What is the sinner's prayer?

Oh, my dear, unsaved young reader, pray the little negro's prayer today! Say, "Lord Jesus, save my soul!" then those sins, that will keep you out of heaven if not taken away, will all be forgiven and forgotten, blotted out of God's book for ever, and you, and every one else who has trusted the Saviour, will be with Him for all eternity to sing His praises. Little Felix, the negro boy, will be there. Will you meet him

Oh, my dear, unsaved young reader, pray the little negro's prayer today! Say, “Lord Jesus, save my soul!” then those sins, that will keep you out of heaven if not taken away, will all be forgiven and forgotten, blotted out of God's book for ever, and you, and every one else who has trusted the Saviour, will be with Him for all eternity to sing His praises. Little Felix, the negro boy, will be there. Will you meet him

This is the mighty distance between them. This keeps the worshippers in the tabernacle and the attendants on the New Testament altar, as the apostle tells us, asunder. The one cannot stand in company with the other. To understand the virtue of the altar is of necessity to quit the tabernacle. Assurance of heart in the remission of sins, or a purged conscience, is the due attribute of him who waits on the one, constant sense of sin the due condition of him who serves or worship(λατρεύοντες, Heb. 13:10) in the other. And this being so, what offering is that which the worshipper at the altar brings? Having apprehended the virtue of the blood there, what sacrifice does he in return pay? The answer comes, "by him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually." (ver. 15). Praise is the due fruit of a heart that has learnt salvation, or the value of the altar — not prayer, but praise. A sinner has not prayer to make, but praise to render. A saint has many and many a prayer, it is true; daily weakness and short-coming and necessity lead him that way. But a sinner in prayer denies the value of the altar. Praise suits salvation, and it is as God the Saviour that our altar reveals God to faith.

With regard to unsaved sinners the case is, of course, different. But even such are never told to pray for forgiveness. God is revealed as the One who offers it to all freely through Christ (Acts 13:38), and sinners are exhorted to receive it.

Thus, he will be able to put prayer in its proper place; and how important it is that it should be so put! How important it is that the anxious enquirer should see that the deep and solid foundations of his present and everlasting peace were laid in the work of the cross, eighteen centuries ago! How important that the blood of Jesus should stand out before the soul in clear and bold relief, and in its own solitary grandeur, as the alone foundation of the sinner's rest! A soul may be earnestly seeking and crying for salvation, and, all the while, be ignorant of the great fact that it is ready to his hand — that he is actually commanded to accept a free, full, present, personal, and eternal salvation — that Christ has done all — that a brimming cup of salvation is set before him, which faith has only to take and drink for its everlasting satisfaction. The gospel of God's free grace points to the rent veil — the empty tomb — the occupied throne above. (Matt. 28; Heb. 1 and Heb. 10) What do these things declare? What voice do they utter in the anxious sinner's ear? Salvation! salvation! salvation! The rent veil, the empty tomb, the occupied throne, do all cry out, salvation!

And, further, it would be a plain denial of Rom. 4:5, which says, "To him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Take heed that you are not mixing up your poor prayers with the glorious work of redemption, completed by the Lamb of God on the cross. Prayer is most precious; but, remember, "without faith it is impossible to please God;" (Heb. 11) and if you have faith, you have Christ, and having Christ, you have ALL. If you say you are crying for mercy, the word of God points you to mercy's copious stream flowing from the finished sacrifice. You have all your anxious heart can want in Jesus, and He is God's free gift to you just as you are, where you are, now. If you had to be aught else but what you are, or to go anywhere else from where you are, then salvation would not be "by grace, through faith." (Eph. 2) If you are anxious to get salvation, and God desires you should have it, why need you be another moment without it? It is all ready. Christ died and rose again. The Holy Ghost testifies. The word is plain. "Only believe."

So it is clear that all his devoutness and prayerfulness did not save him, but hearing and receiving the gospel of the grace of God into his heart brought about this happy result.

I see here the value of prayer. It is not that I would tell you, that you must pray in order to be saved: that would be to make salvation depend upon prayer, which it does not. But I find when a man is really awakened by the Spirit of God, and is exercised before God about his soul, that the longings of his heart will come out in prayer. He has not got much light; but he can pray. He wants Christ: he knows there is something to be had, which he does not possess. The centurion was a man, I have no doubt, who at this point was already converted, but had not peace with God. He had been quickened by the Spirit of God, but did not know the gospel. He was not a formalist, a cold Pharisee, dependent upon rites and ceremonies: he was a man whose outward character, I think, would bear very favourable comparison with that of any person in this building tonight. I do not know whether you are known as "a devout person; one that feared God with all his house" (mark that, for it was apparently a pretty big one), "which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always." He was a devout man, a God-fearing man, a benevolent man, and a prayerful man, and yet he was not saved.

Such cases abound. I saw a lady, a few days ago, who said, "I wish I could die." "I hope you will not," I replied, for I don't think you are ready." "But I think I am ready," she rejoined, "for I say my prayers regularly. Will not my prayers avail?" "No, your prayers will not avail. Man does not get to God and receive forgiveness of sins by his prayers. Scripture says, that 'without shedding of blood is no remission' (Heb. 9:22). And again it says, 'To him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness"' (Rom. 4:5).

The prophetic word is a lamp which shines in a dark place. We are in a dark place. This world is a dark place. Everybody who is not yet converted, everybody here who does not know the Lord Jesus as his personal Saviour - you are in darkness. Darkness means to be far from God and to be ignorant about Him. God is light in Himself (1 John 1:5) and He is in the unapproachable light (1 Tim.6:16). But He has stretched out His hand in sending His Son to free us from this darkness. Should anybody be here tonight who cannot say that he or she is "light in the Lord", I wish you to go to Him! And if you ask, How do I do that?, the answer is very simple. There was a man in the Gospel, who went to the Temple, standing far off, bowed his head, beat upon his breast and said, "O God have compassion on me, the sinner" (Luke 18:9-14). That is enough, no more is needed! You don't have to carry out any religious exercises or do anything else, but to acknowledge you are a sinner and accept that the Lord Jesus died for you and your sins.