We Can Be Saved!

Up to this point, we are in the book of Romans chapter 4 in our One Year Bible reading. I would like to give a simplified and very clear outline of salvation that we learn from Romans.

The Apostle Paul is making the case for salvation in Jesus Christ through faith and not through works. The argument goes like this:

1. Every person is a sinner: both the Jews who have God’s Law are sinners and Gentiles who don’t have His Law are sinners. (Rom. 1:18-2:25)

2. God is perfect. Since He is perfect, His judgment of sin is perfect. Since none of us perfectly follow Him, then we will be punished for our sins through our deaths. (Rom. 2:3-16; 3:4-8, 23)

3. There is no way for a person to earn their way to God’s good graces and inherit eternal life with Him. Our sin is too much. (Rom. 3:10-18)

4. God makes people right with Him not through the keeping of the Law, but when people choose to put their faith in Him and turn from their sins. (Rom. 3:21-4:12)

5. Jesus Christ was the payment for our sins and in His death and resurrection, we are made right with God once again. (Rom. 4:21-25)

6. Though the Law does not save us, we still should follow it because it is God’s revelation on how we should live rightly before Him. If we receive Jesus Christ through faith, that faith should cause us to want to live the way He wants us to live. (Rom. 3:27-31)

There are three things are required for us to be saved as we see in the book of Romans: 1) Believe in Jesus Christ who is the Son of God, 2) Repentance from our sins. We cannot be made right with God if we continue in our sins—this is true even of people who say they believe in Jesus Christ. If you are living in continual sin even though you say you believe in Jesus, you need to repent and be saved. 3) Payment for our sins. God does not forgive sin. He forgives sinners. He punishes sin. God does not sweep sin under the rug, justify it, hide it, or forget about it. It MUST be payed for with life—our lives. But this is the reason He sent Jesus Christ to die on the Cross and rise from the dead. God accepts Jesus’ payment of the debt-of-sin that we owed Him. If we will come to faith in Jesus and repent of our sins, then God will apply Jesus’ payment to our account!

Pastor Kyle Bauer