It is crucially important that we express a simple, clear gospel message to the unsaved. Often, a cliché is used that just doesn’t fit the bill. For this reason, "ask Jesus into your heart," is on the list of clichés that confuse.

Give Them Something to Believe!

In order to lead a person to be saved we must give them something to believe in, since Salvation is by grace through faith. The person must believe in order to be saved In fact, the Bible words "faith" and "believe" are the same root word in the original Greek! The one Greek word root "pistis" is translated into the two English words.

Faith, or believing, is the only thing that one can do in order to be saved. Well then, what does one believe in? We believe in the finished cross work of Christ for salvation!

The Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross to pay the death payment for all of our sin. He rose again, proving that His payment was good. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins and was raised again, (I Cor. 15:3-4). This gospel, or good news is what one must believe in order to be saved.

How To Say It

The way to express how one can be saved is to ask him to believe in Jesus Christ, that He died and rose again for him. We need to say what the Bible says very clearly and simply. Salvation is

God’s free gift to those who believe, apart from what they give to Him. Study the following verses closely and you’ll see what I mean:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." -John 5:24

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life." -John 6:47

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." -Ephesians 2:8-9

Why Not Ask a Person to Ask Jesus into His Heart? Doesn’t Revelation 3:20 Teach That?

We should never ask someone to "ask Jesus into your heart" because the phrase is unclear. It does not express the gospel message. According to documentation found in the book, Whatever Happened to the Word Believe? by Donald Bunge, children have been found in back rooms of churches with mouths wide open attempting to "get Jesus in my heart." A ten year old little boy was watching television with his dad. A surgeon laid a human heart on a table during a transplant operation. The little boy looked at his dad and remarked, "Is he giving his heart to Jesus?"

Someone has failed to give those children a simple, clear gospel presentation. They heard a tired old cliché rather than the words of eternal life. The gospel is simple enough for anyone to understand if we tell them to believe in Jesus who died to save them. They need to know that salvation is God’s gift to us, not our gift to Him.

The gospel of John is the only book in all the Bible expressly written so that people could be saved (John 20:31). The word "believe" is found almost 100 times in the book. Never does John or any other apostle tell the people to ask Jesus into their heart in order to be saved.

Revelation 3:20 states, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

This is a great verse but it is not written to unsaved people at all. This verse is written to saved people in the church at Laodicea. These believers were rich, apathetic, and distracted from Jesus. Their service to the Lord was lukewarm. Jesus rebukes them. He tells them that He’s knocking at their church’s door. Jesus wants them to have fellowship with Him. The heart is never mentioned in the verse.

It is certainly true that God indwells a person when He saves him, but this is the effect of salvation, not the cause. The reason that Jesus indwells a person is because the person first believes! That’s what we need to tell the unsaved to do!

When Jesus wanted an unsaved person to be saved, he didn’t say "Ask Jesus into your heart." He said those wonderful, simple words of John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son: that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life."

We should say it that way too!