The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to the New Testament Book of ROMANS
The Romans Road
Plan of Salvation
&
The Epistle of Paul the Apostle
to the
Romans
Authorized
King James Version
---------------------------------
The Romans Road
Long Ago, when the Romans Empire was at the height of its glory, a common saying was "All Roads Lead to Rome." I want to tell you about a very special road -- a road that existed then and still exists now. This road, now almost 2,000 years old, has never led to Rome. Yet, strangely enough, it is called the Romans Road.
The Apostle Paul described all of the landmarks along this road in an open letter to the Romans of his day. In his letter he pointed out that it is crucial for every man, woman, boy and girl to travel down this road at some point in his or her lifetime. The eternal destiny of every soul on earth, even today, hangs on the decisions made while traveling down this road. For those who make the right decisions, the road can be very short but for those who make the wrong turns, it can be long and very, very dangerous.
Please allow me to point out the highlights of Paul's letter and then you can read it yourself. The Romans Road is always best traveled with a guide who knows the way well, for it leads to...well, let me show you.
Believe God's Book
As your guide, I must warn you that the philosophies of this world lead to a dead end. We must accept the Word of GOD, the Bible, as the only immutable truth. Unless you do this, you will get lost in a maze and may never get back to the Romans Road.
"But what saith it? The word is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth, and in thy heart:
that is, the word of faith, which we preach;"
(Romans 10:8)
"So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of GOD."
(Romans 10:17)
The Wages of Sin
The apostle Paul wrote a serious problem that all of us have which can only be solved by successfully negotiating the Romans Road. He put it like this:
For all have sinned, and come short of
the glory of GOD; (Romans 3:23)
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of GOD is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 6:23)
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye
should obey it in the lusts thereof.
(Romans 6:12)
Repentance
If you have not successfully passed the temptation to follow the Path of Sin, now is the itme to turn from your sin. The act of turning away from sin is called repentance and this is absolutely necessary to get the gift of eternal life Paul spoke.
"Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and
forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the
goodness of GOD leadeth thee to repentance?"
(Romans 2:4)
By Grace... Not Works
At this point we encounter a most curious fact - one that seem to run contrary to conventional wisdom. Paul wrote:
Being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (Romans 3:24)
And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, the is it
no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
(Romans 11:6)
Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as
it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at
that stumblingstone; (Romans 9:32)
May people simply cannot believe that the correct way is the easiest and free. Without a guide, many people take this wrong turn and try to pay for the eternal life they hope to receive.
Blood Redemption
At this point you may be thinking: "Paul certainly seems to say that eternal life is free, but I still can't believe I can obtain something of such value for nothing. There's still no such thing as free lunch." Congratulations, you have correctly analyzed the situation. Eternal life is so valuable no one can afford it.
Now, I want to tell you an old story. God created man with a free choice of will to serve GOD or serve himself. Man chose poorly and rebelled against GOD. GOD had already established the penalty for rebellion as eternity in hell but He loved mankind and did not want to destroy him. The solution, was GOD's decision to send His only begotten Son into the world. He lived and died as a man to pay the penalty for each of us.
But God commandeth His love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:8)
Jesus lived a sinless life for 33.5 years and then was hung on a cross by the Roman soldiers of His day. The blood He shed on that cross was the very blood of GOD and is sufficient to wash all our sins away if we request it. Jesus was buried in a tomb but proving Himself to be GOD Almighty in flesh, He conquered death and hell and arose from the dead. He now freely offers the same resurrection to all who will accept His death as payment for their sins.
How about you? Will you accept His gracious offer?
The apostle Paul wrote, speaking of Jesus:
Whom GOD hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins
that are past, through the forbearance
of GOD (Romans 3:25)
Much more then, being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him.
(Romans 5:9)
Salvation at Calvary
We have now come the end of the Romans Road. Do you know where we are? Do you recognize that hill? It's called Calvary; it's the place where Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us - died to pay for the sins of the world.
You've come so far, now one more step and you will enter a whole new life in Christ Jesus. It is a step of faith as Paul put it:
But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we
believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the
dead (Romans 4:24)
Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised
again for our justification.
(Romans 4:25)
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
GOD through our Lord Jesus Christ:
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of
GOD. (Romans 5:1&2)
For when we were yet without strength, in due time
Christ died for the ungodly.
(Romans 5:6)
Being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
(Romans 3:24)
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might
grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by
Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 5:21)
The End of the Journey
Now that we find ourselves at the foot of the cross of Calvary, let us humbly kneel before Almighty GOD and remember the things we have learned on our journey. We first learned that we have to believe GOD's Word, the Bible, which includes the letter to the Romans to guide us down the right path. We learned that we are guilty of sin before GOD and that we must repent on turn away from a life in sin to truly follow GOD's will for us. Following this, we learned that GOD Himself, through Jesus Christ, paid for our sins with His own blood. This cleared the way for us to have eternal life. All that's left for us to do at this point is ask for it.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that GOD hath
raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
(Romans 10:9&10)
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
(Romans 10:13)
Your Decision
How about it? Will you sincerely pray a simple prayer such as this one in order to receive eternal life?
Dear GOD,
I realize now that I am sinner headed for eternity in hell. I know that because Jesus paid for my sins on Calvary's cross, I can be forgiven. I can have peace with You. I now renounce my life of serving sin and self. I ask You to grant me the gift of eternal life. I thank You that You have said, "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." That includes me.
Thank you for saving me based solely on what Jesus did on the cross. In Jesus Name, Amen.
_______________________
Your Name and Date
Tell someone you have received Jesus into your heart as your personal Saviour. Be bold and frank in acknowledging Him as both Saviour and Lord in your life.
* * * *
&
The Epistle of Paul the Apostle
to the
Romans
Authorized
King James Version
---------------------------------
The Romans Road
Long Ago, when the Romans Empire was at the height of its glory, a common saying was "All Roads Lead to Rome." I want to tell you about a very special road -- a road that existed then and still exists now. This road, now almost 2,000 years old, has never led to Rome. Yet, strangely enough, it is called the Romans Road.
The Apostle Paul described all of the landmarks along this road in an open letter to the Romans of his day. In his letter he pointed out that it is crucial for every man, woman, boy and girl to travel down this road at some point in his or her lifetime. The eternal destiny of every soul on earth, even today, hangs on the decisions made while traveling down this road. For those who make the right decisions, the road can be very short but for those who make the wrong turns, it can be long and very, very dangerous.
Please allow me to point out the highlights of Paul's letter and then you can read it yourself. The Romans Road is always best traveled with a guide who knows the way well, for it leads to...well, let me show you.
Believe God's Book
As your guide, I must warn you that the philosophies of this world lead to a dead end. We must accept the Word of GOD, the Bible, as the only immutable truth. Unless you do this, you will get lost in a maze and may never get back to the Romans Road.
"But what saith it? The word is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth, and in thy heart:
that is, the word of faith, which we preach;"
(Romans 10:8)
"So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of GOD."
(Romans 10:17)
The Wages of Sin
The apostle Paul wrote a serious problem that all of us have which can only be solved by successfully negotiating the Romans Road. He put it like this:
For all have sinned, and come short of
the glory of GOD; (Romans 3:23)
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of GOD is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 6:23)
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye
should obey it in the lusts thereof.
(Romans 6:12)
Repentance
If you have not successfully passed the temptation to follow the Path of Sin, now is the itme to turn from your sin. The act of turning away from sin is called repentance and this is absolutely necessary to get the gift of eternal life Paul spoke.
"Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and
forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the
goodness of GOD leadeth thee to repentance?"
(Romans 2:4)
By Grace... Not Works
At this point we encounter a most curious fact - one that seem to run contrary to conventional wisdom. Paul wrote:
Being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (Romans 3:24)
And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, the is it
no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
(Romans 11:6)
Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as
it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at
that stumblingstone; (Romans 9:32)
May people simply cannot believe that the correct way is the easiest and free. Without a guide, many people take this wrong turn and try to pay for the eternal life they hope to receive.
Blood Redemption
At this point you may be thinking: "Paul certainly seems to say that eternal life is free, but I still can't believe I can obtain something of such value for nothing. There's still no such thing as free lunch." Congratulations, you have correctly analyzed the situation. Eternal life is so valuable no one can afford it.
Now, I want to tell you an old story. God created man with a free choice of will to serve GOD or serve himself. Man chose poorly and rebelled against GOD. GOD had already established the penalty for rebellion as eternity in hell but He loved mankind and did not want to destroy him. The solution, was GOD's decision to send His only begotten Son into the world. He lived and died as a man to pay the penalty for each of us.
But God commandeth His love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:8)
Jesus lived a sinless life for 33.5 years and then was hung on a cross by the Roman soldiers of His day. The blood He shed on that cross was the very blood of GOD and is sufficient to wash all our sins away if we request it. Jesus was buried in a tomb but proving Himself to be GOD Almighty in flesh, He conquered death and hell and arose from the dead. He now freely offers the same resurrection to all who will accept His death as payment for their sins.
How about you? Will you accept His gracious offer?
The apostle Paul wrote, speaking of Jesus:
Whom GOD hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins
that are past, through the forbearance
of GOD (Romans 3:25)
Much more then, being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him.
(Romans 5:9)
Salvation at Calvary
We have now come the end of the Romans Road. Do you know where we are? Do you recognize that hill? It's called Calvary; it's the place where Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us - died to pay for the sins of the world.
You've come so far, now one more step and you will enter a whole new life in Christ Jesus. It is a step of faith as Paul put it:
But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we
believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the
dead (Romans 4:24)
Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised
again for our justification.
(Romans 4:25)
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
GOD through our Lord Jesus Christ:
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of
GOD. (Romans 5:1&2)
For when we were yet without strength, in due time
Christ died for the ungodly.
(Romans 5:6)
Being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
(Romans 3:24)
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might
grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by
Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 5:21)
The End of the Journey
Now that we find ourselves at the foot of the cross of Calvary, let us humbly kneel before Almighty GOD and remember the things we have learned on our journey. We first learned that we have to believe GOD's Word, the Bible, which includes the letter to the Romans to guide us down the right path. We learned that we are guilty of sin before GOD and that we must repent on turn away from a life in sin to truly follow GOD's will for us. Following this, we learned that GOD Himself, through Jesus Christ, paid for our sins with His own blood. This cleared the way for us to have eternal life. All that's left for us to do at this point is ask for it.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that GOD hath
raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
(Romans 10:9&10)
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
(Romans 10:13)
Your Decision
How about it? Will you sincerely pray a simple prayer such as this one in order to receive eternal life?
Dear GOD,
I realize now that I am sinner headed for eternity in hell. I know that because Jesus paid for my sins on Calvary's cross, I can be forgiven. I can have peace with You. I now renounce my life of serving sin and self. I ask You to grant me the gift of eternal life. I thank You that You have said, "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." That includes me.
Thank you for saving me based solely on what Jesus did on the cross. In Jesus Name, Amen.
_______________________
Your Name and Date
Tell someone you have received Jesus into your heart as your personal Saviour. Be bold and frank in acknowledging Him as both Saviour and Lord in your life.
* * * *
No comments:
Post a Comment