RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2020-05-05	The Romans Road to Salvation with Focus on Sin and Death
		During our last study we saw the four verses that make up what we call the Romans Road to Salvation. Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” So now let's take each verse and summarize it to one representative word. 1. Romans 3:23 is summarized to the word SIN 2. Romans 6:23 is summarized to the word DEATH 3. Romans 5:8 is summarized to the word CROSS (love) 4. Romans 10:9 is summarized to the word BELIEVE You may notice that half of the gospel message concerns the issue of SIN and DEATH. Number one problem is SIN. Number two shows the results of sin, namely, DEATH. Number three is God's response of love to the sin and death issues through the death of His Son on the cross on our behalf. Number four is man's response of FAITH (or believing) to all three truths mentioned above. The order of the above is important. Allow me to explain why. Many have had a spiritual conversation about faith in Christ by starting with number 3. That is, they talk about the love of God. There is no way to diminish the significance of the love of God. However, if an unbeliever hears that God loves them without them acknowledging they are sinners, the result is a sinner adding Jesus to their life of sin. There are so many statistics and examples where someone led a person through a generic prayer, but they were not born again. In fact, the statics are about 86% of those who made a confession of faith, a year later were never to be seen again in any church. And if you did find them they show no interest in God at all. In their minds they “tried Christianity” and it did not work. So almost 9 out of 10 people who made a confession of faith were not saved at all. I know this is heavy, but stay with me. The SIN problem and the result of DEATH must first be understood, otherwise the death of Christ was for some mystical reason in the unbeliever's mind. What is Jesus the Savior of? He is the Savior of sinners. He is not the Savior of sinners in some generic way. The Roman Catholics believe that! No, Jesus specifically and personally died for our sins. If we do not acknowledge that we are sinners indeed, we do not need a savior at all. This is why in too many churches they say the death of Jesus on the cross was a tragedy. They only understand sin in a generic way. The death of Jesus on the cross was not a tragedy. It was God's plan and it was a triumph! It was a triumph specifically for our sin and victory over death (Rm.8:2). Heb_2:14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, Heb_2:15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. This is why Paul says concerning the gospel the following: 1Co 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures Christ dying for our sins and rescuing us from the result of death is PERSONAL. The next study will involve walking through the Romans Road more specifically. It should not be as heavy as this lesson was. Pastor Tom Elseroad
		The following link is a visual presentation of the Romans Road to Salvation: http://otischurch.com/resources/topics/evangelism/romans-road/gospel-content-slide43.png

 

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