Some People Got Saved Not Because of the Repeat After Sinner's Prayer Evangelism But in Spite of It

By -
I remembered one of Paul David Washer's sermons said that some people were saved during a repeat after me evangelism. He mentioned the fact that these people were not saved because of it but in spite of it. Now why do some people get saved in spite of a "repeat after me" sinner's prayer. Now I do say that it can lead to a false assurance but there are times that preachers who use a sinner's prayer managed to lead people to true conversion because of other factors that were done right during the preaching.

I think what some godly preachers fail to see is the problem may not be too much of repeating the sinner's prayer after the pastor but the watered down preaching. I do agree that the Lord Jesus never said to the crowds, "Who wants to ask me right into their hands just raise your hand." but instead the message has always been, "Repent ye and believe the Gospel." not "Repent by believing the Gospel." This called for repentance which is metanoneia in Greek which means having a change of mind that begets a change of purpose. If a person does not repent of their sinfulness then they cannot repent of their unbelief because they will not. A heart that is so hardened in sin rejects the Savior from sin. I reject the idea that a person can love both sin and the Savior because it is you must choose between sin and the Savior.

The reason behind why some sinner's prayer evangelism results in true converts is because the preaching wasn't watered down in spite of the repeat after me sinner's prayer. I have noticed some preachers really explain the Law properly before the sinner's prayer is done. Some pastors have used Ray Comfort's approach in convicting the lost sinner into repentance of their sins. These people have genuine repentance then comes the people coming forward. After that, they have that deep sorrow that in spite of the repeat after me sinner's prayer being done, the person still had a genuine repentance of their sin and they genuinely believe the Gospel in spite of the presence of the repeat after me sinner's prayer evangelism.

See also: