First Baptist Church
May 5, 2002
The Romans Road
Romans 3:23, 6:23, 10:9, 13
For the past two weeks we’ve been talking about evangelism, To think of your self as an evangelist can be pretty scary, but evangelism is simply, you and I ‘proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.’ That’s the definition of evangelism. But the question that comes to mind, how do we use scripture to get the message across to others that salvation is available through Jesus?
Today, I want us to go down a very specific path, in fact it is called the Romans Road, because all the main scriptures we use will come from the book of Romans. Some of you may already be tuning out, thinking this stuff isn’t for me. But what if someone came to you and asked you to show them some scriptures that could help lead them to understand a plan of salvation. Where would you look?
You see, what if my father who will be 85 this year, came to Ashland and decided to my amazement that he wanted to hear me speak and after worship he asked you about your faith and how do you become a Christian. What would you say?
He might ask one of two people he got to know. He might ask Carl. Carl, he still talks about you. He was impressed with of all things. . . your physique. He also got to know Tom. What if he asked you? Or maybe he would say you guys are too young. And he went over to a contemporary, someone who’s retired. What would you say to my father? How would you explain to him a method or plan for salvation?
More than anything we help lead people to Christ because our walk and our talk are congruent. We proclaim we’re Christians and then we live a lifestyle that constantly seeks to honor and glorify God. It means when we make a mistake we admit it and apologize, as hard as that may be. It means that when someone does something good, we congratulate them, even though we wanted that position. It’s easy to say you’re a Christian, but it’s harder, much harder to be one.
However, when we say we’re a Christian, and then steal, cheat, are dishonest, lie, swear, and generally show morals and ethics that leave a lot to be desired. That does more to turn people away from Christ. You know the saying, "You may be the only Bible that person will ever read." So what are they reading?
Once you’ve established a relationship with a non-believer, and they show interest in the Bible, you may now have a chance to show them the Romans Road. You can even just talk about it casually and then when it comes time to show them, they have some familiarity with it.
Well, are you ready to get into the nitty-gritty of the Romans Road? I hope so. In your sermon notes, you have a pretty detailed sketch of a combination of the Romans Road and Bridge illustrations. All this takes is knowledge of a few scriptures. Hopefully, though, your knowledge of scripture is greater, thus making it easier to describe the plan of salvation.
The first scripture comes from Romans 3:23, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
You see God is holy and we are not, so in order for someone to become a Christian and experience a relationship with God, they firstly have to admit that this verse applies to them— that they are sinners separated from God.
The word "SIN" has become an obscure word that people don’t like to hear and don’t like to use. Sin literally means that someone has missed the mark. They’ve missed the mark of being holy like God. So, if you want to skip using the word sin, try saying they’ve done wrong things. We’ve all hurt people, sometimes accidentally and sometimes on purpose.
Before Debbie and I moved to Ashland, we bought new carpeting for our home. We looked at tons of carpet samples and finally settled on a light beige. As soon as it was put down we knew that it must be protected from stains at all costs, so the law was given! No one was to walk on the carpet with their shoes on. It was like our house was the Garden of Eden and the law was, "You may wear shoes and walk anywhere you want in this house... but not on the wall to wall carpet... for on the day that you leave a stain upon it, you shall surely die!" Well, it wasn’t too long before "the FALL" occurred. Stains began to appear here and there and we investigated, and I found that Debbie was the one who had fallen. No, just joking. There wasn’t just one stainer, there were two. We were guilty. We deserved to be "called on the carpet" because from time to time we ignored the law. The same has now occurred at the parsonage. Only now there are 4 guilty parties in the Deutsch family, and even a few of you have left some trails.
You see, if a person wants to become a Christian they must first admit that they are guilty. Romans 3:23 reminds us we are all stained with sin ~~ all of us bear the marks of disobeying God. All of us sin both by nature and by choice. That’s the main problem that keeps us away from what we need most — a personal relationship with God like the one Adam and Eve enjoyed before they sinned.
Maybe you’ve heard about the lady who walked into a psychiatrist’s office. She had two fried eggs on top of her head, and a strip of bacon tied over each ear. She said, "Doctor, I’ve come to talk to you about my brother. HE has a problem." Well, we live in a world where everybody has a problem, not just the ones who look like it or act like it, and the first step to solving that problem is to admit that we are just as guilty as everyone else.
That’s why this first stop on the Romans Road is so important. You see—the problem with our world can always be traced to one word — SIN.
Unfortunately, most people don’t view themselves as sinners, they haven’t robbed banks, they haven’t killed anyone and so on, but a sinner is anyone who isn’t perfect. And that my friends is all of us. Theologian, Dwight Pentecost wrote, "The Scriptures do not measure men by man; they measure men by God, who has created them. The creature is measured by the Creator and is found to be wanting."
As we move down the Romans Road our next stop begins to lead us to the solution.
Romans 6:23 and you can include Romans 5:8 for good measure. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." AND "God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Paul is telling us that our wages, what we earn ultimately leads us to death. Not only do we sin, but because we sin, we have now earned death. This means that the deadliest killer of isn’t heart disease or cancer or AIDS or war. It’s the terminal illness known as sin. And, as our first stop on the road said, every one has it... everyone suffers from the consequences of it.
Fortunately the ROMANS ROAD doesn’t stop there. Otherwise it would be a literal dead end.
Paul continues, "The wages of sin is death but..." Read it with me. "The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." In other words there is a CURE for the disease we all have. And the cure is not something we EARN. It is a FREE GIFT made possible by Jesus’ death on the cross. As Romans 5:8 says, "Christ died FOR US." He could do this because unlike us He was born of a virgin and never sinned. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul wrote, "Jesus KNEW no sin; He HAD no sin; He DID no sin, yet God gave Him our Sin, so that we could come before God.
People may be able to buy into the fact that they are sinners, maybe that they deserve to be punished or even face death. But for many people it’s difficult to accept eternal life as a FREE GIFT. That is what Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9 — "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."
There is nothing we can do to earn it, we cannot work for it, or do all the missions work in the world. That is the most amazing thing about our faith in Jesus Christ. There is no other belief system that offers salvation as a free gift from God. Remember that!!
The salvation we all need must be God-given, God-driven, God-empowered, and God-originated. This gift is from God to you and I.
Pretend you’ve just learned that the United States will be destroyed by a giant meteor next week. Everyone living there has one option: swim to Hawaii. Think of all the types of people that will be lined up on the coast of California, preparing for the big swim. One group is in excellent condition. Then there are people of the other extreme—those who are not in very good shape. They aren’t prepared for the swim. The day arrives and everyone dives into the water and begins swimming. What do you think will happen to all these people in the ocean? They’ll all drown, regardless of their preparation because it’s beyond our PHYSICAL capability to swim 2500 miles to Hawaii. And in the same way, it’s beyond our SPIRITUAL capability to be good enough to have a relationship with God. There’s nothing we can do on our own efforts that will even come close to getting us into heaven. There’s only One who is capable of paying our sin and that is Jesus.
Now we come to the final stop on the road, and it’s found in Romans 10:9-10 and 13 — Paul wrote, "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. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
At this point a response to Jesus is required. You see, a person can understand the Christian message, but if they do nothing with it, that is accept Jesus as their Savior, there is no benefit to the message of Christ. The Bible says we must act on our understanding. This passage states we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Messiah . . . that He died for our sins and rose on the third day. We must believe it in our heart and confess it with our lips. Everyone who wants to become a Christian must personally RESPOND to all He has done for us.
Dear friends, there is nothing fancy about the Romans Road. It is learning the verses, not to brow beat someone, but because you live a life that demonstrates the reason for your hope is found in Jesus, you are led to be different. I hope you will take the sermon notes home with you, that you will think about how to share the message of Jesus with love, with grace, with joy.
You never know when someone will ask you why you are different, wanting what you have, and when that happens, we need to be prepared. As we close would you consider being an evangelist, proclaiming the good news, the good news that Jesus is Lord.
