There are sayings and
expressions that people use without even thinking about what they are saying.
Expressions such as; “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse”, or “I’m starving!”
If we are being honest, no,
we are not starving and if we were, eating a horse is not what we are thinking
of doing!
For many years, I have heard
the expression that people need to “ask Jesus into their hearts”. The same
expression is sometimes phrased, "Ask Jesus into your life", or
"Invite Jesus into your heart".
Personally, I can’t find this in the Bible. Instead, I find that the Bible says, "…Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31)
Romans 10:8-13 says nothing about 'inviting Jesus into your heart': “But what does it say? “The word is near
you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that
is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has
raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with
the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”[c]
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the
same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
So, where did we get the idea that people need
to “ask Jesus into their heart”? I
think that the idea comes from several religious tradition, that don’t come
from the Bible, handed down through well-meaning teachers. Anglo-American
Puritans and evangelicals in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries used the
phrase “receive Christ into your heart,” or something like it, with some
regularity.
Another one of these
religious traditions taught that we
have a ‘door to our heart’ that has a latch on the inside but not on the
outside. We are taught that Jesus Christ is knocking on the outside
but cannot come in unless we unlatch the lock from the inside of the
heart. The Bible teaches no such thing.
Where else does this idea come from? It also can be seen in stained glass
set beautifully in church buildings. I personally think that some of this comes
from people seeing either of the two allegorical
paintings of Jesus Christ standing at the door knocking
painted by William Holman Hunt or the one painted by Warner
Sallman.
What about Revelation 3:20? ”Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens
the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
“Doesn’t that refer to the ‘door of our heart’?” I
say, “No”. Take time to read the
context of Revelation 3:14-22. The
door mentioned is the door of the church of Laodicea; not a reference to the
door of the heart or the door of your life or about salvation. It means to dine, that is, take the principal (or
evening) meal or fellowship with the Lord.
Religious songs are another source of this wrong
teaching; songs we sing simply
because we like them. In other words we have theology totally based on the
words of the song even if they are not scriptural.
One of these songs is called;
"Come Into My Heart, Lord Jesus" which says; "Into my heart,
into my heart; Come into my heart, Lord Jesus." This song is sung as
people are given the opportunity to "Invite Jesus into their
hearts".
Some scriptural references are misinterpreted because
of tradition. Some people will
quote passages like Ephesians 3:16-19 “ that
He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened
with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ
may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in
love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and
height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
But it doesn't say ‘ask Him
into your heart’; rather it is says; “that He would dwell in your heart by faith”.
Some will say; “But what about John
14:23; “Jesus
answered and said to him, “If anyone
loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come
to him and make Our home with him.”
It says, “We” will come and make “our” home with him. I would say this
is speaking of the triune nature of God and it is the Holy Spirit who dwells in
us when we surrender our lives to Jesus.
Referring to
Jesus, Colossians 2:9-10 says “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head
of all principality and power”
When we
surrender our lives to Jesus, we are filled with the Holy Spirit; who is
fully God as a member of the Trinity and a representative of the Father and the
Son.
Acts
2: “And they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them
utterance.”
Acts
4:31 “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together
was shaken; and they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit, and they
spoke the word of God with boldness”
Acts 13:52 “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit”
Ephesians 5:18
“And do not be drunk with wine, in which
is dissipation; but be filled
with the Spirit”
Acts
9:17 “And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands
on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road
as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus, after He completed His work here on the earth,
went to be with the Father.
Romans 8:34 “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”
Hebrews 10:11-14 “And
every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man,
after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right
hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are
made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected
forever those who are being sanctified.
John
14:12-17 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the
works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will
do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give
you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it
neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and
will be in you.
John 14:26 “But
the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will
teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to
you.”
John
16:7-15 “Nevertheless I tell
you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away,
the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to
you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father
and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but
you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has
come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He
will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and
declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine.
Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”
The Bible simply says that we are to believe or trust the gospel message
that Jesus paid for our sins by His death on the cross, and that He was buried,
and that He was resurrected from the dead.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who
believes...” (Romans 1:16a).
"For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
We Receive Christ Through Faith
"By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).
"By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).
Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for our sins is not enough. Nor
is it enough to have an emotional experience. We receive Jesus Christ by faith,
as an act of the will.
Receiving Christ involves turning our wills and
lives to God and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive our sins and
to make us what He wants us to be. The Bible calls this "repentance".
What that means is to "change the way you think"; in other words, go
another direction- with our thoughts, words, actions; with how we live our
lives.
God will only give eternal life to:
1. Those who are sorry for their sins.
2. Those who are willing to turn away from what the Bible
calls sin.
3. Those who put their complete trust (have faith) in
Jesus Christ and what He accomplished through His death, burial, and
resurrection.
When We
Receive Christ, we will experience a “New Birth”
So, how do you do you receive Christ?
1. Stop trusting in your own efforts to please God and
begin to trust in what Jesus Christ has already done.
2. Ask God to forgive you for your sins.
3. Ask Jesus to take His rightful place as Lord and
Savior of your life.
4. Turn away from whatever the Bible says is sin. NOTE:
This is only possible after you have made Jesus the Lord of your life.
You can do this right now by praying (speaking
to God) in your own words like this:
"LORD
JESUS. I WANT TO STOP TRUSTING MYSELF AND WHAT I CAN DO AND START TRUSTING IN
YOU AND WHAT YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE WHEN YOU DIED ON THE CROSS FOR ME. I KNOW
THAT I AM A SINNER AND I AM SORRY FOR MY SINS. I ASK YOU TO FORGIVE ME. AND I
INVITE YOU TO COME AND BE THE SAVIOR AND THE LORD OF
MY LIFE. BY THAT I MEAN STARTING RIGHT NOW, YOU WILL BE #1 IN MY LIFE. I WANT
TO TURN AWAY FROM EVERYTHING THAT YOU AND THE BIBLE CALL SIN. I TOTALLY COMMIT
MYSELF TO OBEYING YOU; EVERYDAY OF MY LIFE. THANK YOU LORD JESUS"
This
new life will continue to grow by:
·
Spending time
reading the Bible which is His Word
·
Spending time
with other Christians at church, Bible studies, and fellowships.
·
Spending time
sharing with others who yet don’t know how they too can get right with God.
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