Living Understanding Pt 1: Roman Road
Romans 3:10 There is none righteous, not even one.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:12-13 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
A Summary
These verses are called the Romans Road to Salvation and one might wonder why they would be included in these postings since the reader is presumably already a believer. But maybe, my distant friend, you are just curious about God and not actually a believer yet. People have come up with many ways to help others come to Jesus as personal Savior, but the bottom line is that it is all about relationship. If we understand that God “so loved the world (us) that he sent his only-begotten Son that he who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16), then we begin to realize the love and compassion in the heart of the Father for his children,
I think all of us can understand the sin in each of our hearts and God understands it too. He reminds us that not one single person has ever been righteous in his own heart, that God loved us even before we knew him and while we were still sinners, that sin and the sin nature entered the world through one man—Adam. But God wants us to understand that eternal life came to the world also through one man—Jesus Christ. Accepting Jesus as Lord means the penalty for sin, the sin of rejecting God as Lord and Master, has been permanently removed from our shoulders. What a beautiful blessing!
And further, God wants us to know that he loves everybody, all human beings. Equally. No person is better, none is more qualified, none is more studied, skilled, or acceptable. All fail before his righteousness and all need his salvation.
A Necessary Reminder
I came to know Jesus as my Savior in 1986, some 37 years ago as of the date of this posting, and over the years I’ve come to realize it is so very necessary to remind myself once in a while what I once was like. When in my late teens and early twenties my drug of choice was alcohol. Drinking was the thing one did in those days; marijuana was a distant thought then and designer drugs like LSD or methamphetamine were foggy ideas too remote to consider, and only the really bad people used them. But alcohol was so very prevalent, and I was well on my way to becoming an alcoholic. My wake-up-moment came when I found myself walking along the crest of the roof of a three story college dormitory and realized the slightest slip would have meant my death.
I didn’t come to Jesus that day, but it started me on my path to salvation and God has been part of my life ever since. You might ask, “Well that is interesting, and it helps me understand you a little, but why dwell on such a memory?” But here’s the thing: If a person doesn’t stop, once in a while, to consider from where he came he doesn’t realize the beautiful wonder of where he is.
These verses remind me that nothing I do is righteous or holy except through the grace and mercy offered by Jesus. If Christ hadn’t awakened me that day, I no doubt would be dead by now from some alcohol related disease or incident. These verses remind me that no person is righteous, certainly not me, and that there is nothing I can do to change that except to choose Jesus.
Karl Marx once derogatively said that religion is the opioid of the masses. In spite of all its abuses, I don’t believe that for one second; acceptance of Jesus as my Savior, acceptance as yours, is the gateway to beauty, wonder, love, and eternal life. But forgetting from where we came is deadly: It leads to pride, arrogance, and self-focus.
The bewildering beauty to consider is that He Who created everything we can see, everything we can’t see, including ourselves, loves us so much that he sent his beloved Son to die a horrible death so that we could be freed from the consequences of our own choices, our own sin nature. You and I might look at some down-on-his-luck street person and think he chose his life, he can live with it. Not God. God knows we are easily tempted by sin, knows we are fragile and frail, and yet has so much compassion for us that he offers a way out through his Son. How beautiful is that?
Looking forward
Today we begin a new series called ‘Living Understanding’, a phrase borrowed from Pastor Mike Bickle of the International House of Prayer church in Kansas City. As we move forward with our lives, as we cooperate with God’s plan for each of us, it is important to remember from where we came and to live our lives in a way that pleases God. We should have ‘Living Understanding’ of God’s essence, character, and plan for our lives. We will look at the many verses God provides to help us shed our old ways and to put on our new identity in Christ.
What about me?
This will not be easy. Just because we have accepted Jesus as Savior doesn’t mean that God snapped his fingers and all-of-a-sudden we are pure, holy, and righteous. It does mean though that the human spirit which died when Adam sinned has been reawakened with the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Now, although still burdened by a sin nature, we are ‘tuned’ to hear a different Voice. Now we can choose holiness rather than sin, humility rather than pride, silence rather than noise.
My believing, distant friend, life is all about adjusting ourselves, step-by-step, so we can better hear God’s voice and live a better life in a way that pleases him. It will be a beautiful but jarring journey. Hang on! It will be glorious.