Easy Believism Refuted
While I was preparing a lesson for the youth, I came across an area so pressing that I felt it necessary to share with the entire church. The truth isn’t always what we want to hear, but it is what we need to hear. I hope you will take the message and apply it. There are many well meaning people who are using man made methods in their evangelism. Man made methods leads souls to hell, but God’s way is the only way! Today, if you have never been saved, then I hope you will take the message, repent and turn your life over to God. I’d much rather have you offended and spend eternity in heaven, than tell you what you want to hear and have you burn in hell. If you are saved and using man made methods of evangelism, I encourage you to quit doing it man’s way and start evangelizing God’s way. Our text is from I John 1:18,19 In the last days there will be many false teachers. The one specific false teaching we will hone in on today is the area of easy believism. The biggest poison in churches today is easy believism. Easy believism is the idea that you can repeat a little prayer after someone and be saved without ever repenting of sin and trusting in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. There are many false prophets that propagate the false teaching of easy believism. One of them has said that while the Holy Spirit leads 1 to salvation, he will lead 10. He taught that taking Jesus Christ as your Lord was “an enemy of soul winning.” That false teacher is burning in hell with the ones he lead there. As his teachings continue to be taught, he is making them children of hell even more than he is. Another professor at a seminary in Dallas, Texas teaches “that coming to Christ involves no spiritual commitment whatsoever.” They are turning out loads of preachers for pulpits that are ready to infuse the poison of easy believism into churches around the world. At this church we do not have this poison taught from the pulpit, but since many have come in from other churches, listen to radio and TV evangelists, or may someday move to someplace else, we need to be on guard against this heresy that is prevalent in mainstream protestant circles. This epidemic shows that strait and narrow is the gate to everlasting life and broad is the path leading to destruction. This lesson’s purpose is to teach what is involved in true salvation and how to avoid easy believism.
You can be right on every doctrine of the Bible and be wrong on salvation and you will burn in hell forever. You can be wrong on every doctrine of the Bible, but be right on salvation and you will spend eternity in heaven with Jesus Christ. Of all doctrines in the Bible the doctrine of salvation is the most important.
We will first examine the false teaching and then we will disprove it with the Word of God. Next, we will examine true salvation and then I will ask each of you to examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Let’s each pay attention to make sure we are not a victim of easy believism and also make sure that we never use easy believist tactics in our soul winning efforts.
Let’s look at the tell tale signs of easy believism. 1. Repeating of a sinner’s prayer or signing on a dotted line. 2. No repentance from sin and not accepting the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 3. Selling only the good things of salvation like heaven while leaving out the part of bearing your cross. There are two main methods in evangelism today, the man made ones like is found in books like Evangelism Explosion or the God made one which is found in the Bible. No one will ever get into heaven any other way than the truth about Jesus Christ!
First, easy believist always use a “simple plan” followed by the “sinner’s prayer”. They lead a person through a series of logical things to get them to say yes, similar to what a used car dealer does to get you to buy a car. Once they have the person convinced they then “close” the deal by saying “repeat this prayer after me.” The car dealer says sign here on the dotted line. Some easy believist tracts also have the dotted line close. The easy believist just led a soul to hell. The used car dealer just unloaded a car. The problem is that with a used car, you can return it if it is a lemon. The false profession generally fools someone for life until they drop off into hell. Repeating a prayer not from the heart just gives mental assent not saving faith. They think they can continue in their sins, because they prayed a prayer and now have fire insurance. Romans 6:1,2 says otherwise.
In the Bible, there is never an instance of anyone being led in the “sinner’s prayer.” That by itself should raise red flags about such a man made technique. Man made methods and techniques will lead souls to hell. God’s Word is the only way to lead someone to Jesus Christ. Let’s look at Jesus way of leading someone to salvation. Luke 23:39-43 Jesus didn’t tell him to repeat after him a man made prayer. Jesus doesn’t seek head knowledge He seeks heart knowledge. The Bible says that “the devils also believe and tremble.” Head knowledge does not save. Instead of leading someone in a prayer, allow the Holy Spirit to convict them and convince them of sin. The thief on the cross was convicted of his sin and admitted he deserved to be punished for it, but he asked Jesus to remember him when he died. When we witness we need to allow the Holy Spirit to bring them to their knees and repent. Only the Holy Spirit can draw souls out to true salvation. Man made tactics just lead souls to hell. “No man can come unto the Me unless the Father which sent Me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44 Let God be God and draw souls to salvation. Let God tell them what to say from their own heart and not from repeated lips. God will lead them to conversion of the heart, not just mental assent of a repeated prayer. Let’s follow the Bible’s examples in soul winning. In the Bible no one was ever led anyone in a prayer, so let’s be Biblical and not usurp God’s leading.
A little side note, those who rely on the repeated prayer generally put their faith in their action of repeating the prayer and not in Jesus Christ. Eph 2:8,9 We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ and not works. If we trust in a repeated prayer instead of faith in Jesus Christ, then we will never be saved. Only faith in Jesus Christ saves.
Next, another sign of easy believism is they teach you don’t have to repent of sin to be saved. This is the center point of the easy believism heresy. Next, II Timothy 4:3, one of the ways we know we are in the last days is by people wanting new teachings. They will want teachers who teach things like repentance is not necessary for salvation. The problem is that the Bible says, “Repent and be ye converted that your sins may be blotted out.” Acts 3:19. KJV Matthew 9:12,13 & Mark 2:17 “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3 When you convert something you make a complete change. We go from habitual sinners to new creatures in Christ Jesus. The Bible says that once we are saved “we are new creatures in Christ Jesus.” The Bible tells us in Romans 6:1,2 we can not “continue in sin that grace may abound.” “How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” Jesus Christ came to save people from their sins, not in their sins.
Jesus Christ is to be both our Lord and Savior. Luke 2:11 You cannot take Jesus Christ as your Savior and then someday later repent of sin and take Him as your Lord. Either you take all of Jesus Christ or you have none of Him. Jesus Christ is a person. Either I am all in this room or I am not. I can’t have my upper half be here and the rest of me be in Kentucky at the same time, I’d bleed to death. Since, one of the characteristics of Jesus Christ is that He is a person, then He is both Lord and Savior. When you were saved did you accept Jesus Christ as both your Lord and Savior? Did you repent of sin and turn everything you have and are to God? Or did you just repeat a little prayer and make a new year’s resolution style thought to try to be better? Are you truly saved with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior or are you just fooling yourself with an easy believist style thought of salvation only?
A third sign of easy believism is that they only tell half the truth. They preach if you are saved you go to heaven, God will bless you, God wants what is best for you. Basically, if you want a life of roses then just come to Jesus. They leave out the truth that coming to Jesus Christ will cost you. First, you must leave your sins at the cross. It may cost you your friends, your family, your job (say you were a bartender), etc. We are told to take up our cross and follow Him. Coming to Jesus is not without a cost. The world will hate us even as it hated our Master Jesus Christ. The truth is that when we are saved there is a cost, but it is worth it.
Now that we have looked at easy believism and refuted it, let’s look at true salvation. First, before you can ever be saved you first must be lost. Have you ever come to the point where you were under conviction for being a sinner? Only the sick, need a physician and only those who know they are sinners know their need of the Savior. Romans 3:23. All have sinned. (Use 10 commandments) If you never have been convicted of being a sinner, then you never repented of your sins and thus aren’t saved. If you ever did come under conviction of sin, then have you ever cried out to God from your heart asking Him to forgive you of your sins and accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Notice, I didn’t say have you ever said the sinner’s prayer. You can repeat that without ever meaning a word of it. Have you ever cried out to God from your heart repenting of sin and asking Him to save you? If you have then, where does your hope of salvation rest? Are you resting on something you have done to be saved or on what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross of Calvary? Does your salvation hinge on your works or rest in the saving work of Jesus Christ? Please bow your heads and ask God to show you are you truly saved?