John 3:14-16, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
That being said, an issue has arisen in the New IFB (independent fundamental Baptist) movement by some pastors, who insist that you cannot be saved without praying to be saved, which is essentially “asking” God to save you. Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) in the following sermon excerpt refutes this blatant false teaching...
Dr. Jack Hyles on a 'Sinner's Prayer' for Salvation
I humbly agree with Pastor Jack Hyles that prayer is not necessary to be saved. Granted, it is natural for most converts to pray at the time of faith, but the Bible is very clear in Romans 10:14 that we are saved at the moment of FAITH, and not calling or praying (i.e., asking to be saved). When a sinner walks down a church aisle in response to a salvation invitation, they are simply going down front to find out what just happened. They were saved before they even left their pew, at the moment they BELIEVED the Gospel.
Having said that, I am opposed to pastors who require people to walk an aisle to learn how to go to Heaven. Every preacher should tell sinners how to be saved in their pew, regardless of whether they want to come forward. It is a grave sin to add an additional step to God's simple plan of salvation, when God only requires that someone BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST to be saved.
I don't know when I was saved. I didn't think to write it down. I remember a place, an experience and calling upon Jesus in faith to save me around 1979 or 1980. Since I know that I am saved, I do not worry about the year. But everyone should definitely remember a place and a time when you knew that you were a needy sinner, and you put your trust in Jesus as your personal Savior.
I learned a great truth from Pastor Bob Gray Sr. years ago, which is that Jesus does NOT forgive sin. Jesus has already paid for everyone's sins with His precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19), which is why eternal life is offered to us as a “free gift” (Romans 5:15-18). A gift need only be taken, not merited. Dr. John MacArthur foolishly taught that salvation is an exchange, a trade of sorts. ...
“Thus in a sense we pay the ultimate price for salvation when our sinful self is nailed to a cross. ...It is an exchange of all that we are for all that Christ is. And it denotes implicit obedience, full surrender to the lordship of Christ. Nothing less can qualify as saving faith.” (The Gospel According to Jesus, p. 140)
Sadly, John MacArthur (1939-2025) is now burning in Hell forever without hope. His counterfeit plan of salvation that required "full surrender" to Christ's Lordship could not produce the required new birth to enter into God's Kingdom. We see this truth demonstrated in Matthew 7:21-23. They devoutly followed Jesus in dedicated service, but failed to ever rest in the finished redemptive work of Christ.
No, Mr. MacArthur, salvation is NOT an exchange of all that we are for all that Christ is; it is NOT a trade of sorts! It is a FREE GIFT! You don't have to "ask" for a gift, you simply receive it by faith (by taking God at His written Word), to accept Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that He was buried, but then miraculously resurrected from the dead three days later. This is the true Gospel which saves according to 1st Corinthians 15:1-6.
I do not scold pastors for using the sinner's prayer. Even Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001), who emphasizes in this sermon excerpt that you don't have to pray to get saved, chose to use a sinner's prayer in the Roman's Road presentation of the Gospel. So, I am okay with pastors using the sinner's prayer, providing that they explain it is faith and not prayer that saves a sinner, which is exactly what Brother Hyles is doing in this needful and helpful video excerpt.
When I got saved I worried for several years that I might not be saved. I was fearful because I was focusing on the sinner's prayer. Since I couldn't remember what I had prayed, I just figured I would ask God to save me again, and again, and again, and again for over 10 years, wallowing in needless fear, mental anguish, tears, frustration, uncertainty and worry.
No one had ever properly presented God's simple plan of salvation to me. Although I knew that prayer does not save a man, faith does, I still associated getting saved with the sinner's prayer, and that effectively blocked my brain from seeing the simplicity that is in Christ.
As the years passed, I finally found peace in the matter. I had stopped worrying about God's free gift of salvation long before I had finally obtained perfect peace that solidified my salvation beliefs from Pastor Max D. Younce's helpful book: “SALVATION AND THE PUBLIC INVITATION”...
https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/.../salvationandthepublic...
In this book, Dr. Younce strongly criticizes the needless practice of requiring sinners to walk down a church aisle to find out how to go to Heaven, which practice I hate.
God only knows how many people are burning in Hell forever, all because some incompetent pastor refused to tell them how to be saved in their pew. The reason why Pastor Max Younce's book helped me so much is because I was saved in a pew. I had always felt guilty for being too shy to walk forward as a young teenager, wondering if it would have made a difference if I had gone forward that day. Oh, that my pastor had simply told everyone how to be saved right there from the church pew!
In the years to follow I read Chick Tracts and every piece of religious literature I could get my hands on, searching for answers to settle my ongoing struggle with the assurance of God's free gift of salvation. Unfortunately, they all ended with the requirement to pray a sinner's prayer, which kept me in bondage. Oh that I would have had the following wonderful book by Michael P. Bowen, "I NEVER KNEW YOU," when I needed answers. THE TRUTH in this Bible-based book would have cleared the dark stormy clouds in my soul and set me free!
I have not doubted my salvation in decades, because I now by God's wondrous grace fully comprehend His great plan of salvation. I gleaned this great quote from Brother Younce: "Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith." I love that truth!
So, I do not use the sinner's prayer, nor do I recommend that others use it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with accompanying one's faith with a sinner's prayer, which is essentially asking God to save you, and that is just fine. However, I do take offense and stand firmly against those preachers today who insist that you cannot be saved without praying or calling (i.e., asking) to go to Heaven. No such requirement is taught in the inspired King James Bible.
My ministry friend Onorato (Norm) Diamante on YouTube has been horribly verbally attacked (especially by that clown Pastor Jonathan Shelley in Texas who called Onorato an "idiot," “demonic,” “arrogant,” “a loser,” “a jerk,” “effeminate” and "a child of the Devil" for simply faithfully preaching the biblical truth that you don't have to pray to be saved. Well, Pastor Jack Hyles and myself agree with Onorato. If anyone is arrogant and a jerk, it is Jonathan Shelley!
There is no mention of the 3,000 sinners who were saved on the Day of Pentecost praying or asking to be saved, they simply "gladly received" Peter's Gospel message (Acts 2:41) and were born again.
Nor is there any mention of Cornelius and his companions calling, praying or asking to be saved, they simply believed the GOOD NEWS that they heard preached unto them and were converted (Acts 10:43-44; Galatians 3:2). Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do.
I have heard numerous preachers down play this issue, asking what's the big deal. But they are the one's making it a big deal, by denying that you can get to Heaven without asking, calling or praying to be saved. What saith the Scripture? John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
And although Jesus did invite the Samaritan woman in John 4:10 to "ask" Him for the Living Water, there is not one mention in the remainder of the chapter about any of the Samaritans asking Jesus to save them. Here is what we read...
John 4:39-42, “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”
Let me give you a good illustration. Let's say that it is your birthday and I mail you a birthday present. It arrives by UPS on your birthday and you are holding the gift in your hands with excitement, anticipating what might be inside. Oh boy! Would you call me on the phone, or send me an email, asking if you can open your gift? No, of course not, that would be silly! So what in the world makes someone think that receiving a gift from God is any different? Why would you need to pray to ask God for a gift that He is already freely offering you?
In the cases of the 3,000 Jews saved at Pentecost in Acts 2, and Cornelius and his friends in Acts 10, and the Roman jailer in Acts 16:30-31—there is no mention of anyone "asking" to be saved, they simply believed on the dear Savior and were saved. Shame on any pastor who tries to make you feel bad or stupid for simply believing that faith is enough to get to Heaven.
In his response to the preceding Facebook post, a New IFB member posted this (unedited)...
“John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”
And here is my reply...
Kindly, did you read my post, I addressed that Bible verse? You cannot base a doctrine on a single passage of Scripture. Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) rightly said, “A good rule to follow when interpreting the Bible is to never use an obscure passage to contradict a clear one.” We find dozens of Scripture passages where sinners simply BELIEVED without asking to be saved.
His unedited reply was...
“there is nothing obscure about it”
And here is my final biblical response to his foolishness...
You're missing the point my friend. We've got several dozen passages in Scripture that simply teach to "BELIEVE" on the name of Jesus to be saved (John 1:12-13, 3:14-16; 6:28-29, 40, 47; 10:9, 11:25; 20:31; Acts 10:43, 16:30-31; 1st Corinthians 15:1-6; Galatians 3:26; 1st Thessalonians 4:14, to name but just a few). It is bad Bible interpretation to take John 4:10 to teach that you must "ask" God to save you, when the Bible is full of people who didn't. I am not against someone asking God to save them, but it is not mandatory to be saved.
According to John 20:31, the Gospel of John is God's Gospel tract, written to show the reader the way of salvation, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” There is no mention of asking, praying or calling.
And again, as I have kindly mentioned, the Bible is very clear in Romans 10:14 that no one can call until they have first believed, and it is one's faith that saves them. Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Again, no mention of praying to be saved.
Dr. Bob Jones Sr. (1883-1968) got it absolutely right...“'Pray to be saved. Ask the Lord to save you.' This is what I heard a minister say to a convicted sinner who came forward for prayer at the close of an evangelistic service. Nowhere in the Bible are men told to pray to be saved. There are examples where men did pray and were saved. Men are told to repent, to believe, to obey the Gospel, but the Bible never says to pray for salvation. It does say that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, but nowhere does the Bible command men to pray to be saved. I think I know why, God, who made the human heart, knew that it was not necessary to tell convicted sinners to pray. If a sinner can see Jesus Christ on the cross, it is as natural for him to pray as it is for birds to sing or flowers to bloom. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.'” —Dr. Bob Jones Sr., “Comments On Here And Hereafter,” chapter: Prayer And Praise, p. 163; Bob Jones University Press, Inc., © 1942Kindly said, you can stand your ground on this issue, but it is shaky ground to be certain. What you are defending cannot be supported with the inspired Word of God. Just because Jesus invited the Samaritan woman to "ask" Him for the Living Water doesn't negate the over 100 other passages of Scripture which simply invite the reader to "believe" on Christ to be saved.
I couldn't agree more with my ministry friend Onorato...
“The conversion of Cornelius and his household completely contradicts the notion that faith must be coupled with prayer in order to result in salvation. Acts 10:43, 'To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. 'While Peter yet spake these words...' Don't miss that! 'While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.' Notice, 'While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.' Why? Because their hearing was mixed with faith. These men were saved while the preacher was still speaking.”—Evangelist Onorato Diamante
“To assert that man is not saved until he calls, knowing that believing precedes (or comes before calling) is to assert that man is not saved the moment he believes.” —Evangelist Onorato Diamante
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