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    Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved
    Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved
    Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved
    Ebook155 pages2 hours

    Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved

    By J.D. Greear

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     “If there were a Guinness Book of World Records entry for ‘amount of times having prayed the sinner’s prayer,’ I’m pretty sure I’d be a top contender,” says pastor and author J. D. Greear. He struggled for many years to gain an assurance of salvation and eventually learned he was not alone. “Lack of assurance” is epidemic among evangelical Christians.

    In Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart, J. D. shows that faulty ways of present- ing the gospel are a leading source of the confusion. Our presentations may not be heretical, but they are sometimes misleading. The idea of “asking Jesus into your heart” or “giving your life to Jesus” often gives false assurance to those who are not saved—and keeps those who genuinely are saved from fully embracing that reality.

    Greear unpacks the doctrine of assurance, showing that salvation is a posture we take to the promise of God in Christ, a posture that begins at a certain point and is maintained for the rest of our lives. He also answers the tough questions about assurance: What exactly is faith? What is repentance? Why are there so many warnings that seem to imply we can lose our salvation?

    Such issues are handled with respect to the theological rigors they require, but Greear never loses his pastoral sensitivity or a communication technique that makes this message teachable to a wide audience from teens to adults.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBH Publishing Group
    Release dateFeb 1, 2013
    ISBN9781433679186
    Author

    J.D. Greear

    J.D. Greear is pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, and the 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Summit Church has been ranked by Outreach Magazine as one of the fastest-growing churches in the United States, with a weekly attendance of over 10,000. Greear has a Ph.D. in systematic theology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of many books, including Gaining by Losing, Jesus Continued, and Not God Enough. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife, Veronica, and their four children.

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    Reviews for Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart

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    • 4/5
      “If there were a Guinness Book of World Records record for ‘amount of times having asked Jesus into your heart,’ I’m pretty sure I would hold it. By the time I reached the age of eighteen I had probably ‘asked Jesus into my heart’ five thousand times…” So begins Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart by J.D. Greear. I can certainly identify with this statement. As a young college student, I was perplexed by an evangelist who came to the church I attended and preached repeatedly that one’s assurance of salvation was based upon his recollection of the time that he asked Jesus into his heart as Savior. If any of us could not remember, we were encouraged by this evangelist to rush to the front of the church when the altar call began, ask Jesus into our hearts, and then record the date in the front of our Bibles. If doubts should ever again arise, we were to turn to the recorded date and the doubts would quickly disappear. If, in fact, we were actually saved to begin with, the activity would not hurt anything. No harm, no foul – and the evangelist would get to add us to his growing number of decisions for which was responsible. I suspect that many people raised in fundamentalist churches can testify to similar experiences.Greear reminds us that this kind of thinking moves the basis of assurance from what Christ accomplished for us to some accomplishment on our part. Scripture teaches us that the basis of our salvation is firmly fixed on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross. He describes salvation as “a posture of repentance and faith toward the finished work of Christ in which you transfer the weight of your hopes of heaven off your own righteousness and onto the finished work of Jesus Christ.” This “present posture” of repentance and faith is “better proof [of a point in time decision] that a past memory.” Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart is a great resource for those who may have been exposed to irresponsible teaching in the name of evangelistic zeal. It is also a helpful reminder for those who struggle with the idea of an eternal salvation (aka eternal security) in the very real context of those who appear to fall away. At less than 125 pages, it is a quick, but profitable read.
    • 3/5
      This book was an excellent overview of the gospel message and really had somthing for long-time believers and new Christians. I don't know that I would recommend it for seekers, as it isn't really a defense of the faith, more an investigation of the meaning of salvation.
    • 5/5
      In a nutshell, this is quite a wonderful little book. And it IS little, both in size and font--I don't quite need reading glasses yet, but the print size would be a strain for most folks with more "experienced" eyes. Content, though, is immense. I cannot get over how each chapter intuitively digs into the deepest doubts, uncovers them, and explains them to the point that "you're either a believer, or you're not." Drawing from the author's own experience and doubting his own salvation, he knows the way that Satan can twist and turn something into a wedge between the joy of living in reassurance. The book is written in a way that will help the believer who wonders, and will also show those to "think" they believe (they've confessed it with their mouth) what true repentance and acceptance means, all in easy-to-understand but not dumbed-down language. Probably not the ticket for "seekers," as it assumes one already has professed (whether genuine or otherwise) to be a believer.A true gem, and one that has me turning back to previously-read portions and unpacking them further.
    • 4/5
      I found this book to be interesting in its presentation of the doctrine of the "Perseverance of the Believers." The chapters are short but they cover what the title of each chapter proposes and do so in a succint, however clear and distinct, manner. The author does not start with the assumption that salvation is secure and simply build on that idea, rather, he starts from the viewpoint of God as found in scripture concerning whether or not God even wants us to know we have assurance of salvation which cannot be lost. He tells of his own search for this assurance and the many years he struggled with this very concept in his own life. I believe he presents the information in a logical and orderly fashion and I believe he covers the subject quite well. I do not agree 100% with all of his ideas, however, I do not disagree with his overall and with his final analysis of the subject. The book is an easy read and I recommend it to anyone who is struggling with whether or not his/her salvation is permanently secure. Greear (the author) definitely and successfully makes the case for the "Perseverance of the believer."
    • 5/5
      In Stop Asking Jesus into your Heart, J.D. Greear is less concerned with critiquing the oft-used method of walking someone through the sinner’s prayer as he is with ensuring that believers are not resting on that prayer, that moment, that ritual as the basis of their assurance and security in Christ. This is an intensely personal subject to Greear who announces at the very onset, “If there were a Guinness Book of World Records record for ‘amount of times having asked Jesus into your heart,’ I’m pretty sure I would hold it,” before relaying his own story of wrestling with assurance of salvation (1).Does the doctrine of perseverance or eternal security imply that as long as someone prays a prayer and perhaps gets baptized, they can anything they want after that moment assured that they’re, “good with God?” Greear argues instead that, “Salvation is not a prayer you pray in a one-time ceremony and then move on from: salvation is a posture of repentance and faith that you begin in a moment and maintain for the rest of your life” (5). This is the thesis of Greear’s work who spends the rest of the book unpacking this idea.In Stop Asking Jesus into your Heart, J.D. Greear has presented evangelicalism with a very accessible resource for pastors to put into the hands of their congregants who may be wrestling with assurance. Using his 15 years of pastoral experience, Greear will challenge them to look to Christ, rather than any action on their part for assurance. He will call them to place the weight of their security upon Christ, and submit to His Lordship.In short, he challenges the reader to stop doing in hopes of ensuring his own salvation, but rather to recognize the finished work of Christ and live in the reality of that truth, for that is the basis of our assurance. If we are relying on Jesus, and living submitted to Him, we can stop asking Jesus into our hearts – he has already taken residence there.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book, had a lot of great info, and answers to questions that I struggle with. I recommend this book, even my Pastor quoted from this book during his sermon.
    • 4/5
      This book offers a terrific exegesis of the Reformed view of justification and as such is a great tool for the uncertain believer who needs a deeper theological grounding in the faith.
    • 3/5
      Received this book through a Advanced Reader program. The name pretty much sold me on it. I'm one of those Christ-followers who is forever annoyed by what has become Christian lingo or Christian speak (i.e. Ask Jesus Into Your Heart, How's Your Heart, God has a plan for you). It's lost its power and meaning. I enjoyed that this book broke it down in such a way that lets people know that it's MORE than asking Jesus into your heart, that's being saved, but to maintain salvation and build your relationship with Christ and deepend your bonds with your faith what next. What do you do after you allow Jesus into your heart? People focus on the former and reject to acknowledge that action is needed in the latter.
    • 4/5
      Greear is very careful with this sensitive subject. The book is pastoral and theological. He speaks from his own struggles with assurance and how he came to apply the Bible's teachings to his own heart. Pastorally speaking, I would love for every member of my church to read and discuss this book, along with other Christians. There are so many distortions of eternal security that we have lost the flavor of holiness.Conclusion: I highly recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      Those who have not been raised in the author's tradition (not all churches give altar calls or encourage members to be re-baptized when they have a crisis of faith) may be puzzled by the title. Nevertheless, this book contains a good explanation of assurance from a Reformed Baptist point of view. The chapters on belief and repentance - explaining what is really involved -- were, in my opinion, the best in the whole book. Unfortunately, the editors and proofreaders missed some blemishes in the text: typographical and grammatical errors, including missing words, and awkward phrasing in some places. All in all, though, I would recommend this book, esp.to pastors, who want to encourage their church members along the road of faith.
    • 5/5
      The title will make sure you pick this up and glance at it, but the biblical thoughtful approach that Greear takes to the topic will keep you reading until the end, marking it up and making notes as you go. This is a popular topic in a particular brand of evangelicalism, the one that practices altar calls, revivals, and personal testimonies. Greear is biblically thorough, and not afraid to tackle the tough topics and passages associated with salvation, conversion, and falling away. As a pastor I appreciate his candor and easy going approach to a heavy theological topic.His approach is clear from the begginning " Salvation s not a prayer you pray in a one time ceremony and then move on from; salvation is a posture of repentance and faith that you begin in a moment and maintain for the rest of your life"I will buy copies of this for those struggling with their salvation, and recommend it to all.
    • 4/5
      The book is short - but to really benefit from it one should plan on reading it slowly and "chewing" on it piece by piece. For the most part, it is a thoughtful presentation of the Gospel. It is refreshing to read a book by an author who lets the Bible speak without reducing what it says to cliches. If anything, it could be a little shorter., because the longer he tried to explain himself the more he seemed just to repeat himself. The personal anecdotes at first were quite good but tended to get tedious. The fact is, if you want to doubt your salvation in the end you will be able to do it. Explanations only go so far. The only part of the book I really didn't care for - the reason I give it 4 instead of 5 stars - was appendix A on Baptism. In rejecting Infant Baptism he ends up falling into the very trap he tries to save us from - replacing "invite Jesus in" with "be baptized again, just in case." Perhaps the problem is the fact that he considers our names to be written in the Lamb's Book of Life when we believe, rather than "from the foundation of the world (Rev 17:8 and Eph 1:4). Take out Appendix 1 and I give it 5 stars.
    • 4/5
      At first the author provides a gentle but theological critique of the methodology of getting people saved through the use of “The Sinner’s Prayer’. He shares his own experience recounting the multiple times he asked Jesus into his heart and getting baptized a number of times also.new book “Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart” we have author J.D. Grear, who is the Lead Pastor at the Summit Church of Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, provides for the reader a look at assurance of salvation.Which leads to his premise which is “assurance is not found in remembering a prayer that you prayed, however but by continuing in the posture of repentance and faith that you began at your conversion.” In turn Grear explores and explains what the bible says is true belief, faith and repentance. He explains how everyone’s conversion experience is many times quite different but the truths of faith and repentance are the same. He further show how the “sinner’s prayer” is not some sort of magic incantation that saves. Our assurance is only in the finished work of Christ. Grear writes:The Bible depicts the moment of salvation differently. Instead of asking Jesus for a “certificate” of salvation, you start believing what God’s Word says about His Lordship and His completed work at the cross. You understand that you have lived in rebellion against the rule of God and have no hope of escaping God’s wrath on your own. You “kneel” in submission to His claim on your life, and rest your hope of heaven upon Him. Picture this as hopping up into His arms, submitting to go wherever He takes you, and trusting in Him to carry into heaven.Grear writing from a moderate Calvinist perspective assures readers they cannot lose their salvation as he goes through texts of Scripture showing three primary bases for assurance which are; a present posture of faith and repentance; perseverance in the faith; and evidences of eternal life in our heart—a love for God and a love for others. He states these three combine to provide us with a great sense of assurance that we belong to God.I found this book delightful to read and a great resource. It would be quite helpful both to Christians concerned with if they are saved or not or the unsaved who have been propped up with false assurance that they are. It is a quick and easy read written with biblical truth and sprinkled with good humor.
    • 4/5
      The title may lead some to think this a book guiding people to reject Jesus but what it actually is is a very nice, albeit short, book concerning what the Bible teaches about salvation and assurance. It seems the motivation for the book was the author's repeated actions of accepting Christ whenever he wasn't sure that the prior action was legit. Greear explains how we are assured of our salvation. It is quite a good instructional book on the topic and I recommend it.
    • 5/5
      I found myself resonating with the author on more than one occasion, and not in an academic way, but in a emotional way. Any person who has grown up in the church and in Christian circles will find this book to be a great reminder and powerful encouragement.
    • 4/5
      J.D. Greear is focused on answering a single question in this book. How can I know that I am saved? Over 121 pages, Greear leads the reader to the answer for himself, or herself, through the experience of his own struggle and how he answered the question through the words of the bible.J.D. isn't going to tell you you're saved, nor is he going to tell you that you aren't. Beginning with an understanding of salvation as "a posture of repentance toward and faith in [Christ's] finished work," readers are given the scriptural foundation to make the determination themselves, and be confident of that determination.I'll be using this book as the lead-in study to some time spent using his other title, Gospel, in my home group bible study. These two titles easily compliment one another and set a good foundation for addressing the "Am I doing this right?" type of question that so often plagues our attempts at living like a Christian.
    • 4/5
      This is a relatively short, easy to read book that covers a very important subject, what does it mean to be saved and how you can know for sure that you are. It covers the basics of salvation, repentance and the indicators of them in your life that should give you confidence in your salvation.The modern world and all the distractions that it holds, makes it easier to doubt and sometimes I think we ought to doubt when we seem to care more about worldly things than we do Godly things. This book effectively addresses these doubts and helps with understanding just what it means to be "saved".If you are a Christian that has any doubts about your salvation, I would recommend this book. This book would also make an excellent book for a small group bible study.
    • 2/5
      An easy-to-read explanation of the "eternal security" doctrine, which holds that Christians cannot lose their salvation, but I don't feel that the opposing view was adequately addressed. Is a Christian saved from only the penalty for sin, or from sin itself? How can a Christian have free will, yet be unable to choose to turn away from God? And if Christians cannot lose salvation, why do they continue to be tempted? Readers searching for answers to these difficult questions, which have divided theologians for centuries, will probably be unsatisfied.
    • 5/5
      Absolutely stellar book!!! J.D. does a great job of unpacking repentance and faith in Christ.
    • 5/5
      When you wake up in the morning, do you feel like you’re saved? Do you ever question if God has saved you? When you struggle with your sin, do you ever think no true believer in Christ would deal with this? If you answered in the affirmative, congratulations! You’re a normal Christian.Now think back to your teen years. You had more energy than you knew what to do with. Your body pumped with blood and chemicals prone to alter moods and even physiology: hormones. You fought to keep your head above the swirling waters of geometry, US history, British literature, and trying not to embarrass yourself in gym class. And despite what you heard from that one nexus-of-overachievement senior, you regularly broke the laws of physics by being completely invisible to your crush. Or you fancied a close friend of the opposite sex who never would think of you that way in a million years. And did you feel saved? Many of life’s most confusing experiences happen to us between the ages of 12-18. Through them all, we feel alone, certain of one thing: no one ever felt this way before we did at this exact moment. If we speak with honesty, these feelings never truly go away, especially in the realm of doubting our own salvation in Christ. Enter J. D. Greear’s book Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart: Teen Edition. Greear approaches his task in several ways. First, the book has a personal touch to it. He shares his own experience, in what I imagine took a great amount of humility to write. He shares about undergoing baptism four times. The book came into being, in part, because of his own personal struggle with assurance of salvation. Given his position as lead pastor over Summit church and now at the helm of the Southern Baptist Convention, his words provide encouragement indeed. The struggle with doubt unto multiple baptisms need not make one feel alone. Second, the reader receives a thorough theology of salvation. Does “thorough” mean he says everything one could ever say? Of course not. However, Greear’s presentation explains concepts such as justification by faith, propitiation, and penal substitution (if not always using those words). He speaks with abundant clarity when he explains 1 John 1:9, saying, “…the basis of God’s forgiveness of us is not mercy, it is justice.” (30). Greear does not assure one of salvation through a sort of existential feeling of love for God that God finds irresistible. Nor does he empty God of every attribute but kindness. One has salvation in Christ through his cross, and salvation in the given life of Jesus proves just! One has assurance in Christ because of his “gift righteousness,” not his own earned righteousness (37). Third, Greear deals honestly with Scripture. I myself received God’s saving grace at the age of 16. I took years to become a serious Bible student. When I began to gain traction and confidence in my ability to study the Bible, I started a study of Hebrews. I realized I did not know nearly as much as I thought! I had no equipment emotionally or intellectually to help me understand the warning passages in the book; Hebrews 6 threw me for a loop! Greear addresses portions of Scripture such as these with honesty, integrity, and ability. He never shrugs as if to say, “Well, I don’t know what to do with this.” Rather, he admits their challenge, but does not treat them as impossible to understand. At one point, he remarks, “Does all of this make your mind feel like it is going to explode? Then you’re probably getting it.” (84). His humble and somewhat humorous candor keeps the reader moving through thick theological ideas without eyes glazing and brains entering into shutdown mode. Finally, though the book handles an intellectually and emotionally difficult topic by bringing in some serious doctrinal and Scriptural content, it never becomes a burden to read. The whole book, including the three appendices, reaches only 120 pages. Chapter length exceeds 20 pages only once; most of them have a much shorter length, usually around 12 pages which one can read in one sitting. The reader does not have to set aside an entire season of the year to take in all of the book’s content. The student attempting to analyze a Shakespearean sonnet in English class would find Greear’s book much easier to understand.Greear produced an easy-to-read and encouraging book which will bring security to the sensitive conscience and perhaps conviction to the counterfeit Christian. With the gospel clearly presented, I would imagine some readers find themselves expressing belief for the first time somewhere between the two covers of the book. If you know a student struggling with doubt despite a commitment to Christ, I recommend Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart: Teen Edition as a starting place to care for the weary young soul burdened with a lack of certainty before his Creator.
    • 5/5
      Has the "sinner's prayer" created more confusion among modern evangelicals than it's worth? I would agree with J.D. Greear - Yes, it has! Greear writes, "I want to be clear that what saves the sinner is a posture of repentance and faith toward Christ, that and that alone. Any 'sinner's prayer' is only good insofar as it expresses that posture."Misunderstanding the sinner's prayer as some magical formula of words that appeases the wrath of God has led tons of people down a confusing spiritual path. In Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart, J. D. Greear offers up a short book packed with Scripture and theological insight that can help people who have fallen into the pit of confusion over the state of their salvation. While this book is short, weighing in at only 121 pages of content, it is weighty.While there are many strengths to this book, let me briefly highlight three that were particularly meaningful to me.First, Greear does an amazing job of articulating the importance of a posture of repentance verses the sinner's prayer. People can recite a prayer that does not reflect a heart of repentance. In so far as a sinner's prayer does not reflect a posture of repentance, it is worthless. Greear helps the reader understand the importance of examining one's present posture of repentance over searching their memories for some historical event tied to a prayer that may have been hollow. Second, Greear ties assurance of salvation to the theological idea of salvation by faith alone. He does so in the meat of the book and in a short appendix. As long as we see our righteous standing before God rooted in the finished work of Christ, we will be able to understand that our own merit neither commended us towards God or now condemns us before God. Instead, we stand in the finished work of Christ, clothed in his righteousness!Third, Greear refuses to dodge the difficult verses. While a book of this length cannot deal exhaustively with the verses frequently used to argue against eternal security, he does at least engage the major verses that are cited. In chapter six, "If 'once saved always saved,' why does the Bible seem to war us to often about losing our salvation?" he tackles the topic. Greear argues that saving faith always endures to the end. I find his argument to be extremely helpful.If you or a loved one has ever wrestled over the issue of assurance of salvation, Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart is a must read!Ten Key Quotations"You can 'ask Jesus into your heart' without repenting and believing and you can repent and believe without articulating a request for Jesus to come into your heart" (8)."Ultimately, my concern is not on what words or actions we might use to express our faith in Christ but that we don't substitute those words or actions for repentance and faith. 'Praying the sinner's prayer' has become something like a Protestant ritual we have people go through to gain entry into heaven" (9)."Salvation comes not because you prayed a prayer correctly, but because you have leaned the hope of your soul on the finished work of Christ. Shorthand phrases for the gospel can serve a good purpose, insofar as everyone knows exactly what they mean. But in light of the fact that so many in country seem assured of a salvation they give no evidence of having because of a prayer they prayed, and so many others are unable to find assurance no matter how often they prayer that prayer, I believe it is time to put the shorthand aside and preach simply salvation by repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ" (11-12)."When you're not assured of God's love for you, your motivations for obedience will become corrupted. You'll do good works in the hopes that God will approve of you because of them. This is not really love for God; it's self-preservation" (17)."Better, though, would be to look at where you are currently resting. If you are right now resting in His arms, knowing when you began to rest is less important than that you are doing it now. your present posture is more important than a past memory. Conversion is not completing a ritual, it is commencing a relationship. The assurance of ritual is based on accurate words and memory. The assurance of relationship is based on a present posture of repentance and belief" (42-43)."'But wait,' you say, 'don't I have to ask Jesus for salvation? What if I assume the posture but don't say the prayer?' Again, the posture of repentance and faith are in themselves a cry for salvation. He hears the cry of your posture even if you don't voice the prayer. nowhere does the Bible say we have to voice a prayer to be saved. The posture of repentance and belief saves" (45)."Praying a prayer to ask Jesus into you heart, even if it's followed by a flurry of emotion and religious fervor, is no proof that you are saved. Enduring in that faith to the end is" (82)."The full doctrine of "eternal security" is that once we are saved, we will always be save, and that those who are saved will persevere in their faith to the end" (86-87)."Saving faith proves itself no only by persevering to the end, but by certain inexorable changes it makes in the heart. The presence of these new affections helps assure us that God's grace has gone to work within us" (96)."And here is the good news: in the unlikely chance that your lack of spiritual progress really was the result of not being born again, the moment you rest in the gospel you will be. in other words, if what you think is 'renewed' faith in the gospel turns out to be 'first' faith, you will still be saved in the end" (107).
    • 4/5
      An excellent read for any Christian. This book touches on issues that all Christians will understand.
    • 5/5
      I've given this book to at least two people. In the American South, everyone has a story like this author's, and many have the same doubts. J.D. speaks to the questions so many have, and does so in a simple yet compelling manner. I highly recommend for family members and friends who are unsure about their salvation.
    • 1/5
      This book is an attempt to help Christains gain an assurance of their salvation. basically, the way someone knows they are saved is if they have "evidences" of Christ-bearing fruit. He comes from the Calvinistic "once saved, always saved" (p.5) perspective" (which, in itself, is problematic).From my perspective, Greears answer is unsatisfying. That is not to say one cannot have an assurance of salvation, however, it depends on what kind of assurance is being discussed, that is: assurance of future salvation? or, assurance of present salvation. It seems Greear means the former. As such, his reasoning is circular. Two very brief examples of what I mean:1. Greear states, "The mark, however, of someone who is saved is that they maintain their confession of faith until the end of their lives." If that is the case, how is one presently assured that they in fact will "maintain their confession of faith" until they die? He does not seem to ask and/or answer that question.2. Greear states that the "Bible tells us [what] are the evidences that we really have believed" (p.12), and then dileneates those purported evidences in chaper 7. Unfortunately, he gives no advice on answering the question of how do we know our, for example, love for God is genuine; nor does he provide an answer to the questions of how to know one is not self-deceived or his faith is not temporary.The primary issue I have with the book is Greear's faulty exegetical method (not that he really offers any in the book) regarding the warining passages (ch.6) and Rom 7 (pgs.60-67).Regarding the warning passages, he seems to assume that the writers of the epistles took into consideration that they were writing to a mixed multitude. The opening of Paul's letters indicate otherwise, e.g. Rom 1:7.Regarding Rom 7, he interprets it as describing the apostle Pauls' life as a believer who "fell often" into sin. (a) He seems to suggests a misinterpretation respecting the design of Rom 7, where he states that "sometimes" we do not "delight in God". First, Rom 7 does not show that, if it does depict Paul's life, he "sometimes" sins but that he sins all the time (vs.14-15). One who is at every turn falling into sin, cannot genuinely be delighting in God. He may have a desire for God but such a desires are deceptive feelings (something he seems not to take into account anywhere in the book; he seems to assume a desire for God is always genuine).(b) Greear's assertion that the apostle "often fell" or the suggestion by implication that he did so a hundred times (p.63) flatly contradicts Paul's own divinely-inspired testimony of his own life. One who "often fell" into sin should never claim to be and could be an example of the Christ-life for others to emulate (e.g. 1 Cor 11:1). He fails to deal with those scriptures that declares the apostle Paul as things like being righteous, blameless, or having a clear conscience before God and men.(c) I can agree when Greear states that the Christian life can be a "struggle" with sin. However, it is one thing to struggle and be defeated on a consistent basis so that you consistently fall into sin, which is what what Rom 7 depicts. It is another thing to struggle and consistently overcome sin, which the Bible clearly infers is the case with the apostle Paul and what Rom 8 depicts is to be the Christian life.Although very few, there are some commendable things Greear said (e.g. p.60, God "didn't give us a list of things to deny; He said we must deny ourselves"). Neverthless, overall, he does not adequately grapple with the issue of assurance, misuses the Biblical data to support his view, provides only circular answers, and gives no rationale for obtaining and having assurance of salvation. It is not a book, contrary to the advice presented in the foreword, I would pass along to someone struggling in the area of doubt and assurance of their salvation.I think that the rationally thoughtful mind, will find that Greear's book just confuses the issue even more.

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    Book preview

    Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart - J.D. Greear

    Salvation is a serious issue. Scripture commands us, on the one hand, to ‘work out our salvation with fear and trembling’ and, on the other, it paints beautiful pictures of believers walking in great assurance. J.D. helps us see what conversion really is and what it is not. This book will be a help for those who wrestle with their position before God and a wake-up call for those with false confidence. I recommend it highly.

    —Matt Chandler, lead pastor, The Village Church, and president, Acts 29 Church Planting Network

    Warmly personal. Immensely helpful. Wonderfully practical. Thoroughly biblical. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to every Christian who longs to know, experience, and spread assurance of salvation in Christ.

    —David Platt, pastor-teacher, McLean Bible Church, The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, AL, and author of New York Times bestselling Radical

    So much emphasis today is on the power of personal persuasion in sharing the gospel. What to say, how to say it. Reasons to believe, proofs for the authority of scripture, methods for gaining credibility blah blah blah. Pick up a copy of my friend J.D. Greear’s book and learn the marks of a person saved by Jesus Christ. I commend it to you.

    —Dr. James MacDonald, senior pastor, Harvest Bible Chapel and author of Vertical Church

    Outstanding! This is a truly useful book. It’s readable, engaging and packed with scriptural insight. It not only gives hope to Christians struggling with assurance of salvation, it will equip any Christian to better share the gospel and guide others toward genuine repentance and faith in Jesus.

    —Joshua Harris, pastor and author of Humble Orthodoxy

    Don’t let the provocative first half of the title scare you away from reading this important book! Emanating from his own personal and pastoral experience, yet with feet firmly planted in the sufficiency of Scripture, Greear is far more interested in helping us have genuine biblical assurance of salvation than anything else. He rightly reminds us we must emphasize the absolute indispensability of repentance and faith as necessary for salvation. Though I might quibble over a few things I would express differently, the vast majority of J.D.’s book I wholeheartedly endorse. Timely, engagingly written, and thoroughly practical, it deserves a place on every pastor’s shelf. Buy it! Apply it!

    —Dr. David L. Allen, dean, School of Theology, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

    This is a very helpful and needed book. Untold numbers of people are thinking of themselves as true Christians when really theirs is a false assurance; while others are true Christians but lack a solid assurance. The book spells out how to teach the gospel in such a way as to help avoid these tragic results and how to help deliver those who are experiencing them. The emphasis on clear presentation of the meaning and evidence of repentance and faith is exactly what is needed. Also the difference a genuine assurance of salvation can make in one’s life is brought out. I highly recommend this book!

    —Frank Barker, pastor emeritus, Briarwood Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, AL

    A sensitive conscience can be a curse from Satan or a blessing from God. Does your conscience drive you from God, or to Him? In this book, J.D. Greear gets the gospel right. And the gospel is the way from conviction to salvation. This book should help you know how to place your conscience in the Lord’s hands, where it can be a tool greatly used by God, as it was in Augustine’s life, or Martin Luther’s.

    —Dr. Mark Dever, pastor and author of 9 Marks of the Healthy Church

    "Every Christian struggles with doubts about salvation. The comforting passages of Scripture, assuring believers of their hope in salvation, were written to build up faith in the face of doubt. Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart guides readers through both assurance and perseverance in a life-altering way. Greear’s work is both an affront to easy-believism and a spotlight on the promises of God’s Word. A comforting wake-up call."

    —Dr. Ed Stetzer, president, Lifeway Research

    This is a book I wish was available when I turned twenty and had a terrible season of doubting my salvation. By God’s grace and the truth of the gospel I was able to settle the issue. I have lived in the full assurance of my salvation in Jesus ever since. God wants us to experience the joyful truth that we are eternally secure in Jesus. This book can help take you there. I will be recommending this book often!  

    —Dr. Daniel L. Akin, president, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

    "As someone who works with young people, I often see the pitfall that my friend J.D. Greear explores in Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart; How To Know for Sure You are Saved. I have sat with many eighteen to twenty-four year olds that say they had no clue what they were doing when they repeated a prayer with someone as a young person. As next generation leaders, we have to focus on true life-change, really direction change rather than just a spiritual transaction. I am thankful that J.D. was willing to take on the hard discussions related to salvation and discipleship in this new book." 

    J. Roger Davis, president, YM360

    "Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart by J.D. Greear is a biblical clarification for the assurance of salvation to the Christian based upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. The invitation to eternal life is more than a prayer! It is a living, breathing, real, relevant, relationship with God through Jesus Christ while being sealed by the Holy Spirit. The gospel saves and sustains! Read, reflect, and rejoice in the ability to know of the assurance of your salvation!

    —Dr. Ed Newton, lead pastor Community Bible Church, San Antonio, TX

    When I first read the title, I was caught off guard—because I am an evangelist who continually urges hearers to repent and ask Jesus into their heart. Once I began to read, however, I began to understand the big idea—praying a prayer of repentance and salvation ought only to mark the beginning of a lifetime of repentance and faith. J.D. wrestles with a tough subject here and does a tremendous job of helping the church come to grips with a salvation not anchored in a one-time prayer but the finished work of Christ.

    —Clayton King, teaching pastor, NewSpring Church, founder/president of Crossroads Summer Camps, and editor of Youth Ministry Magazine

    "This book is similar to John Stott’s Basic Christianity in that it lays out with clarity and reasoned arguments the path to Christian belief. Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart is especially helpful in answering many follow-on questions, too. Faith seekers and faith sharers alike will benefit from J.D. Greear’s clear thinking on what effectuates and evidences true salvation in Christ."

    —David A. Spence, An Executor of Dr. Stott’s Literary Estate

    Improper methodology and sloppy theology have paralyzed at worst and confused at best many of our churches today when it comes to evangelism. J.D.’s book is not only timely but crucial.

    —Mike Calhoun, executive assistant to the president, Word of Life Fellowship, Inc., and author of Where Was God When: Real Answers to Hard Questions

    J.D. tackles an incredibly vital topic in our time, but from the front lines of ministry as one who stands unashamed to call people to follow Christ. Read this book and understand with fresh eyes and a hungry heart the wonder of biblical conversion.

    —Dr. Alvin Reid, Professor of Evangelism & Student Ministry/Bailey Smith Chair of Evangelism, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and author of As You Go: Creating a Gospel-Centered Culture of Missional Students

    I wore out 2 Sharpies worth of ink writing ‘Amen & WOW’ in the margins of this new book. Chapter after chapter I was encouraged, rebuked, discipled, and compelled to be a better minister of the gospel. Thank you J.D. for this gift to the church.

    —David Nasser, pastor/author/evangelist

    I have to admit the title of this book made me uncomfortable. It sounded to me like a tract against the so-called ‘sinner’s prayer,’ and I find it biblical to cry out ‘Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!’ But as I read this book I found that is not what it is about at all. In this volume, J. D. Greear, one of the most dynamic and brilliant pastors in evangelical life today, addresses a common problem among Christians: the sense that we can never get assured enough that Jesus hears our sinners prayer and receives us, just as we are. This book throws the spotlight on Jesus as a welcoming, merciful Savior who joyously receives all who come to Him. This book could help free you, or someone you love, from the nagging fear that Jesus is trying to keep you out of His kingdom.

    —Dr. Russell D. Moore, dean, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and author of Tempted and Tried: Temptation and Triumph of Christ

    Copyright © 2013 by J.D. Greear

    All rights reserved.

    Printed in the United States of America

    978-1-4336-7921-6

    Published by B&H Publishing Group

    Nashville, Tennessee

    Dewey: 234

    Subject Heading: SALVATION \ FAITH \ ASSURANCE (THEOLOGY)

    Unless otherwise stated all Scripture is taken from the New King James Version (

    nkjv

    ), copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson Publishers.

    Also used: Holman Christian Standard Bible® (

    hcsb

    ), copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2011 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

    Also used:

    esv

    Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

    esv

    Text Edition: 2007. All rights reserved.

    5 6 7 8 9 10 11 • 20 19 18 17 16

    dedication

    To my parents, Lynn and Carol Greear, who taught me the importance of first fleeing to Christ and then of resting in Christ.

    To my first pastor, Dr. E. C. Sheehan, who modeled for me the power of the gospel and acquainted me with those great spiritual pilgrims of the past who had embarked on this journey before me.

    To my four children, Kharis, Alethia, Ryah, and Adon: May you find the joy of knowing the steadfast love of Christ as the anchor for your soul.

    acknowledgments

    I want to say a special thanks to Jedidiah Coppenger and his very capable team at B&H for devoting such energy to getting this book together. Their passion for their work makes it clear they see their work not just as a business, but as a ministry.

    Foreword

    As recently as this week, I encountered a wonderful young man who has been desperately concerned about the state of his soul. Although for one man to see or know the heart of another is impossible, I felt certain that he knew the Lord. His angst over failures subsequent to his experience with Christ seemed to me to be more related to the family situation from which he came and the extent of the use of foreign substances in his life than it did to any substantive reason to doubt his salvation.

    This book, Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart, is the book I needed to place in his hands. I fully believe that its message is perfectly designed to meet the needs of that young man and hundreds of others just like him. I confess that I dislike the title of the book, but J.D. Greear makes it clear that he has no objection to anyone receiving the Lord since the Bible clearly says, To them that receive Him, to them gave He the authority to become the sons of God. In fact, while I might disagree with some interpretations here or there, I found this book thoroughly biblical. The title itself is not meant to prevent anyone from calling on the Lord. It is rather a genuine admonition for everyone to seek and trust the Lord Jesus.

    However, not only is the book a biblical work, it is also a profound reflection of the nature of salvation. Salvation is the most complicated subject in Holy Scripture. The longer I study it, the more convinced I am that no one has a total grasp of its meaning since in the end it is an act of God that we cannot fully fathom. But for all of its difficulties, salvation is also wonderfully simple. Salvation

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