 If I said the sinner's prayer, am I saved? Or if I said the sinner's prayer, does that mean that I'm not saved? So the question is, is the sinner's prayer biblical or unbiblical? Many people are speaking about the sinner's prayer and the question is, does it save, does it not save, is it biblical, not biblical? Does the sinner's prayer go against the teachings of the Bible? Now the truth is, many of you were led into reciting the sinner's prayer and today are Christians. But was that what saves you? And in truth, I have led literally hundreds of people in reciting the sinner's prayer on their way to becoming Christians. But again, is that what saved them? So before we get into the right and the wrong of the sinner's prayer, we first need to talk about what is required for salvation. We need to first understand that there is a need for all of us, all of humanity, to need saving. Why? Because of our sin condition. There is a debt that's owed by us to God because of our sin that we simply cannot pay. Which also requires us in order to become saved. There needs to be an understanding of what Christ had to do to pay that debt. That is, he had to shed his blood on the cross and that shedding of blood was the payment required for the debt owed by us. A payment that we simply could not pay or afford. And then lastly and most importantly, it's faith in what Christ did. His finished work on the cross, that is what guarantees us salvation. Now it should be understood that these aren't steps. This is just merely an acknowledgement of what's required and what happens in order for us or what we need to place our faith in. That is what Christ did and why Christ did what he did. The Bible says that if we confess our sins then he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us. And so there seems to be this requirement of this confession. We're also told that if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, the Bible says that we shall be saved. And so the question is, does that necessarily mean that there need to be a public or a verbal affirmation from us? In truth, there just simply needs to be an acknowledgement on the person's part of what Jesus is. Confess or acknowledge our sins and then confess or acknowledge that Jesus is Lord that he died for our sins and that we place our faith in that. So the question is why then do we have a sinner's prayer in the first place? Well, there's a couple of reasons. One, those people who want to become saved they tend to ask, what must I do? What must I say? And so we give them something to say. Understanding though that it's not what you say it's what you believe but it does kind of give them a little bit of comfort in knowing or having something to say. Another reason why people have a sinner's prayer recited is because it gives some sort of public proof or affirmation of what is going on on the inside. However, it needs to be understood the sinner's prayer does not save. Saying the sinner's prayer, reciting the sinner's prayer or repeating after what someone has told you to say is not what saves you. It is faith in what Christ has done. When the apostles ask how must we be saved? They simply said, believe on Jesus and you shall be saved. And so it's the belief in Jesus Christ what he's done on the cross again. That's what saves us. So it's clear it's the person's faith that saves not the sinner's prayer, not reciting any words it is their faith. The sinner's prayer could be used as a guide but it's not taught in the Bible. There is nowhere in the Bible where someone is led to recite a certain set of words after someone else says it and then that person becomes a believer. Which leads to the next question. Is reciting a sinner's prayer, is that wrong? Well, if it's wrong, then the question would have to be asked then if I said the sinner's prayer, if you said the sinner's prayer, then did I become a believer? Did I become a Christian? Well, for me, I became a Christian and I recited the sinner's prayer. It was not the sinner's prayer that saved me. It was my faith. And the truth is my faith was there even before I recited it. My heart was ready. And at me just saying it was just something that publicly confirmed whoever the hearers were that this is what I said. Now, did they know for sure? No, we'll discuss what needs to take place that's more important or just as important as their affirmation of faith. That's something that we tend to neglect. Because I said the sinner's prayer, or many of you have and many other folks have said the sinner's prayer and are Christians, then it is possible to say the sinner's prayer to recite after someone else and still be saved. Because again, it wasn't that recitation that did it. It was the faith. And if there is no faith in Christ and all you just said was just some empty words. Now, because we wanna be doggedly correct and as accurate as possible biblically, I no longer have people to recite a set of words after me. I do kinda give them a guide as to, this is what it takes to be saved. These are the things and then you in your own way, if you want to say something or if you just wanna just acknowledge internally that you have faith in Christ, then that's all required. But I no longer lead people in this set of words to recite. However, at the same time, I also don't condemn people. I understand why they do it. And trying to be as doggedly sound in the very beginning is gonna sound strange, but to be as thorough doggedly in the beginning with someone who doesn't know, may confuse them, may not confuse them. I would rather be doggedly sound from the beginning, but if someone offers for someone to repeat these words, I don't necessarily condemn them as long as the person who is reciting these words, as long as they understand what is really truly needed for salvation. And that is the faith, not the words, but the faith. And just let the words be a public declaration as to what's happened already internally. Now, if the reason for saying the sinner's prayer is to have some sort of proof and even to make the believer comfortable, well, there's one thing that we tend to neglect sometimes that is just as important. Jesus said to go and make disciples. And one thing that has been neglected by people is that we would lead someone in this sinner's prayer or we would have them to place their faith in Christ, not knowing for sure. And we neglect a very important aspect of this new believer's walk, which is being a disciple. There is one way that we can know if a person is truly a believer by their discipleship. We can see their walk, we can help them with their walk. If there's questions that they need asked answering, well, then we're there or someone is there. And so that's the one thing that we tend to neglect as the church when it comes to bringing in believers. And so while we should admonish people, while we should do our very best to lead people to place their faith in Christ, we should also make sure that we are trying to make disciples. And if we do those things, then we would do good. Amen.