HOW UNBIBLICAL TALK HINDERS
THE GOSPEL
As a teenager I had a hard time understanding the way
of salvation. I struggled to find peace with God and assurance of salvation.
And, because of my struggle, there were several times during that period when I
“gave my life to Christ” or “asked Jesus to come into my heart and save me”.
However, doing those things never brought me assurance of salvation! And, the
reason they never brought me assurance of salvation is very simple. They never
brought me assurance of salvation because that is not the way we get saved!
At this point someone might object to
what I just said, by claiming that when they got saved they “gave their life to
Christ” or “asked Jesus into their heart”. And that may be true. However, if
they got saved they got saved because they trusted in Christ, not because they
“asked Jesus into their heart” or “gave their life to Christ”. It is what
Christ did, not what we do that saves us. It is what Christ did, not our works
(even the work of “asking Jesus into our heart” or “giving our life to
Christ”), that saves us. And, I mention this fact because every time I hear of
someone who has turned away from the faith or fallen into sin, and am told that they “accepted Christ” years ago, I ask the
question. Did they really put their faith in Christ? Or did they just do
something they were told to do, hoping that they would be saved by doing it
(rather than by what Christ did). If we really want to save souls we need to do
it God’s way (Acts