'Is The Sinner's Prayer NECESSARY for Salvation!?'

“Hello Pastor Jesse,
I have a question concerning ”The Sinners
Prayer.” I know a lot of churches use this,
including mine, when they’re soulwinning or
giving and altar call. My question is, is it
necessary for an unbeliever to make a verbal
confession or call upon the name of the Lord
to be saved? If it is, wouldn’t that be adding works to the
gospel? If it isn’t necessary, then my next
question is: when you’re preaching the Gospel,
whether during soulwinning or after a sermon,
how do you follow up with getting the
individual to trust in Christ? I’ve been taught that after going through the
Salvation Plan or Roman’s Road, you’d always
take them to Romans 10:9-10, 13 and have
them say the ”Sinner’s Prayer.” It’s confusing
to me because I’ve heard pastors say stuff like
'The prayer doesn’t save you, but it’s the faith
in your heart that saves you.' Then they say, ‘If you really believe, then you
will pray the prayer. If you don’t pray the
prayer, then you really don’t believe. If you
don’t have an individual pray, how do you
know if they’ve believed enough?’ Proponents
of ‘The Sinner’s Prayer’ use passages such as
Romans 10:9-10, 13, John 4:10, Rev. 3:20,
Luke 18:13-14, and etc... They use these as proof texts to defend ‘The
Sinner’s Prayer.’ I know, for me personally,
this has brought me much confusion and lack
of assurance. There were times I prayed that
prayer multiple times just to make sure that I
really was saved. When I go soulwinning,
there are times I’m afraid of using the prayer
because I think to myself, what if I’m adding to the Gospel or I’m afraid of not using it
because what if I needed to lead them in the
prayer for them to be saved? This is how
confusing and concerning this is. I know this
email was REALLY long, but I deeply
appreciate you taking the time to read. I
thank God for your ministry because it really
has helped with my assurance of salvation. Don’t stop! Keep preaching the Gospel plain
and simple. Thank you, and God bless you!”

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Bibleline is a ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida and is hosted by Pastor Jesse Martinez.

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[MichaelForte-jnpn]

I'm an old man and can't remember the last time I heard preaching this good ....I must have said the sinners prayer a thousand times....now I have read the Bible listen to Jesse's sermons and have peace in my life....here in Central Florida it's hard to find a church that preaches the word like Jesse....I live too far from Tampa....I want to continue to grow in the word to be a good witness for Jesus for all of the uploads....

[stevesparks]

For over 40 years I struggled with assurance and probably prayed the “sinners prayer” to receive Christ as my personal Savior … just to be sure “I” did it correct. All along “I” was trusting in the prayer that “I” said instead of the blood that Jesus shed for me! Hallelujah… what a Savior I have in Christ Jesus alone!

[SonoftheKing]

That's so wild that you said when you were a kid "Jesus lived in my heart but He packed up and left" That was me too! We weren't even taught that He would leave I just thought on my own that that's how it worked. Come and go come and go. My earliest recollection of believing was early childhood but we were told to ask Him into our hearts etc. Over the years I've struggled on and off with assurance due to dealing with Ocd/Scrupulosity. It's a constant battle in my mind somedays I have that assurance and somedays I don't. I know in Whom I have Believed it's just a hard fight with my mind sometimes.

[Lesley-sm]

Thank you, needed this. I really felt I had to go to the front of the church with a pastor. I’d already prayed and confess with my mouth, believe in my heart but I wasn’t sure if it was enough. I thought there was a process we had to follow. Thank goodness God showed me you can be saved anytime, anywhere ❤

[Rundu]

I realy appreciate your crystal clear teachings. God bless your ministry.

[JamesRDavenport]

It took me years, YEARS to get past this. You don't need The Special Prayer, Date Setting ("Well Son, if you cannot remember to the the exact moment you first believed...) Altar weeping, Water baptized or fruit to go to heaven.
You believe on Jesus Christ. Trust him. Trust what he did. Believe, believe believe. That's it!

[stevencsawyerss]

Thank you pastor Jesse, I remember all to well doing most all of this when I came to believe. And then many years later hearing about the gospel of grace. Faith plus nothing. Death, burial and resurrection. 1st Corinthians 15:1-4. And John 3:16 is more than enough to believe in God's everlasting love for us who believe in the finished work of the cross ✝️ 🙏 ❤️

[mariafusco]

I did not say the sinner’s prayer when I got saved. I had been desiring to be close to God, but I felt like there was something in the way. I was reading the Bible and suddenly it was like a light went on inside my soul, and I finally understood that I was as guilty of sin as if I had nailed Jesus to the cross myself. I started attending a Baptist church that was heavy on the sinner’s prayer. I used it a lot in the beginning because that’s the way I was guided. People would pray with me but nothing changed in their lives. I stopped doing it, because I didn’t want people to have false assurance.

[Jeremiah]

Amen brother Jesse and brother Trent! Great video teaching and response ✝️

Sadly, today, There are a lot of soul winners, Evangelists, street preachers, and personal workers which will usually lead a sinner to pray a sinner's prayer. I personally do not use the sinner's prayer, mainly for two reasons. One, I believe it brings confusion to the lost sinner. Because at one point you are telling them all they need to do to be saved is to trust Christ as their Personal Saviour, and then you tell them now pray this prayer or ask Jesus to save them. Well if you are trusting in Him alone for Salvation, why are you now asking Him to do so? Wouldn't that imply doubt and not faith?? Think about it. When a sinner is told to ask God to save them, wouldn't that imply that God may not save them? And so, again, it can bring confusion. And then the second reason I don't use it is because of the danger of changing the object of trust in the sinner's mind. Where the sinner goes from focusing on the Lord Jesus Christ solely to now shifting his focus of trust on a prayer. And I am sure that happens more often than we think it does. Our faith is not to be placed in a prayer that we prayed or in any confession that we may be making. Our object of trust must be The Lord Jesus Christ and His atoning Work alone and that is it.

And so, there could be some out there who think they are saved but are not because when they were led through the sinner's prayer, they ended shifting their focus on the prayer and they placed their faith in the prayer itself rather than on Christ and His atoning work alone. Because you cannot be trusting in Christ and a prayer, or Christ and a Confession or trusting in Christ and Repenting of your sins. Your faith can only be in One or the Other. Your Faith must solely rest on Jesus Christ and His finished work for salvation.

[mr.skeptical]

I said the sinners prayer and believed In it, however I have since prayed different prayers of salvation and forgiveness and asking God to save me and forgive me, and acknowledge Jesus as the Only way to get saved for what he did on the cross, now that I understand it more fuller.

[StrRipper]

I say the Lords prayer matthew 6:9-13, not because i need it for salvation, but because that is a prayer that he gave us

[Fehrfamilyhomestead]

I only heard of the sinners prayer after I got saved. But I had assurance of salvation because of what I read in 1 John 5:13

[JAC]

Pastor - Praying for you, your family and your church. That you all be protected by the Hurricane that is coming. That The Lord gives you peace, comfort, and protection. May God bless you all.🙏🙏

[BroDaveMartinSRBC]

I said the prayer, but I did not confuse trusting Christ with “the prayer.”

[RG-vctr]

Romans 10:9-13 seems to be pretty clear to me. (For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”) It's not the specific words someone says that's important maybe. But there seems to be some sort of a willing acknowledgement for entering into the new covenant contract. True, the "sinner's prayer" is a man-made formulaic ritual. But that doesn't necessarily negate the need for a verbal acknowledgement.

[mr.skeptical]

My pastor says you Must have conviction, God only saves you when he's ready to save you, and the sinners prayer is a "cheap" prayer that doesn't mean anything! He had me confused for several months. But now after much research and listening to other pastors I know that I have fully trusted in the Lord and that I'm saved by grace alone, and that what Jesus did on the cross is the only way.

[yanks]

Great message here Pastor Jesse! Very well said! Hope you and Trent are doing well! I'm going to try to get over there soon for church service one of these days. GOD bless! - Billy Malone

[believer]

I agree. I wrote a gospel tract and showed it to a very wise pastor friend of mine in his late 80's. He told me, "Son, people have short attention spans. They're not gonna read all this. Make it shorter." So I did. I briefly tell that we are all sinners and there's an eternal punishment for sin. Then, I give "the good news" of Jesus Christ-- His virgin birth, sinless life, and death, burial and resurrection. All who believe in Him receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. I don't believe in a "sinner's prayer" because it's not biblical. However, I don't see anything wrong with a person confessing...." I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe that He died on the cross for my sins and that God raised Him from the dead. I confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." I don't think God is going to be upset with someone confessing that. As long as their faith is in Christ alone. ✌🙂

[SaintNehemiahChildOFYAH]

Love this video YAH bless you paster jessie and trent in Jesus name i tell this to people all the time so what if that person cannot speak can they not get saved? Spoiler aleart yes they can get saved i have given the gospel to a mute person and and praise THE LORD Jesus christ the true and living God He saved no sinner prayer Needed another thing Praying is not believing and believing is not praying same thing with confesion. Confession is not Believing believing is not confession HaleluYAH praise THE LORD Jesus christ for the simplicity of the gospel and what He did on the cross for us HaleluYAH

[Thealphacoach]

Let's start with:
Do you believe in God? Do you believe He loves you? Do you love Him?