Monday, May 02, 2005

Should we tell people to ask Jesus into their heart?

A very popular invitation in popular Christianity goes something like this: "And all you have to do to be born again is to ask Jesus into your heart." In fact, my wife was just completing a Bible study today where this sort of invitation was defended on the basis of Galatians 4:4. But here are seven excellent reasons why we should not be calling people to "ask Jesus into your heart." Instead, we should be calling people "to repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). (These come from Pastor Dennis Rosker of Duluth Bible Church in MN. Note: there are some deficiencies in his article including the absence of repentance in the gospel call of salvation. However, his main points are very well stated and demonstrate we should not be calling people to "ask Jesus into your heart.")
  1. Don't ask Jesus into your heart because it is never found in the Bible.
  2. Don't ask Jesus into your heart because it is not how one is saved.
  3. Don't ask Jesus into your heart because it requires no understanding of the gospel of grace to do it.
  4. Don't ask Jesus into your heart because it confuses the means of salvation with the results of salvation.
  5. Don't ask Jesus into your heart because it either results in no assurance of salvation or brings a false assurance to people.
  6. Don't ask Jesus into your heart because Revelation 3:20 doesn't teach it.
  7. Don't ask Jesus into your heart because it doesn't clarify the condition of salvation--it confuses it--especially with children.

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