Our ears have grown accustomed to hearing men told to “accept Jesus as your personal Saviour,” a form of words which is not found in Scripture. It has become an empty phrase. These may be precious words to the Christian–”personal Saviour.” But they are wholly inadequate to instruct a sinner in the way of eternal life. They wholly ignore an essential element of the Gospel, namely repentance. And that necessary ingredient of Gospel preaching is swiftly fading from evangelical pulpits, though the New Testament is filled with it…

29 Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” Acts 17:29-31 (NASB)

You don’t have to look very hard to find Christians who disagree with our commitment to preach the genuine gospel that the Apostles and our Saviour preached. One of the points of contention in this debate is the necessity or preaching repentance. Many who are opposed to repentance being a necessary component of salvation see it as “works.”

Our ears have grown accustomed to hearing men told to “accept Jesus as your personal Saviour,” a form of words which is not found in Scripture. It has become an empty phrase. These may be precious words to the Christian–”personal Saviour.” But they are wholly inadequate to instruct a sinner in the way of eternal life. They wholly ignore an essential element of the Gospel, namely repentance. And that necessary ingredient of Gospel preaching is swiftly fading from evangelical pulpits, though the New Testament is filled with it…

Paul confronted the intellectuals of Mars Hill by preaching, “God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). This was no optional note on the apostolic trumpet. It was the melody, the theme of their instructions to sinners. Merely to talk about “accepting a personal Saviour” eliminates this crucial imperative. – Walter Chantry

One of those commands to repent is from our Saviour’s own lips before He ascended into Heaven.

44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:44-49 (NASB)

First, look at v45. Before we can understand scripture God must open our minds, enabling us to read and know the truth. In v47 we have the ‘formula” for preaching the gospel to this lost and dying world straight from our Saviour. We are to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name. This is only one example, but if we know our Bibles then we also know that repentance is at the heart of the Gospel. If a supposed gospel sermon does not contain the call for repentance from sin then it is not the gospel.

In actuality, this liberalization of the gospel is a major battle in the war over who is truly Sovereign. Is God Sovereign over all? Is Man sovereign over anything? Those who preach a form of the gospel sans repentance and, instead, invite people to “accept Christ” are actually making sinners sovereign and makes our Saviour nothing more than a servant. This turns the focus of the Gospel upside down.

10 as it is written,
“There is none righteous, not even one;
11 There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,”
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
16 Destruction and misery are in their paths,
17 And the path of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:10-18 (NASB)

This very powerful passage from the Apostle Paul makes it very clear that no person seeks after God. All are spiritually destitute and unable to understand the truth let alone seek after God. Therefore, we must confirm in our hearts the Biblical truth that for people to be saved, God must intervene. God must do something to save people because they can do nothing on their own to seek Him. This should immediately make it clear that any form of the Gospel that promotes the sovereignty of man in salvation is not Biblical.

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