Lie: Souls are converted by letting Jesus in through a sinner’s prayer.
Fact: No one has ever been converted by a prayer. It is unbiblical and blasphemous to the gospel to say that it’s possible.
Romans 10 is commonly misused to prove that you can be saved by “asking Jesus into your heart.” This is not what Romans 10 teaches. Let’s put this chapter under examination.
Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Notice that it says that in order to be saved you must confess, AND believe. The same can be said of getting baptized. Jesus said in Mark 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Does this say that if you’re not baptized, you’ll go to hell, or that you get baptized without believing you go to heaven? The answer to both of those questions is no. Romans 10:9 makes the same kind of statement. It does NOT say that those who confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus will be saved, just as Jesus did not say that those who are baptized will be saved.
Now let’s look at the next verse Romans 10:13. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” This does not say, “For whosoever shall ask Jesus to come into their hearts shall be saved.” There’s a big difference between calling, and just saying a sinners prayer. Jesus quoted Isaiah in Mark 6:9 saying, “Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with ”their” lips, but their heart is far from me.” You can ask Jesus into your heart without actually believing the gospel, but you can not call on someone you do not believe on. Most people read Romans 10:13 without thinking about context, so they completely misquote it because the very next verse reads, ”How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?”
Jesus made it very clear that the evidence that you are saved is not that you confessed Jesus; it is that you do the will of the Father. In Mathew 7:21-23, Jesus says, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Jesus made it very clear that you cannot judge whether or not you are a believer by what you say. The way you judge this is by whether or not the Holy Spirit is evident in your life. See I John to learn more about knowing whether or not you are a believer. The entire book is written for us to know whether or not people are believers. (I John 5:13)
Another verse that gets misused often to prove that you can go to heaven by “letting Jesus in” is Revelations 3:20. It says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Many preachers have used this verse to tell lost souls that all they need to do is open the door of their heart, and Jesus will come in. This is not entirely true, and Revelations 3 does not say that. We know this because Jesus is talking to the church in this chapter; He’s not talking to unbelievers. All you need to do is read a few verses later to know this. Revelations 3: 22 “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”