Just as we must be prepared to give an answer (1 Peter 3:15-16) regarding the reason for the hope we have, we also must be prepared to share the good news about Christ with others. One of the easiest approaches I’ve encountered is known as “The Roman Road.” This approach uses three verses (sometimes more) from the book of Romans to explain the essential ingredients of the Gospel message. It begins with Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” When I share this verse, I like to include a personal time I really was made aware of my own sinfulness. No honest person would every say that they’ve never sinned. We all know that we’ve lied, cheated stolen, and often have coveted what we should not have coveted. We need to point out the fact that we’re all judged as sinners – and we cannot deny it.

The second verse is Romans 6:23. It says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Since we’ve all sinned this verse tells us of the difficult situation we’re in. I like to explain that the concept of “death” in this context refers to eternal separation from God. Death is not, like most of us think, extinction. Rather, it is separation. Physical death is separation of our souls from our bodies and spiritual death (or the second death or eternal death as it’s referred to in the Bible) is the separation of our souls from God. Both physical death and spiritual death come as a result of sin. But the 2nd part of this verse gives us hope. We don’t have to die! It tells us the essence of the Gospel; eternal life is offered through Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect life and died on the cross as our substitute to pay the penalty for all our wrongdoing. He graciously offers us forgiveness and heaven as a gift—one that we could never earn or obtain on our own. But it is not enough just to know this; we have to act on it.

That last verses is Romans 10:13: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This verse shows that if we are willing to humbly receive Jesus as our forgiver and leader, then we will be saved. It’s always important to ask the person if they’ve taken that step. If they have not we should have the courage to ask if they are you ready to take this step.

Chuck
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12