Is a public confession or a sinner's prayer necessary for salvation?
Now, the short answer is absolutely not.
The very moment someone believes on Christ,
trusting him alone to save them, they are saved, period.
The instant, the very moment someone believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, they are saved.
The Bible is very clear about the subject of salvation.
We are saved by grace through faith alone.
It's not of yourselves. It is the gift of God,
not of works lest any man should boast, with a confession or without a confession.
And look, what I said before I'd ever heard this video
was that people that preach that, it's heresy and they're not welcome in my church.
And let me tell you how I believe now.
That it's heresy and they're not welcome in my church.
People that believe this stupidity and this nonsense
should leave our church immediately or repent.
That's your two options.
Repent or leave.
But this is a foolish method for salvation, for going out and preaching the gospel.
It denies clear scripture.
And this is the question I would always ask these people.
What does Romans 10 13 mean then?
Because it has to mean something.
It says that if you call upon him, you're going to be saved.
Here's my question.
What are you being saved from?
Well, how about the whole context of the passage?
Going to hell, my friend.
Now let me just explain to you why these things are so intertwined.
You can't separate them, okay?
Believing on Jesus Christ and calling upon the name of the Lord for salvation is the same thing, okay?
To be saved, you have to eat this sandwich.
This is how you get saved.
And without this sandwich, you didn't get saved.
You can't have one part of the sandwich.
You have to have all of the sandwich, okay?
Now let me explain a few things.
The Bible, what does it hammer?
It hammers belief, right?
But doesn't it have other things that it talks about, like repenting?
Like calling upon the name of the Lord?
Let me explain why.
You know, Jesus went to the Jews and he said, repent and believe the gospel.
Now what if someone came up to you after that and said, you know what, Jesus?
I believe, but I didn't repent.
You know what Jesus would have said?
You're not saved.
Because you cannot believe in Jesus and not repent.
It's the same action.
Because if you believe in Jesus, that means you changed your mind about something.
You repented from something and you had a turning, okay?
So if I just say believe, it's implied that I repented, okay?
Now let me explain something.
If you believed on Christ, let me tell you something.
You called upon him because that's how you believe.
If you didn't call upon him, then you didn't believe.
Now let me explain these three scenarios, okay?
When I go out soul winning, I talk to a person and I'm asking the checklist of things they believe,
right?
Do you believe salvation's by faith?
Yeah.
Do you believe you're a sinner?
Yeah.
Do you believe you go to hell?
Yeah.
And they admit to me all those things.
And I say, okay, well, is that different than what you believed before?
And they say, no.
They didn't get saved because they didn't repent.
So that would be, and look, they could do both of these.
They could believe, they could say, I believed all that and we pray.
And I say, did you change your mind?
And they say, no.
And I say, well, you didn't get saved then.
Cause you didn't eat the whole sandwich.
Okay.
What if they said, Hey, I changed my mind and I agree with you.
Those things are true.
I believe those things are true.
You want to ask God to get saved now?
Do you want to confess that to him now?
No, not saved.
What if they get this one out?
What if they, Hey, I changed what I believe.
I'm not going to be a Muslim anymore.
I'm going to be a Hindu and I'm going to call upon the name of the Lord.
Not saved.
You got to have all three, but you know what?
It's a package deal.
If you have two of these elements, not safe.
And it's a one-time thing.
The moment you do this, it's all of it.
It's just, you just take a bite.
You take one bite and you're saved.
That's what it means to believe on him, the call.
And you say, well, I don't know if these things are equal.
Okay.
Well, how about all the verses that say, just repent and don't have these other two?
Like Acts 2 38, repent.
What was that saying?
It was saying these other two, because the context is by believing in Jesus.
And it would be calling.
How about when it just has this one?
Go to Acts chapter 22 for a moment.
Now I'm going to again present to you the argument that people make.
Calling upon the name of the Lord does not get you saved.
It's not needed for salvation.
Okay.
Let's read verse 16.
This is Ananias talking to Paul.
And now why terriest thou?
Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Now explain this to me.
Did he tell him to believe?
Did he tell him to repent?
No.
So if he can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved and has nothing to do with salvation,
explain that to me.
You know how he washed away his sins because he called upon the name of the Lord with
repentance and belief, which is implied in that verse.
Otherwise, Ananias didn't even tell him how to get saved.
So then if you're telling me that calling upon the name of the Lord is also not a part
of salvation, then by telling to call upon the name of the Lord, you're not even telling
him how to get saved then.
But let me tell you what.
Calling upon the name of the Lord is equivalent to believing on Jesus.
I'll prove it.
Romans chapter 10.
Go back to Romans chapter 10.
I'll just dispel that stupidity instantly with the Bible itself.
Romans chapter number 10.
We already had Romans 9 and 10 tell us the package deal of confess and believe, right?
But look at verse number 11.
For the scripture sayeth, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
What's the phrase in verse number 11?
Believing on him, right?
Here's the next verse.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all
is rich unto all that call upon him.
Notice how Paul describes believing on him, calling upon him.
And notice how he describes calling upon him, believing on him.
Because it's the same thing, my friend.
And then we go to verse 13.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And then he gives us a backwards way to get someone saved.
Verse 14.
How then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in him whom they've not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach, except they be sent?
Notice we have the backwards way of getting someone saved.
So what would be the forward?
Sending someone.
That person preaching.
The person hearing it.
The person understanding and believing it.
And then what happens?
They call upon the name of the Lord.
And notice how the Bible describes it.
So that they're saved.
Believing on him.
Believing in him.
There's a difference between believing the gospel is true and believing on Christ.
I have met people that say, hey, I believe everything you're saying is true,
but I don't want to trust Christ.
Or I understand everything you're saying.
How would you know that you even got saved?
It has nothing to do with calling upon the name of the Lord.
How would you know you believed it enough or believed it right?
You know what would get slipped in after that?
Well, if you're doing the works, then you really believed it then.
Well, if you're praying and consistent or you're faithful,
then you just slip in work, just hardcore work salvation to it.
Well, if you're believing, you'd persevere to the end or something, you know.
And I'm not saying Norm Diamante said that,
but what he did say is very clear that calling upon the name of the Lord is not going to save you.
And here's another thing that he said.
I've never asked Jesus to save me.
Now, let me explain something to you.
If someone came up to me and said, I've never asked Jesus to save me, but I believed in him,
then I would say you're not saved.
Because you might have had these two, but you didn't have this one.
It's a package deal, my friend.
You're confused.
Just like the same person that said, you know what?
I believe everything you said, but I've never changed my opinion.
I've never changed my mind.
Then I would say, then you didn't get saved.
What if I said, hey, I never received Christ, but I believed in him.
Well, John 1 12 equates receiving with believing, doesn't it?
I can't receive him and not believe in him.
And I can't believe in him if I don't receive him.
It's a package deal, just like repentance and faith.
You know, what if I said, well, I believe in Jesus, but I don't have faith in Jesus.
You're like, what are you talking about?
This is just nonsense at that point.
Look, you have to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
And look, this old guy is such a hypocrite.
He had a video a few years ago getting someone saved on camera.
Let me give you some quotes from his video.
OK, the guy that says he's never asked Jesus to save him,
the guy that says you don't have to ask or call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
Let me just give you a quote from him talking to a young lady.
And he says this, if you wanted my Bible, you would ask me for it.
He says, yes, if God has a gift that you want,
if God has salvation he wants to give you, the next step is to ask him for it.
It's as simple as changing what you believe, telling God that,
asking him to save you.
And in that instant, in that moment of time, you're saved forever.
Now, if you wanted my Bible, you would ask me for it.
If God has a gift that you want, if God has salvation,
he wants to give it to you, the next step is to ask him for it.
It's as simple as changing what you believe,
telling God that, asking him to save you.
And in that instant, in that moment of time, you're saved forever.
It's as simple as that.
So before I leave, I could lead you in a quick word of prayer.
I could pray, you could repeat after me.
And I could help you tell God that this is what you believe.
Ask him to save you.
And if you mean that in your heart, he'll do it right now.
Okay.
You want to do that?
Yeah.
Okay.
So just bow your head and just repeat this after me and mean this in your heart.
Okay.
Dear Jesus.
The same guy, now saying you don't even have to ask for it.
What a hypocrite.
What a liar.
Then the next breath, he says, why don't you ask him to save you?
And then they pray.
Here's his prayer.
Please save me right now.
Please give me everlasting life.
What a lying, fraud, hypocrite liar.
You know what the Bible says?
A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition, reject.
Knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
Well, I want to go rescue him.
Don't rescue the heretics.
You can mock them and make fun of them and tell them how stupid they are.
So maybe they'll wake up.
You know what?
What a lying fraud.
What a lying phone.
Don't let these stupid people discourage you from going out and preaching the gospel.
They get puffed up with their little online ministry,
their self-ordained YouTube ministry or whatever, thinking that they're doing some great thing.
And look, I'm all for sharing the gospel online.
You know what?
It sometimes puss people up.
And it's funny how your ministry is dedicated to one thing, getting people saved,
and now you can't even get them saved because you don't even believe the gospel correctly.
You don't even believe in telling people to call upon the name of the Lord,
which you did, I guess, five minutes ago.
I don't know.
These shifting sands.
It's nonsense.
It's disgusting.
I've heard some people say, oh, well, Romans 10's physical salvation, Pastor Shelley.
And I said, oh, okay.
So you believe that if I need physical salvation, I have to ask God for it.
But if I want spiritual salvation, I don't ask for that.
Okay.
That makes sense.
I heard him say, no one in the Bible asks for salvation.
What about the guy that said, God, you merciful me a sinner?
What about the person that said, Lord,
remembers me when I come to that kingdom?
Sir, give me that water.
There's tons of people that ask.
And they'll bring up, oh, well, in Acts chapter number 10,
Peter was preaching and then they started believing, getting saved.
You know, the reason why they even knew that is because they were shouting out loud,
praise the Lord in a different language.
Now, if someone's shouting, do you think that they're talking?
Yeah.
So you think it's any possibility they actually called upon the name of the Lord and got saved
then too?
Yeah, I'm sure they did.
You know, think about Jesus' ministry.
When Jesus is walking up and down the streets,
there's people literally just randomly screaming,
Son of David, have mercy on me.
You know what that is?
Calling upon the name of the Lord, my friend.
You don't think that when you have thousands of people they're preaching to,
some of them don't just cry out for salvation in the middle of the preaching?
Yeah, they did.
You know what?
Services all across this country,
preachers are telling people to pray right in their seat to get saved.
You're going to tell me that they never did that?
And look, the New Testament doesn't record every single utterance of every single person,
every single action.
It's just giving you the highlights.
You know, the guy that's giving you the highlights is the Apostle Paul,
who wrote Romans chapter number 10.
I think he knows how to get people saved by then at the end of his ministry.
I think he figured it out finally.
And he told us how to get people saved.
Stupid.
Go to Matthew chapter 21 to say you shouldn't have to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
I don't want to ask Jesus to save me.
Well, he sounds like you just want to go to hell.
He said, oh, well, you wouldn't baptize people that you didn't pray with.
Almost every person I've ever baptized, I didn't pray with them to get saved.
I have some of them.
I personally got them saved and I got the baptizer.
But most of them time they got saved somewhere else.
And they just come up to me and say, hey, I trust the Christ.
And I'm like, let's duck you.
Oh, well, in Acts chapter number 8, he just he baptized Philip without praying with him.
We don't know if he prayed with them or not because it doesn't say.
But he did ask him if he believed.
And guess what?
He opened his mouth.
And he told him that he believed.
He at minimum confessed.
Matthew 21, look at verse 22.
And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
Oh, except for salvation.
I mean, just the most important thing.
That's the only one you don't ask, believing, and you receive it.
But as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God,
even them that believe on his name.
You don't even mean specifically.
So you know what equates believing to receiving.
What does the Bible equate receiving to?
Praying and asking with faith in your heart.
That sounds like Romans 10, 9, 10.
It sounds like the Bible makes perfect sense.
It sounds like the stupid doctrine of saying you don't have to call upon the name of the Lord
is garbage because it is.
Is a public confession or a sinner's prayer necessary for salvation?
Absolutely not, my friend.
We are saved by grace through faith alone with or without a confession.
With or without a confession.
I want us out there doing it right.
I want us following the formula.
Be in sent.
Preach the word.
Hear the word.
Believe the word.
Call upon the name of the Lord.
I like that.
It works.
It's biblical.
We want to keep that going.
I don't like these bozos who attack soul winning because that's what this is.
It's an attack on soul winning.
And that's why you'll notice that when people ask this internet bozo, hey, did you pray
to the Lord at all and, and, you know, call upon him for salvation or ask him to be saved
or even in your heart?
Every time they consistently asked him about praying a prayer, he always responded with
I didn't repeat a prayer.
Did you pray a prayer?
Didn't repeat a prayer.
Did you pray a prayer?
Didn't repeat a prayer.
Did you pray a prayer?
Didn't repeat a prayer.
And then he puts repeat a prayer in quotes.
Who are you quoting?
You're the one who said that.
The guy who asked you just said pray a prayer.
And you're like, no, I didn't repeat a prayer.
Who are you quoting?
That's you.
You know, what if I told you that when you're talking, you don't have to put yourself in
quotation marks, but I'll tell you why he keeps switching it from pray a prayer to repeat
a prayer is because he is mocking the fact that we help people pray to be saved, that
we help them do it.
And we allow people to repeat after us as a way to help them put it into words because
we're trying to help people get saved.
I repeat a prayer is repeating stuff.
Yes.
I mean, so what's wrong with repeating something?
You know how I learned how to go soul winning?
I watched other people do it and I repeated what I saw them doing.
You know how I learned how to eat cereal?
I watched my mom and dad eat cereal and I did the same thing with my spoon that I saw
them doing.
You know how I learned to talk?
You know how I learned to speak English?
Repeating stuff.
And then I grew up and went to a Spanish class and they said, repeat then, repeat then.
And we had to repeat things.
So what?
It's like, oh, you're repeating a prayer, repeating a prayer.
Hey, look, it doesn't matter if you're repeating something, you know, repeat John 3 16 for
crying out loud.
Look, somebody's helping you pray by helping you put it into words, by teaching you how
to call upon the name of the Lord.
God forbid that we would help someone do that.
I repeat a prayer, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.
It says, why are you obsessed with that word repeat?
Because you're making fun of it.
That's why you're making fun of the fact that we go out because we don't rely on YouTube
to evangelize.
We don't rely on YouTube.
We actually go out and we repeat a prayer with people.
Imagine that.
But you know what?
Obviously repeating something that you don't believe or repeating something a hundred times
a vain repetition.
But if someone has confessed to us, yes, I believe this is what I believe.
Okay, let me help you tell this to God now.
You know, I mean, what could be better?
God forbid that we go out and we repeat something that you don't believe or repeat something
that you don't believe or repeat something that you don't believe or repeat something