you to take God’s word lightly, it is the devil, satan, your enemy that longs to see your destruction.
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