Bible Truth #88 - 1 Peter 3:8-12

1 Peter 3:8-12

8  Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.

9  Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

10  For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.

11  He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.

12  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Verse 12 is proof there is no such thing as a “sinner’s prayer” that God hears BEFORE He saves someone.

IF I RECALL CORRECTLY, in a recent Gospel message, I heard the preacher say that a Christian does not commit iniquity, for that is sin a lost person commits. The condition of the heart determines whether an action, deed or thought is iniquity or a trespass (missing the mark). Iniquity is defined as moral twistedness or perverseness which results from a spiritually dead heart. While it is certainly wrong and we will be held accountable at the Judgment Seat of Christ, a Christian and a lost person could commit the same sin and it would be iniquity for the lost person, but a trespass for the Christian (because the Christian does not have a spiritually dead heart).

Verse 12 - For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer... Who are the righteous? The righteous are the saved, the Elect of God. Those whom God has quickened and redeemed. Those whom God has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and granted faith (Romans 12:3; Ephesians 2:8), belief (John 6:29; Philippians 1:29) and repentance (2 Timothy 2:25).

...but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. Before a man is saved every imagination of his heart is ONLY evil continually (Genesis 6:5). Now if every imagination of their heart is ONLY evil continually (because they are spiritually dead), those who do evil are the lost. The Bible even tells us that if we Christians sin and do not confess it, God will not hear our prayers either (Psalm 66:18). So if there are times when God won’t hear our prayers, He is certainly not going to hear ANY prayer of the lost, those who do NOTHING in faith and EVERYTHING in the flesh. Paul writes in Romans 14:23 that anything not done in faith is sin. Does that not mean that the lost person sins from the moment he gets up in the morning to the moment he lies down at night?

The Arminian will say that there is no reason the lost can’t confess their sins and ask God to forgive them and save them. Sorry, but because his spirit is dead, everything done by a lost person is done in the flesh and the Bible says they that are in the flesh (controlled by the sinful nature) can NOT please God (Romans 8:8). Here is an example: wouldn’t a prayer of a lost man repenting and asking God to save him be pleasing to God? The Arminian says yes and that’s why God saves him. Sorry, a lost man CAN’T please God.

If you apply the same principle to math it would be said thusly: If the sum of two numbers is 7, and one of the numbers is 3, you can correctly deduce the other number is 4. But the Arminian denies this and insists that the unidentified number is also 3. It is illogical! A lost man CAN’T please God, therefore it is correct to deduce he can’t pray and ask God to save him - and it is proven in 1 Peter 3:12, in which Peter is quoting Psalm 34:15-16.

A lost man is one who “does evil” continually and hence, the face of the Lord is against him. Which is also said in John 9:31 - We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Who is a Godly man? It certainly is not a lost man who can do only evil continually. That’s why, when the apostles asked incredulously who then can be saved, Jesus said with man it is impossible (Mark 10:27). Please let that sink in, it is impossible for a lost man to believe, it is impossible for a lost man to repent, it is impossible for a lost man to accept Christ, it is impossible for a lost man to pray and ask God to save him because the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

The bottom line is that the Arminian belief of God hearing the prayer of a lost person asking to be saved is NOT FOUND IN THE BIBLE. But not only is a "sinner's prayer" not found in the Bible, verse 12 above proves the opposite.