Trinity United Methodist Church Pulaski, VA

Salvation

All the verses are from the book of Romans. All scripture quotations are from the NIV.

Step 1:

The first step on the RR (Roman Road) is Romans 3:23.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” - Romans 3:23

This verse teaches us two important things. First it teaches us that God has glory. Webster’s defines glory this way.

  • worshipful praise, honor, and distinction
  • great beauty and splendor: magnificence

God is all these things. He is distinct, beautiful, splendid, magnificent, and worthy of praise and honor. Romans 3:23 also teaches us something about ourselves. Here’s where it starts to hurt. We learn that in contrast to God’s glory, every single person who ever lived is marked by sin. Once again turning to Webster’s, sin is defined like this.

  • transgression of the law of God
  • a state of human nature in which the self is estranged from God

Our sin, our breaking of God’s law, separates us from God. It causes us to “fall short” of God’s glory. We cannot reach God in our sinful state.

Step 2:

The second step on the RR is Romans 6:23.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 6:23

Wages are earned by work. You are paid wages for your actions. We learned at Step 1 that we have all sinned. Here we learn that our due, what we have earned by our sinful actions, is death. You cannot earn life on your own. You can only earn death. But, God GIVES us eternal life! It’s free! This is the “Good News” people!

Now why would God give us a gift we don’t deserve and could never earn? The answer lies in the next step.

Step 3:

Romans 5:8

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:8
 
God lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died.

God gives us the gift of eternal life because He loves us. He showed that love by His action on the cross. Jesus Christ died for you and me. Now think about this, Jesus is perfect. He never sinned. He did not deserve death. He freely chose to pay the penalty for your sins. Remember back at the start of this lesson we defined a relationship as “a connection between persons by blood or marriage”? Now I know this is not what Webster’s had in mind, but it still applies. The blood that makes the connection between you and God is the blood of Christ. Blood He gave on the cross while dying for your sins. That’s powerful.

Step 4:

The last step is found in Romans 10:9

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” - Romans 10:9

The only action required of you to meet God and start a relationship with Him, is this. Simply believe that Jesus died for you. Believe that He rose again. Then talk to Him. Tell Him you believe. Tell Him you know you are a sinner; you know He is God, and accept His gift of eternal life. Ask Him into your life, into your heart, and you will be saved.