Roman’s Road
After last Wednesdays post, Everyone’s Day in Court, you might feel inadequate for God and His impossible standard for us to meet. We have all come into this world as sinners, and last week’s post may have left you feeling as if there is nothing that can be done to rectify this situation. Well this week I am going on a brief look throughout verses in the Book of Romans to see how we can be saved and be rectified with God.
Last week we saw that we can sin not just by physical actions but also through our thoughts. “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23. No matter how hard we try we cannot make ourselves righteous with God. “10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10.
What is the result of falling short of the glory of God? Romans 6:23a explains it clearly “23 For the wages of sin is death”, this is a sobering idea for those who believe that if they are a good enough person they will make it to heaven on their own. We have already seen that we have all fallen short of the plan that God has for us, we have all sinned, and this sin resulted in a separation from God, not only while we are on earth but permanently when we die. However, the rest of Romans 6:23 shows that humanity’s hope is in Christ alone. “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23b.
How amazing it is that even though we have all fallen short, God has offered us a gift of salvation. And what is even more amazing is that this gift is free! We do not need to work for our salvation! But why is this? Well look at Romans 5:8 “8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We have a God who showed us His love for us while we were sinners and undeserving of it. He sent His own Son to die for us. “7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.” Romans 5:7 our nature is not to put others before ourselves, but our God cares for us so much that He sent His Son to die for us while we were undeserving. This salvation is the free gift that God gives us.
But how do we receive this salvation? Romans continues to answer this question, “9 that 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; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Romans 10:9-10 and again in Romans 10:13 “13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” We can receive this salvation only when we confess that we are sinners that we have all fallen short of God’s design and that we need Jesus to intercede for us, that He lived a perfect life, that He died on the cross and was resurrected on the third day, and He is alive today. When we call on His name, we are saved. It is not about us, it never was, salvation is for God alone to give and He gives it freely to those who seek Him.
Now that we have seen how salvation is received, what is the result of salvation? We find that answer in Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God”, and Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We have been justified through faith alone, in Christ alone, and we have now been granted peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been justified through God’s grace and not by our own merit and this justification is for us to boast in the glory of God. We have been made new through Jesus Christ and are no longer condemned. “21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” Romans 3:21-24.
I hope now that if you are reading this and you have held to the idea that you can claim righteousness based off of your own merit you now see that this is an impossible task. We have all fallen short of the glory of God, we all need a Savior who can bring us justification before God the Father. That Savior is Jesus Christ the Son of God, through faith alone, in Christ alone we are found righteous and made new, we are no longer condemned. I ask that if you see now that Christ is the only way to rectify yourself to God the Father that you take a moment to pray that Jesus would come into your life. “4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” Romans 10:4. If you ever have questions or want to talk to us, feel free to reach out to the staff at Mill House Ministries at our contact page.
Seek the Truth and encourage one another,
Alex