Just ask Jesus into your heart

Just Ask Jesus Into Your Heart?

Considering the "modern" application of Romans 10:13

Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” This is one of the most beautiful promises of God in the entire Bible; however, it does not mean what it is commonly suggested to mean. In the last century men have taken this Verse and have begun teaching that anyone who says a prayer and asks Jesus into their heart will be saved; and that they can have assurance of salvation on the basis of their perceived sincerity in saying that prayer. There are two major issues with that interpretation. First, that is simply not what the passage says. Second, this erroneous interpretation is not the message of Romans or the rest of Scripture. In the Scriptures, we find that the Apostles preached Jesus. They proclaimed His atoning death and victorious resurrection. They proclaimed Jesus Christ the Lord (2 Cor 4:5). They commanded that individuals repent and trust solely in Him. Jesus demanded that if a person was to be saved, they must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him (Matt 16:24-26). This is the message throughout the Scriptures—denoting a surrender of life to the Lord in faith on the basis that He alone is the holder of life, forgiveness, mercy, redemption, and reconciliation to God.

Today, in an effort to be efficient and appear successful to man, many “ministers” have began proclaiming "another Gospel" (Galatians 1:6-10). This new “Gospel” sounds much like the truth, but the message has actually been diluted and changed. Today, little Biblical instruction is provided concerning sin, judgment, the cross of Christ, the resurrection, repentance, or faith in Christ. Instead of teaching and preaching the Gospel (Matt 28:19, Mark 16:15), ministers just skim over the Gospel and ask people to mentally acknowledge a few truths. People are then told of a lonely Jesus who is just waiting for them to “ask Him into their heart”. They are encouraged with a promise of forgiveness and a heavenly abode. Jesus is presented as a mere addition to their life who will ride shotgun as they continue their life of rebellion against God. Once a person says “the prayer” they are then popishly told they are “saved”. When conviction later arises in their heart, ministers quickly stifle it by giving them a false notion that they have truly “called upon the name of the Lord” - when they have done nothing of the sort. Amazingly, these same ministers stand around confused as to why most of their converts later completely depart from the faith and the remainder are characterized by apathy, worldliness, and vain external religion.

CONTEXT OF PASSAGE

Context is important. What is the immediate context of this passage? Romans Chapters 9-11 describe God’s dealings with Israel. In Romans Chapter 9 Paul declares and illustrates God’s sovereignty in selecting Israel as His chosen people. The Chapter ends revealing that Israel rejected God’s righteousness through faith in Christ and that Christ was received by the Gentiles. In Romans Chapter 10 Paul is expressing the fact that God’s salvation is still available to all (whether Jew or Gentile) who will receive it through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans Chapter 11 Paul warns the Gentiles of the dangers of unbelief, he assures them of God’s readiness to save those who will believe, and he assures all that God’s promises to the nation of Israel will be fulfilled.

In keeping with the context of Chapter 10, Romans 10:13, is a quote from Joel 2:32 where it was prophesied that both Jew and Gentile would have access to the salvation of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Quoted here in Verse 13, Paul is providing Scriptural support for what he stated in Verse 12 – that salvation is available to all. The clear teaching from Romans Chapter 10 (and all of Romans) is that salvation is received by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, salvation by faith is unquestionably referred to nine times in Romans Chapter 10 alone.

CONSIDERED BIBLICALLY

To “call upon the name of the Lord” entails much more than just the utterance of a verbal prayer. The Pharisee in Luke 18 prayed, but he was obviously not calling upon the name of the Lord. When you study the phrase Biblically you will find that it means to worship, to invoke for aid, to look to, to lean heavily upon – in short, a genuine trust.

Paul, the writer of Romans, uses this phrase only one other time in his writings. He uses this phrase in the greeting of his first letter to the Corinthian church. In 1 Corinthians 1:2 he says, “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours”. It is clear from this passage that Paul is not referring to some act by which salvation is received, but rather, the ongoing activity of those who are worshiping, trusting, and praying to the Living God. In this passage, Paul used this phrase as a synonym for true believers.

This is the same sense in which this phrase first appears in the Word of God in Genesis. In Genesis 4:26 we read, “And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord”. This does not mean that this was the first time people began to receive salvation, for Seth’s older brother Abel was undoubtedly a recipient of salvation through faith (Heb 11:4). Rather, through this line of Seth began a spiritual lineage of men who truly worshipped God from the heart all the way down through seven generations to Noah and until this very day. They called upon the name of the Lord. They prayed to Him, they worshiped Him, they believed upon Him – and “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”.

This phrase clearly entails much more than some check-the-box prayer to secure salvation. It’s not “just asking Jesus into your heart”. This passage speaks of those who call upon the name of the “Lord”. This is not a self-willed rebel who is determined to go their own way. Rather, this denotes one who in true repentance and faith has submissively humbled themselves before the Sovereign Lord of All in true faith. Be reminded that the Bible speaks much about a false faith that does not save (i.e. John 6, James 2, 1 Cor 15, etc.)

MAN-MADE METHOD

Where did this emphasis on getting people to “just ask Jesus into their heart” come from? Answer: It is completely man-made with absolutely no foundation in the Word of God. No one in the Bible is ever instructed to “just ask Jesus to come into their heart”. This new doctrine primarily emerged with the popularity of mass crusades and televangelism in the 20th century. Yet, this popular and subtle false teaching has become so wide spread that few question it! Amazing!

Someone protests, “Yes, but it has been effective!” Effective? We live in a country (America) where almost everyone thinks they are saved, yet we are one of the most apathetic, materialistic, and ungodly nations that has ever existed. Any Christian who gives honest consideration to the fruit of this false teaching will be greatly alarmed. How much vibrant faith and love for Jesus do you see among church-goers these days? Consider the masses that have and are departing from faith in droves! (1 John 2:19)

Friend, if you use a sales-pitch tactic and skim lightly over the sin of man, the declared judgment of God, and the atoning death and victorious resurrection of Christ (which is the Gospel and the power of God unto salvation)—you are not being a faithful ambassador for Christ. It doesn’t matter how many people you can convince to “ask Jesus into their heart”! It’s easy to get people to just “say a prayer”. Any self-loving child of the Devil would be glad to say a prayer and “ask Jesus into their heart” if they had the slightest notion that it might deliver them from Hell and guarantee them a place in Heaven. That doesn’t require conviction of sin, repentance, or faith in Jesus. It merely requires a mental opinion that there might be a Heaven and Hell and that this prayer may secure them the best accommodations! It is our privilege and responsibility to diligently preach the Gospel of Christ and plead with individuals to trust all to Him. When we do that, we don’t need to lead men in little liturgical prayers—no, those who are truly repentant will cry out to God from their own heart, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

MY PLEA

Please, search the Scriptures…. Ensure that your Gospel presentation lines up with the Word of God. Follow HIS mandate and example. Study the situtions in the Bible where Jesus and the Apostles spoke to a person or crowd about eternal salvation. Study the Gospel commands given by Jesus and the Apostles. For example, reference the list of Scripture passages at the end of this article.

PLEASE, read them. Don’t take my word for it – see what God says! I plead with you! I will tell you what you will never find – “just ask Jesus into your heart”, “just say this prayer”, etc. It’s not there! That is not the focus, nor the goal, of any Gospel proclamation found in the Bible. Preach Jesus!...and in His name command individuals to repent and trust in Him alone. Declare that if they desire salvation, they must surrender their life to Him in faith, or be eternally damned. Line your Gospel presentation up with God’s Word. When you follow the Word of God you can’t go wrong, and the result is Biblical evangelism.

Download printable tract version of this article.

Scripture References:

Matthew 4:17

Matthew 9:12-13

Matthew 16:24-26

Matthew 19:16-30

Mark 1:14-15

Mark 2:17

Mark 6:7-12

Mark 8:34-38

Mark 10:17-31

Luke 5:31-32

Luke 9:22-26

Luke 10:25-37

Luke 13:1-5

Luke 14:26-33

Luke 18:18-30

John 3:1-21

John 4:6-26

John 5:16-47

John 6:24-71

Acts 2:14-39

Acts 3:12-26

Acts 8:26-38

Acts 10:34-43

Acts 13:14-41

Acts 16:19-34

Acts 17:22-31

Acts 20:20-21