The Reign of Grace,pt4-Rom 6:15-23

Walter Chantry wrote in TODAY'S GOSPEL: AUTHENTIC OR SYNTHETIC, "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 to 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 commands 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.'" Furthermore, J. I. Packer remarked, "The Form that sanctification takes is conflict with the indwelling sin that constantly assaults us. The conflict, which is lifelong, involves both resistance to sin's assaults and the counterattack of mortification, whereby we seek to drain the life out of this troublesome enemy." This coming Lord's Day we'll look at this repentant way of life and slavery to righteousness in our upcoming study that finishes Romans 6 in "The Reign of Grace",pt4.