Have you ever heard of The Sinner's Prayer? Frequently when discussing what a person must
do to be saved from his sins, he'll be told that he needs to say a prayer and ask Jesus
to come into his heart. He will be directed to pray what is called
The Sinner's Prayer. Though this prayer comes in various forms,
it normally reads something like this: Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I ask for
Your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ is Your Son. I believe that He died for my sin and that
You raised Him to life. I want to trust Him as my savior and follow
Him as Lord, from this day forward. Guide my life and help me to do Your will. I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen." Friend, would you be surprised if I told you
that there is no such prayer as this found anywhere in the Bible and that no one in the
New Testament was ever saved by saying such a prayer? You might think, "Surely that must be in the
Bible because we're told that all of the time." But in truth, it's not there. In fact, the book of Acts--which is sometimes
called "The Book of Conversions"--contains many accounts of people becoming Christians. But in all of those accounts, none of them
said a sinner's prayer. As a matter of fact, none of them were saved
by prayer at all. There is an account, however, of a sinner,
who in desperation, turned to prayer. When Saul of Tarsus--who later became known
as the Apostle Paul. When he first encountered Jesus, not knowing
what else to do, he prayed, according to Acts 9:11. But his prayer did not save him. How do I know that? I know that because in Acts 22 when Ananias
arrived to find Saul, he found him to be penitent; he found him to be a believer; in fact, he
found him to be praying. But Ananias said to Saul, "And now why are
you waiting? Arise and be baptized." Now listen. "And wash away your sins, calling on the name
of the Lord." Acts 22:16. You see, though he was praying, he was still
in his sins. Friends, if there was ever a case of an attempt
at a "Sinner's Prayer" this was it. But it did not work. His sins were not washed away by prayer. His sins were not washed away until he was
immersed in the waters of baptism. It's sometimes been argued that Acts 2:21
is an example of a sinner's prayer. That it is a command to pray The Sinner's
Prayer. It reads in part, "Whoever calls on the name
of the Lord shall be saved." First, if this passage is requiring such a
prayer in order to be saved, then I have to ask the question: Why is there no example
of anyone ever doing this? Secondly, let's ask what did the people in
Acts 2 understand that command to mean? The fact is they didn't understand it all. We know that because in verse 37 after hearing
this, they asked the question, "What shall we do?" And then Peter explains to them how to call
upon the Lord in order to be saved from their sins. Listen to Peter's explanation. Acts 2:38: "Then Peter said to them, 'Repent,
and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins.'" So Peter, thus, defined calling on the name
of the Lord not as a sinner's prayer, but as repenting and being baptized. Now again, Acts 22:16, Ananias said to Saul,
"And now, why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your
sins, calling on the name of the Lord." Friends, the way that he was to call upon
the Lord for forgiveness of his sins was by being baptized and washed in the blood of
Jesus.
