Book Review: Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart

Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved. By J. D. Greear. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group. pp. 128. 2013. ($12.99 Hardcover | $9.99 Kindle | $10.98 Audio)

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4.5 Stars (out of 5)

Are you sure that you’re saved? How can we know that we’re saved? J. D. Greear, pastor and author, hopes to answer these questions and more in his book Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart. The book itself is written in everyday language and uses the Bible to support its premise, namely that you can know for sure that you are saved.

I remember wrestling with these questions myself when I was younger. Quaint phrases like “once saved, always saved” did little to encourage a close examination of the Bible and more often than not were used to give assurance that so-and-so was going to heaven even though he or she wanted nothing to do with God and nothing to do with His church. Hardly what you’d call encouraging!

Greear, on the other hand, points to Scripture as the source of our knowledge on this topic and explains the gospel clearly in a way that his readers—likely teenagers and older—can understand. His reflections not only touch on the assurance of our salvation and security in Christ, but also how those truths should affect our Christian walk.

I’d never read anything by Greear before picking up this book, but I’d heard his name enough to know that he’s well-liked and people are looking to him for biblical answers to life’s questions. After reading this book, I am confident I can point others to him as a source of encouragement and solid teaching.

I would like to note that Greear, who was once a youth pastor, writes in a way that will resonate with teenagers. He uses a lot of humor, which is quite apparent from even the first sentence of chapter one. If you or someone you know is a teenager or young adult, this book may be a good resource for you.

I received this audio book from christianaudio for the purpose of review.

Reading Together: The Assurance of Salvation

On Thursday our small group got together for our discussion of the book What Every Christian Ought to Know by Adrian Rogers. Here are a few highlights on chapter 2—Every Christian Ought to Know the Assurance of Salvation:

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In this chapter Rogers demonstrates that we can know whether or not we are saved and explains how to know so. He first speaks of doubt, saying, “Doubt is to your spirit what pain is to your body” (pg. 28). Many Christians experience periods of doubt about whether or not they are saved. Instead of being alarmed by this, Christians need to be aware that doubt should come across as a signal that all is not right, and a little time in prayer and God’s Word can help bring clarity and healing.

Salvation is experienced when the Word of God and the moving of the Holy Spirit combine in the life of a person and they place their hope in Christ. Working through the first seven verses of John 3, Rogers gives a brief explanation of the process of salvation. The means, as he mentions earlier in the chapter, is through Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross in our place. Citing Ephesians 2:8-9, Rogers points out that salvation is a gift—it is not something we earn with our works.

For most believers, the issue isn’t what they need to believe, but what can confirm their salvation. Rogers offers three marks that follow in the life of a believer:

1. Following God’s commandments
2. A love for God’s people
3. Confidence produced by the Holy Spirit and the Word

As we worked through this chapter, each person in our group shared a little about what he had thought and what God had been doing in his life.

One lady in our group shared that she prayed for her father and planned on taking him through this chapter because in the religion he grew up in, the only way to be saved was to earn it, and one could never be sure if he had arrived or not.

Another person shared that he, though a newer believer, had not really experienced any times of doubting his faith. He confessed that his life had changed so much from the time before he was a Christian that there was no doubt in his mind what God had done for him.

Both another man and I shared that 1 John 5:13 was a strong comfort in times of doubt.

There may come times of doubt in our lives, but God’s Word is clear: we can know if we are saved. Do you carry the marks of a true believer?

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For a more in depth look at the issue of the assurance of your salvation, I suggest checking out Am I Really a Christian?.

To join us in our readings, get the book in English or Spanish and download the reader guide (English or Spanish) to fill out for each chapter. Then stop by next week Saturday when we discuss chapter 3—Every Christian Ought to Know about Eternal Security.