Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart

Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart: How To Know For Sure You Are Saved

J.D Greear

 

People who ask Jesus into their heart have probably done it more than once just in case they didn’t do it right the first time, or the second time, or the third time, or…………It can be a similar experience for those who have been taught the way of salvation more accurately. People who understand the necessity of faith and repentance can also be plagued by uncertainty – was my faith genuine, was my repentance thorough?

 

J.D Greear has done a good job of presenting a Biblical approach to the doctrine of assurance. The author writes from the experience of having asked Jesus into his heart more times than he can remember. This is a useful book to give to someone who has not understood clearly the way of salvation and regularly travels the well -trodden path of the author. It also has a much broader appeal and will surely be a help to Christians soundly taught yet still struggling to find inner Gospel peace.

 

Greear begins by describing his own struggles which represents one side of the coin – people who want to be saved, but just can’t be sure they are. The other side of the coin is the person who has prayed a prayer, has no real interest in walking obediently with Christ and assumes all is well. He recalls having met a completely godless young man who rested confidently in the knowledge “once saved always saved” because he had asked Jesus into his heart. The problems are different but the cause is the same – a poor understanding of what salvation involves and how it is acquired.

 

For those who lack assurance but desperately want it, Greear points out that God also wants His people to be certain of their standing with Him. It is fundamental to healthy, fruitful Christian living. “How can you stand against a hostile world if you are not assured of the God whom you are leaving it all for? How can you take up the cross if you’re not convinced of your resurrection” (pg.15). It is not merely a logical argument but a Biblical one. He presents three pictures from John’s Gospel through which we can see God’s intention for us to have assurance – we are His beloved children; we are His betrothed; we are His friends.

 

Greear then explains what the Gospel requires of us. While concepts like “asking Jesus into your heart” and “committing your life to Christ” are not exactly heretical they are not exactly helpful. The problem is they are inadequate and even misleading. God calls us to believe (faith) and repent. Before he develops these themes he fleshes out the substance of the Gospel. How many today have little idea of the great salvific doctrines of substitution, propitiation, and justification, etc. Our understanding of these doctrines has a direct bearing on assurance. Flimsy belief will most likely result in flimsy assurance. Worse still, spurious belief will most likely result in false assurance.

 

Chapters four and five are concerned with the nature of faith and repentance. Importantly Greear explains that while salvation is instantaneous and irrevocable faith and repentance are postures which we maintain throughout our lives. Salvation is all too often reduced to a ceremony (an event in the past) rather than understanding it from the perspective of a lifestyle. The difficulty for many Christians is they cannot pinpoint exactly when they were converted. Often it involved a process and added to this are the questions of whether they did it properly; were they were sincere enough, earnest enough etc. They struggle to attain assurance because they dwell on the past rather than learning to rest on Christ in the present.

 

Having set out the grounds for assurance the author deals with the evidence of salvation. Real assurance must be supported by evidence. He does this using the “tests” in John’s first epistle – the Spirit bearing witness through the truth; love for God; love for others. When I had finished reading the book I perused some of the reviews of it on Amazon. A few of the reviewers charged Greear with basing assurance on good works. His aim in this chapter is to explain that regeneration will show itself through a transformed life – salvation must be and will be outworked by putting off sinful habits and putting on Godly ones. Scripture is very clear on this issue and the charges are completely false. I wondered if they had read the same book as I had. Greear does not say assurance is found in good works. He is correctly making the point that people cannot carry on living completely self-indulgent lives and assume they are saved. Assurance of salvation is attained by resting in the Gospel; the evidence of salvation is demonstrated by a life of repentance. The two go together.

 

 

Other chapters helpfully bring into focus relevant issues such as Bible passages which warn Christians about falling away and what to do when doubts continue.

 

I found this book to be personally beneficial. I recommended it to a friend who has struggled with assurance for much of his Christian life and he contacted me shortly afterward to tell me what a blessing it had been. I am sure many will likewise find it helpful.

 

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