Several key verses have been identified from the book of Romans that become steps to helping us accept Christ as Savior and give us tools to help lead someone else to Christ. These passages have been referred to as the “Romans Road to Salvation.”
First up is Romans 3:23. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
Not one person can claim they are born without a sin problem. All have sinned. What does it mean to sin? In Bible terms, when you go back to the Greek, to sin means “to miss the mark.” It’s like an archer who is shooting arrows at a target, but that person misses the bull’s-eye. God has a desire, a will, a righteous way for us to live, a mark for which we are to aim, and we are born with a propensity to miss that mark, and we miss it often. God has a standard and we fall short of it. We might be aiming at righteousness, but there is a struggle that we have, as humans, with sin and a desire to do our own thing which keeps us from hitting the mark of God’s standard.
The whole problem with sin is that it keeps us reliant on self and causes a separation or disconnect between us and God. You and I were never meant to live a life apart from God. The sin nature that we are born with AND the sins we have committed can’t be made up for by sinning less. They can’t be blotted out by a month of good behavior, a promise to do better, or years of community service. They had to be paid for and forgiven through a perfect sacrifice, something none of us could ever achieve on our own.
So, we’re all in the same boat. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Isaiah 43:7 speaks about how every person has been created for God’s glory. We have a part to play, a purpose to fulfill, and our part, and when we live it out, our purpose will wind up giving glory to God. Because of sin, however, we fall short of that intended purpose. Your particular assignment might look different from mine, but our ultimate purpose is that we were created to glorify God.
What’s the big deal? Why do we need to be worried about glorifying God? God is the Creator, the Architect, the Designer. He made us with specific purposes in mind which would result in bringing Him glory. When we don’t walk in those purposes, which are always righteous and holy, when we don’t live those out according to His mark, his standard, we don’t glorify God. Why should He have a say at all? Because He created us. As Creator, He gets the say about how the creation is supposed to live.
However, because of sin, we are born with a propensity to become something God never intended, and we have taken that ball and run with it. You and I were created for God’s glory, and boy have we messed that up! As a result, we are broken down and we do damage instead of giving God glory. This is our condition, and we can’t help ourselves. We can’t be restored to our original purpose and point to God’s glory without God’s intervention.
The next verse on our Romans Road to Salvation is Romans 5:8. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
This is great news. God knew what He was getting when He stepped in to save the likes of us. He was getting a bunch of broken-down sinners who He would have to work in and work on to restore to the place where they could reflect God’s glory. Not only did He demonstrate that He was willing to do an intervention, but He said He did it because He loved us. He loved us when we were at our worst. He loved us when we were sinners. It wasn’t just about our behavior, although that is a problem for God when we choose to sin, but it was about our condition. Sin breaks us. It causes damage to ourselves and others. It most definitely causes damage to our relationship with God.
It makes us cynical, vengeful, angry, selfish, mean, arrogant, rude, belligerent, and unwilling to change. How can anyone in that condition glorify God? They can’t! Because of a holy love for us, one I could never comprehend, God said, “I want to invest. I want to sacrifice. I want to take them on and recreate them, and I am willing to allow my Son, the second part of the Godhead, God who became flesh and lived a perfect life, I am willing to send Him to be crucified for the sins of the world on a Roman cross. What they deserve, I will take on myself as Jesus is crucified.”
Biblical love, God’s love, is a commitment that costs something. God could never demonstrate love without sacrifice. The depth of sacrifice proves the depth of God’s love. God’s love was proven as it was demonstrated by Jesus’ sacrificial death.
Why was the cross a demonstration of God’s love? Why did He send Christ to the cross? Sin had to be dealt with. The next stop on our Romans Road tour explains it. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
There are consequences for sin, and some of those steep consequences involve physical and spiritual death. When Adam and Eve sinned, death entered the human experience. The reason spiritual death is a problem is because it disconnects us from fellowship with God. We need God to help us navigate life, to empower us to glorify God in the ways God had in mind when He created us, and we need God to overcome life’s challenges. We need spiritual life because without it we don’t have peace, joy, hope, or supernatural strength, and we can’t glorify God. So, spiritual death is a problem.
But physical death is also a problem because when we take our last earthly breath, there is no more opportunity for spiritual life. While you live, you have time to get right with God and to receive the grace that will get you into Heaven when you die. When your physical life ends and eternity begins, the decision you made to accept or reject Christ will determine where your eternity is spent. It will either be spent in Heaven or in Hell.
Since sin causes death, the only way for sin to be forgiven and done away with is by a sacrificial death. Only the death of a perfect and righteous person can atone for another person’s sins. What I mean is that only the death of someone divine, only God Himself, could pay the sin debt humanity owed and remove the problems of spiritual and physical death.
On the Cross, Jesus took every sinner’s place. He hung there as if He had broken each of God’s laws. He took the judgment of God against our sins. He paid the penalty our sins deserved, and because He did, there is a gift for us. His death purchased our gift. Our gift is salvation through the forgiveness of our sins.
Sin earned us the death penalty, but Jesus took the penalty for us. If you haven’t given your life to Christ, the death penalty is still hanging over your head.
But, here is great news from the next Romans Road stop. “9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Romans 10:9-10
Yes, we must confess that we are sinners and need forgiveness, but our ultimate confession must be that Jesus Christ is Lord. Many people might agree they are broken and need fixed, but they may not claim that Christ alone is their Savior. Jesus IS THE ONLY WAY to salvation.
To become a Christian, you must confess Jesus Christ is Lord. You must believe He paid the price for your sin through His death, and you must believe that God enabled Him to conquer sin and death on your behalf. Salvation involves your desire to identify with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. I guess you could think of it as riding His coattails. He has done the work. You just walk with Him and by virtue of what He did, when you are in Him, when He is in you, you are made right with God and all of the rights and privileges of God’s children belong to you. You are made right in the sight of God, and you can resume your life’s purpose which is to glorify Him. He’ll empower you to do it. He’ll cover you when you don’t!
Romans 10:13 promises that “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Remember, the wages of sin is death. In Christ, you will find abundant life here on earth and eternal life in Heaven. Salvation is an escape from the penalty of sin. It is also the escape from condemnation. I want to end our Romans Road experience with Romans 8:1-2. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2
One of the byproducts of sin is a sense of shame, a sense of condemnation for not living according to the God’s standards. These things steal life from us. God is for us. He wants us to have life in the Spirit and not the death that results from our sin. In Christ, we are pronounced “not guilty.” In Christ, we are not only no longer guilty of our sin, but we are declared righteous! We have a change in identity. We are changed from sinners to saints who appear before God as if we never sinned! We are set free from the law of sin and death. II Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” II Corinthians 5:21
Nothing greater has ever happened. On the Cross, Jesus became like us, so that we could become like Him. And now, unburdened by sin and the disgrace of your past, you are free to love God and to glorify Him. He has returned you to your intended condition for His intended purposes. That is salvation.
