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Editorial

JAMES E. COSSEY

EDITOR IN CHIEF

A BLOODY CROSS AND AN EMPTY TOMB

FAITH IN CHRIST REQUIRES MORE THAN A RECYCLED PRAYER. IT IS A CONFRONTATION WITH ONE’S SINFUL- NESS IN LIGHT OF THE HOLINESS OF GOD. AT THAT POINT, ONE IS HELPLESS WITHOUT A BLOODY CROSS AND AN EMPTY TOMB.

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and the editor’s blog at

www.evangelnotes.blogspot.com.

E LIVE IN A DAY of “easy believe-ism.” It may be a rancid byproduct of the misguided positive-confession movement. Following in the pattern of many of our evangelical forefathers who abandoned the “mourner’s bench” in favor of shak- ing the preacher’s hand and signing a card, many Pentecostals have opted for the regurgitation of a “sinner’s prayer” rather than a public invitation where lost souls confront their sin at the altar of a holy God.

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Do not take lightly the praying of the sinner’s prayer. (That may sound contra- dictory to what I just wrote, but wait.) A sinner’s prayer is essential to conversion (see Romans 10:9-10). It is an impor- tant part of the transformation process, but arguably not the most important part. I would contend that the sinner’s prayer is incomplete unless it calls the penitent one’s attention to the source of salvation, the cross of Jesus Christ. To pray a prayer for forgiveness and peace amounts to little more than psychologi- cal exercise if the atoning death of Jesus is overlooked.

Jesus did not die on the cross to make us feel better. He died to make us feel worse (aware of our sinfulness) so we could become better (see John 10:10)! He didn’t just die that we might live; He died and rose again so that we might die to our sinful selves and be resurrected to walk in new life through Him (Romans 6:3-5). In the words of Dietrich Bonhoef- fer, Scripture’s invitation to sinners is not to come and dine, but to come and die. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is

no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NKJV).

This life-and-death confrontation is

called repentance. Theologically, repen- tance (in Greek, metanoeo) is a change of one’s mind that results in a change in one’s life. Biblically, this change occurs as the result of an awareness that Christ died for our sins (Romans 5:8). Because we are sinners, we deserve the death pen- alty (Ezekiel 18:20). Repentance causes us to have godly sorrow over our sins, and to receive God’s free gift of salvation unto eternal life (Romans 6:23). How then does one who prays the sinner’s prayer know for sure that he or she has come to true faith in Christ? Is it because of the sinner’s prayer? Is it because of what Christ did on the cross? Obviously, it is both. However, our con- cern is that the convert’s faith should not be in particular words that are prayed, but in a work that was accomplished by Christ on the cross. Quite often we offer a handclap of praise for new believers who come to Christ (and I understand our honest intent). Should we not rather offer up a celebration of gratitude for the grace of God that is evidenced by the sin- ner’s conversion?

To come to faith in Christ requires more than a recycled prayer. It is confes- sion, but it is more. It is a confrontation with one’s sinfulness in light of the holi- ness of God. At that point, one is helpless without a bloody cross and an empty tomb (see Ephesians 2:8-9).

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