01 The Way to Life. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

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1 01 The Way to Life The Bible has been described as God s plan of redemption for mankind. The narrative is of a broken relationship between God and man, the terrible consequences which followed, and a pathway to reconciliation created by God himself through his son, Jesus Christ. Nowhere is the redemption story more clearly explained than by what is known as The Roman Road, a selection of key verses from Paul s Epistle to the Romans. The Fall of Man Romans 3:23; All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The Bible tells us that God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and that they had a harmonious relationship with Him, based on their remaining obedient to His clear instruction. They were amply provided for and free to eat of any fruit they wished, except for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Tempted by the serpent, they disobeyed God s simple command and, in so doing, severed the bond of trust between them. Sin had entered the world. This first sin has come to be known as The Fall because, when Adam and Eve sinned, they not only broke their own relationship with God but bequeathed to all their unborn descendants enmity with God, each other and all creation. Reading: Genesis 2:15-4:16 What were the effects of Adam s and Eve s sin? Do you see any of these same effects in the world today? Have you seen any of these effects in your own life? The Consequence of Sin Romans 6:23a; The wages of sin is death...

2 Remember what God said would happen the day Adam ate the forbidden fruit: You will surely die! (Genesis 2:17) Adam did not die physically that day ( that would follow), but spiritually. Spiritual death is separation from God, both in this life and after physical death. All the decay and dysfunction in human history are the consequence of man s separation from God through sin, finally leading to eternal misery in Hell. As the prophet Isaiah put it, Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God (Isaiah 59:2) Because all have sinned, everyone is separated from God. And because everyone is separated from God, all are in need of someone to repair the breach. Readings: Luke 16:19-31; Luke 9:25; Ephesians 2:12; I John 2:15-17; Romans 1: Note the great chasm separating the rich man and Lazarus before and after death, only with a complete reversal of fortunes. While Jesus description of separation from God after death could hardly be more graphic, what are the features of separation from God in this life? The Gift of Life Romans 6:23b; But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. If life is the opposite of death and death is separation from God, then life must mean communion with God. Jesus said, This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3) Eternal life is an inseparable relationship with God that, according to scripture, it is a free gift. This wonderful gift, though free to us, was certainly not purchased cheaply. Because sin was the cause of separation, our restoration to God could not come until that sin was dealt with. God is holy and, as we saw in the Garden of Eden, He will not tolerate sin in His presence. A very high price had to be paid for past sin, and any future relationship between God and man could only be maintained on the basis of righteousness. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

3 Jesus Christ came to earth, not only as God, but as a representative of the human race, to be our substitute in taking upon Himself the punishment for our sin. He died on the cross as an unblemished sacrifice whose blood not only satisfied God s righteous judgement but also secured for every true believer the status of righteousness before God. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God (I Peter 3:18) Therefore, having been justified [made righteous] by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1) Readings: Romans 5:1-21; Ephesians 2:8-10. The Christian s righteousness is a gift from God, not the outcome of human effort. Just as all human beings inherit sin from Adam, so every believer inherits righteousness from Jesus. Where is the room for pride in all of this? To what extent is salvation our doing and to what extent is it Christ s? How, then, are we to be saved? The Way of Salvation 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. Once we have been convicted of our personal need, truly realising that we have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, we are prepared in heart and mind to be saved by the only one able to deliver us from our sins and provide peace with God. There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12) Becoming a Christian is not about becoming a good person. Like a man struggling to lift himself from the ground by his own shoe laces, we will never meet God s perfect standard of righteousness by striving to be good that is why we need a saviour! The idea that even the very best of our own efforts is sufficient to satisfy a holy God might best be described as self-righteousness. All our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment (Isaiah 64:6)

4 Good living is a wonderful result of salvation but can never be a means of it. Good deeds are a consequence of God s saving grace in our lives and, therefore, something for which He, not we, should take all the glory. To declare faith in Jesus Christ for salvation is to declare, by implication, that we are incapable of saving ourselves. This is what makes salvation a free gift! Christ did the work by dying on the cross for our sins and rising from the dead to declare that, through faith in Him, we are now justified before a righteous God. When we declare heart-faith in Him we are saved and He alone gets the glory! He was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification. (Romans 4:25) Readings: II Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:7-9; Galatians 2:16,21. In light of what you have study so far, how would you answer the following two questions, framed in Evangelism Explosion by D. James Kennedy (1962): 1) Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you can say you know for certain that if you were to die today you would go to heaven? 2) Suppose that you were to die today and stand before God and he were to say to you, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" what would you say? Receiving Salvation Romans 10:13; Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Knowing these things is essential, but have you experienced them in your life? Have you ever called on the name of the Lord for your salvation? If you realise that you are a sinner who needs a saviour, and if you believe in your heart that Christ is that Saviour, you can receive His salvation today. Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation (II Corinthians 6:2)

5 No one is so good that they do not need a saviour, or so bad that they are beyond rescue our sins do not disqualify us from salvation; they qualify us. One thing that will disqualify us is reliance on our own efforts as a means of justification. Good works are a means of saying Thank you!, never Please! As a believer, justified by faith in Christ alone, you will have all of eternity to thank Him! When someone becomes a Christian, they are not just the same person with a free pass to heaven. By believing in Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live within, making the believer more like Jesus Jesus Himself called it being born again. A Christian is born of the Spirit, changed on the inside, ready to live a new life that, by the Spirit s power, will glorify God. Readings: John 3:1-18; II Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 4:6-7; Ephesians 1: Of course, becoming a Christian should make someone a better person than they were, but what would you say to someone who thought that becoming a Christian was simply a matter of trying to live a better life? What is the difference between an improved life and a new life? If you have never asked the Lord Jesus Christ to be your Saviour, rescuing you from sin and its effects, bringing you into a relationship of peace with God, and coming to live within you by His Holy Spirit, you can do so today by saying a calling upon Him from your heart. Lord Jesus, I thank you for dying on the cross to pay the price for my sin. I know that I am a sinner separated from God, and I ask you to forgive me and give me peace with God. I believe in You. I receive You as my Saviour. I confess you as my Lord. Give me your Holy Spirit, I ask, and make me the person you created me to be. Thank You, Lord Jesus. Amen. Just as it is when a baby is born, there are things a new-born child of God needs to have in place, to ensure healthy spiritual growth. In the following series, we will consider the first steps to Christian maturity. NEXT: Welcome to the family of God!