10 REASONS TO NOT ASK JESUS INTO YOUR HEART! By Todd Friel
Todd Friel is the co-host of The Way of the Master radio.
The music weeps, the preacher pleads, “Give your heart to Jesus. You have a God shaped hole in your heart and only Jesus can fill it.” Dozens, hundreds or thousands of people who want to get their spiritual life on track make their way to the altar. They ask Jesus into their heart. Cut to three months later. Nobody has seen our new convert in church. The follow up committee calls him and encourages him to attend a Bible study, but to no avail. We label him a backslider and get ready for the next outreach event.
Our beloved child lies in her snuggly warm bed and says, “Yes, Daddy. I want to ask Jesus into my heart.” You lead her in “the prayer” and hope that it sticks. You spend the next ten years questioning if she really, really meant it. Puberty hits and the answer reveals itself. She backslides. We spend the next ten years praying that she will come to her senses.
Telling someone to ask Jesus into their hearts has a very typical result, backsliding.
The Bible says that a person who is soundly saved puts his hand to the plow and does not look back because he is fit for service. In other words, a true convert cannot backslide. If a person backslides, he never slid forward in the first place. “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.” (II Cor.5) No backsliding there.
Brace yourself for this one: with very few if any exceptions, anyone who asked Jesus into their hearts to be saved…is not. If you asked Jesus into your heart because you were told that is what you have to do to become a Christian, you were mis-informed.
If you have ever told someone to ask Jesus into their heart (like I have), you produced a false convert.
Here is why:
1. It is not in the Bible. There is not a single verse that even hints we should say a prayer inviting Jesus into our hearts.
Some use Rev. 3:20. To tell us that Jesus is standing at the door of our hearts begging to come in.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” There are two reasons that interpretation is wrong.
The context tells us that the door Jesus is knocking on is the door of the church, not the human heart. Jesus is not knocking to enter someone’s heart but to have fellowship with His church.
Even if the context didn’t tell us this, we would be forcing a meaning into the text (eisegesis). How do we know it is our heart he is knocking at? Why not our car door? How do we know he isn’t knocking on our foot? To suggest that he is knocking on the door of our heart is superimposing a meaning on the text that simply does not exist.
The Bible does not instruct us to ask Jesus into our heart. This alone should resolve the issue, nevertheless, here are nine more reasons.
2. Asking Jesus into your heart is a saying that makes no sense. What does it mean to ask Jesus into your heart? If I say the right incantation will He somehow enter my heart? Is it literal? Does He reside in the upper or lower ventricle? Is this a metaphysical experience? Is it figurative? If it is, what exactly does it mean? While I am certain that most adults cannot articulate its meaning, I am certain that no child can explain it. Pastor Dennis Rokser reminds
us that little children think literally and can easily be confused (or frightened) at the prospect of asking Jesus into their heart.
3. In order to be saved, a man must repent (Acts 2:38). Asking Jesus into your heart leaves out the requirement of repentance.
4. In order to be saved, a man must trust in Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).
Asking Jesus into your heart leaves out the requirement of faith.
5. The person who wrongly believes they are saved will have a false sense of security. Millions of people who sincerely, but wrongly, asked Jesus into their hearts think they are saved but struggle to feel secure. They live in doubt and fear because they do not have the Holy Spirit giving them assurance of salvation.
6. The person who asks Jesus into his heart will likely end up inoculated, bitter and backslidden. Because he did not get saved by reciting a formulaic prayer, he will grow disillusioned with Jesus, the Bible, church and fellow believers. His latter end will be worse than the first.
7. It presents God as a beggar just hoping you will let Him into your busy life. This presentation of God robs Him of His sovereignty.
8. The cause of Christ is ridiculed. Visit an atheist web-site and read the pagans who scoff, “How dare those Christians tell us how to live when they get divorced more than we do? Who are they to say homosexuals shouldn’t adopt kids when tens of thousands of orphans don’t get adopted by Christians?” Born again believers adopt kids and don’t get divorced.
People who ask Jesus into their hearts do. Jesus gets mocked when false converts give Him a bad name.
9. The cause of evangelism is hindered. While it is certainly easier to get church members by telling them to ask Jesus into their hearts, try pleading with someone to make today the day of their salvation. Get ready for a painful response. “Why should I become a Christian when I have seen so called Christians act worse than a pagan?” People who ask Jesus into their hearts give pagans an excuse for not repenting.
10. Here is the scary one. People who ask Jesus into their hearts are not saved and they will perish on the Day of Judgment. How tragic that millions of people think they are right with God when they are not. How many people who will cry out, “Lord, Lord” on judgment day will be “Christians” who asked Jesus into their hearts?
So, what must one do to be saved? Repent and trust. (Heb.6:1) The Bible makes it clear that all men must repent and place their trust in Jesus Christ. Every man does have a “God shaped hole in their hearts,” but that hole is not contentment, fulfillment and peace. Every man’s heart problem is righteousness. Instead of preaching that Jesus fulfills, we must preach that God judges and Jesus satisfies God’s judgment…if a man will repent and place his trust in Him.
If you are reading this and you asked Jesus into your heart, chances are good you had a spiritual buzz for a while, but now you struggle to read your Bible, tithe, attend church and pray. Perhaps you were told you would have contentment, purpose and a better life if you just ask Jesus into your heart. I am sorry, that was a lie.
If you have been preaching that people should ask Jesus into their hearts, I beg you to stop immediately. You will give an account for all the souls you have led astray. Listen to the teaching “Hell’s Best Kept Secret”; it will help you present the Gospel correctly.
July 20th, 2007 at 8:29 am
How true. I asked Jesus into my heart many times, and still had no relief from the fear that characterized my pagan-dom. In desperation I asked Him to save me from my sins, and I had peace.
Ironically, my security came while I was reading a history of the Methodist church, which doesn’t, by and large, believe in the security of the believer.
July 20th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Good article! I’ve been preaching against this for years! Glad to see someone else has taken up the cause!
Surprised at two things though… one, Scripture does mention that “Christ… does dwell in our hearts through faith.” (Ephesians 3:17), but asking him in is not how he gets there. Obviously talking about Jesus living in our ‘Spiritual’ heart, not our physical one…
Secondly, He didn’t mention Romans 10:9,10 which is THE Scripture that tells us what we must do to be saved!
Believe and confess! (obviously includes repentance)
July 20th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Very thought provoking. Thanks for bringing this to light. It’s amazing how we “assume” that just by asking Jesus into our heart it is Biblical and that we are saved because we did. You are so right - I have seen many people do this and after they leave the church/auditorium the emotional high is over and you never see them again. You wrote: “Instead of preaching that Jesus fulfills, we must preach that God judges and Jesus satisfies God’s judgment…if a man will repent and place his trust in Him.” We have lost this type of preaching in the post-modern, ear-tickling churches. How sad. I am happy to say that our pastor preaches Christ and repentance.
“Repent and trust”!! I needed this reminder - thanks again.
July 20th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Just wondering what brought on this flood of provocative information
in the first place!!!!!! If I felt that God dwelt in my heart, what would
be wrong with that?
July 20th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Dots: The bible does say that he dwells in our heart by faith and if you believe in your heart… as Pastor Doug said. The issue is that we don’t ask Jesus into our hearts to be saved, we need to repent from our sins and put our faith in the Savior.
I hope that helps.
Thanks!
July 22nd, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Very good and thought provoking article however I do believe a born again believer can backslide or become unsaved. Remember the church that had left their first love. Rev 2:4-5
…Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
lets not give people a false hope. many people are out there living in sin, believing their gonna make it to heaven under the pretense that they were a believer at one time, now their destiny is sealed, God forbid.
Thanks for listening. I have received much encouragement from your site.
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:33 am
I totally dug this article and I agree and disagree with Ralph on two items. I think it is possible for a believer to backslide; but I guess that depends on one’s defenition of “backsliding.”
But as for becoming unsaved; impossible. The Bible says we are sealed with the Spirit untill the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit is a sort of “down payment” and once one receives Him, He will never leave. As for all those “believers” who “left their first love”, I would be hard-pressed to believe they were saved in the first place. Rev. also says that those who “persevere untill the end” will be saved. Thats the mark of a true believer.
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:11 am
This all sounds a bit legalistic to me. “Ask Jesus into your heart” is a euphemism, not a biblical quote. (Similar to the word “trinity”) It represents in simple terms the fullness of the passages mentioned above. It contains but is not limited to the idea of surrendering the control of your innermost being to the one who died for you.
Let us be clear about repentance. It is the fruit of salvation. It is not a work I DO that qualifies me for salvation. Repentance is a response to the love, grace and mercy of God. It doesn’t make me worthy of the blood of Jesus. It shows I truly recieved the Gospel. I repent because I AM saved… not TO BE saved.
I believe my brother Todd is sincere, but I believe his biblical interpretation is a little off. The Epistles establish doctrine for the N.T. church. The book of Acts is a History book. It confirms doctrine, it does not establish it. If it establishes it, we had better sell all of our possessions and bring them to the church.
I am saved when I recognize my need of the savior and surrender my life to him. Repentance is the proof… not the qualifier.
July 23rd, 2007 at 6:20 am
Great article…I do believe a Christian can backslide though…once the foundation is laid we either build upon it gold, silver, precious stones; or wood, hay, stubble–to be revealed at the judgment seat of Christ. (that “just”) Lot is a type of this when he loses everything in the fire but he’s saved himself–it’s either in 1st or 2nd Peter. If everyone soundly saved puts their hands to the plow and never turns back nobody should be laying up wood, hay, or stubble.
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:22 am
Someone wrote me about the fact that Ephesians 3:17 says that Christ dwells in our hearts. Here’s my response:
Yes, it is true that he DWELLS in our hearts by faith. Let me quote John MacArthur in his commentary on this verse:
“Katoikeo (dwell) is a compound word, formed from kata (down) and oikeo (to inhabit a house). In the context of the passage the connotation is not simply that of being inside the house of our hearts but of being at home there, to settle down as a family member. Christ cannot be “at home” in our hearts until our inner person submits to his strenthening of his Spirit. Until the Spirit controls our lives, Jesus Christ cannot be comfortable there, but only stays as a tolerated visitor. Paul’s teaching here does not relate to the fact of Jesus’ presence in the hearts of believers but to the quality of His presence.”
In othere words, we don’t “ask him in to be saved” but he’s there when we have trusted in Him by repenting and giving our hearts over to Him.
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:26 am
Ralph and Bill said that they believe that Christians can backslide.
The problem is, from our perspective, we just don’t know where they stand with the Lord. They may be backslidden or they may be unsaved. I certainly don’t want to give false hope to a false convert. See my srticle on this here: “Witnessing to Phony Christians”
http://www.evtales.com/index.php/2007/02/26/ev-tips-witnessing-to-phony-christians.html
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:29 am
Bill said that it all sounds so legalistic that “asking Jesus into your heart is a euphemism.
A lot of people are trusting in the euphemism and not the Savior. Most people aren’t even aware that it is a euphemism and believe that all they had to do is “ask Him into their hearts”.
You are correct when you said: “I am saved when I recognize my need of the savior and surrender my life to him. Repentance is the proof… not the qualifier.”
Thanks everyone!
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Wow! Talk about opening a can of worms! I remember when I first preached on this at my church… had a whole bunch of longterm Christians mad at me cause I touched one of their ’sacred cows.’
The problem is that we have not been Biblical in our approach to preaching the ‘gospel’ for so long in the church, that we have handed down a bunch of the ‘traditions of men’ for the last couple of decades.
We’ve been taught that this is what you say and this is how you do it… and it has not even been examined to see whether or not it is Biblical…
Keith Green touched on this (recorded in his biography, “No Compromise” a great read by the way!):
There is not a ’sinner’s prayer’ mentioned anywhere in the Bible, yet we do ‘altar calls’ and the list goes on…
How bout the fact that we don’t baptize people when they ‘get saved.’ We can at least agree that this is a command in Scripture that we conveniently ignore when we ‘lead someone to the Lord’….
Whew… time and space do not permit me….
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:21 pm
I still believe that asking Jesus in your heart as Lord of your life can save your soul, IF your heart is repentant of the sins against Gods law. What do you think Steve?
July 24th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
I agree with the “idea” being put forth… but I am having a hard time with the application. Are we saying that because it is possible something can be misunderstood it should never be said?
I agree that “asking Jesus in your heart” is not a complete expalnation of salvation… but what is? It must be part of a growing understanding. A “working out of my salvation.”
Who ever completely understands salvation when they first experience it?
Other than God… Who ever knows if someone else is saved?
I am thankful that God judges the heart of a man. Thats why I agree with Pastor Doug… Altar calls and sinner’s prayers are not the answer… but they are tools that help express the answer. I guess that may be the best term…. They are just meant to be outward EXPRESSIONS of inner realities.
July 27th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Todd,
I’m curious on your thoughts on the church in Corinth? They were all saved but were living in complete sin. This is no excuse to live carnally but how can you say you cannot backslide when these people were living carnally but were saved?
July 31st, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Mike,
I’m curious where in 1st Corinthians that it says that they were “all saved” and secondly that ALL of them were “living in complete sin.” ?
I’m not saying your wrong (haven’t had a chance to puruse all of 1st Corinthians yet… I do know there were sin issues, but that is a far cry from saying they were all living in complete [read: habitual] sin…
According to what I have read on the Corinthians, most of the sin issues had to do with immaturity [read: very young Christians] and still struggling with their conversion from Pagan practices…
Please back up with Scripture… thank you
By the way, the word “backslide” is only used once in the whole Bible.
Also, let’s not forget 1st John that says if you continue to ‘practice’ sin, that you are a child of the devil (chapter 3)?
Let’s interpret Scripture with Scripture (Psalm 119: 160)…
I gotta say, I side with Pastor Steve on this one. If we are to know a tree by it’s fruit, then how do you judge someone who says they are a Christian, but their life does not bear fruit? (1st John 2:6)
I know this will be a continuing dialogue… just thought I’d add my two cents…
December 27th, 2007 at 12:44 am
Repentence and Faith is the Gospel and there is no there. Christianity today in America is a circus, and I do not know where it is headed, but I certainly see MANY clowns leading. These clowns are leading many of these so called “carnal” Christians straight to hell with their easy believism Gospel. We have strayed from Biblical and Historical Christianity. This ask Jesus into your heart is never found in the Bible or Baptist History. It is a deceiver. God regenerates your heart, taking out your old heart/nature and giving you a new heart that seeks Him, loves Him and obeys Him. You dont need to ask Him into your heart because HE WILL NOT COME, you have a wicked fallen heart, so dont even try it. God regenerates that wicked heart, giving you a heart after Him, you respond in repentence and faith because you now love the God you once hated. So much silly evangelism today. Makes me sick.