What is a "Romans Road"?

First, a little background.  We as Christians acknowledge a very old concept: sin.  

What is sin? 
Very simply, sin is not living up to God's standard.

Who is God?
He is the creator of the universe and the Lord of all things.

What is God's standard? 
Perfection.  Nothing less than perfection. 

So where does that leave us as human beings?  Quite frankly, that leaves us in a very bad position, because none of us are perfect.  God requires perfection and we are far from perfect.

What to do then? 
Well, God thought of that a long time ago and made a provision for us.  He knew that we are not perfect, that we are sinful, corrupt and even evil. 
He calls this provision "Jesus."  Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth, lived a perfect life (without sin) and then took the punishment we should have received for not being perfect.  He died in our place.  Even better, because of Jesus, He is willing to forgive us for not being perfect.  Pretty neat.

Why did He do this? 
Good question.  The best answer I have is because He loves us and wants to spend the rest of forever with us.

Why can't He just overlook our sins? 
Because He is holy.  Holiness is everything that sin is not.   He will not allow sin in His presence, so something has to be done to take away the sin so we can come before Him.  That's where Jesus comes in.

What's the catch? 
Just this:  Each of us has to surrender our life to Him and be willing to let Him rule over us.  When we do this, He will forgive us, wipe our imperfections (sins) away, and give us an eternity with Him. 

Too good to be true? 
Just take Him up on it and you will see that it is indeed true.  This is the best offer you or I will ever receive.  Too good of an offer to throw away.

The Bible puts it like this in what we call it the "Romans Road" (because it is found in a book of the Bible called "Romans.")

Here we go:

The Romans Road to Salvation

Romans 3:10  says "There is none righteous, no, not one."  This just means that all of us humans have done bad, wrong, evil, sinful things.  No one has been righteous, holy, or sinless like God is.
Romans 3:23 says pretty much the same thing:
"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

 A long time ago, sin and evil entered the world through a man named Adam (yes, we believe in him) and his disobedience to God.  His sin caused death and separation from God to spread to all people.  Romans 5:12  says this:
"...Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned."

This sin has a consequence called death.  Death on this earth and after that another death called eternal death, which is sometimes called "hell." 
Romans 6:23 says:
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
 
Although we are sinners, and headed for an eternal death called "hell," God, through His love, has made a way for us to escape and go to another place called "heaven," where He lives (after we leave this earthly life, that is).
Romans 5:8 says:
"But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
 
And, it is just this easy to take God up on this offer as it tells us in Romans 10:13:
"For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

How do you call on the name of the Lord?  Romans 10:9,10 says:
"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.
For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation."

That is a big verse, but what it says is that in order to have this eternal life we need to believe that Jesus is Lord (the boss, the ruler of our lives) and that He was raised from the dead.  He didn't stay in the grave, He was raised up on the third day, and that is how we know that God accepted the perfect life Jesus led. 
Sin did not have a hold on Him like it does on us.  He lives today, and really wants you to accept Him, love Him, and let Him rule your life. 
If you want this, you could pray a prayer like this one:
"Dear God, I know that I am a sinner and have done wrong.  I ask you to forgive me and cleanse me from this sin.  I accept you as my Lord and King.  I ask Jesus to come into my life and live with me always.  I love you, Lord and want to live for you.  Please give me eternal life.  In Jesus' name I pray, Amen."
 

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time and really meant it, please contact us and share your experience.  We will be glad to pray for you and rejoice with you.