J.D. Greear. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013. 128 pp. (small hardcover).
What an odd title for a book. Did it catch your attention? It did mine — in a negative way. I didn’t like it. I am not alone: Paige Patterson (president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Forth Worth, Texas) wrote in the foreword that he didn’t like the title either. Like it or not, you can’t ignore it. Between the title and the bright yellow cover, this is a book that screams to be picked up and examined. And, as I discovered quickly, read. And maybe re-read. Then passed along.
As a young man, author J.D. Greear struggled with doubts about his salvation. He prayed the sinner’s prayer, went down the Romans Road and was baptized four times but continued to fear that he was not really saved. This book is the result of his quest for assurance.
The subtitle of the book is “How to Know for Sure You Are Saved,” and after explaining his advice to stop asking Jesus in, the author gets down to business and does a solid job of laying out what salvation is and how the Bible says to obtain it.
The book contains chapters on belief, repentance, eternal security and evidence of salvation, among others. Throughout the book, Greear meticulously supplies Scripture to support his assertions.
Buy the book. Read it, and then stick it in your purse or your glove compartment. Sooner or later, you will run across someone who desperately needs what this book gives.
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