Salvation? (part 2)

God loves us and Christ died for us

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

            Can you imagine a love demonstrated in such a magnificent way that it involved someone laying down their life for you? 

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)

Jesus is God’s gift to us.  In the second step on the Romans Road we read the bad news concerning the sin that are an unfortunate part of each of our lives.  A requirement that none of us are exempt from, but the second part of that step begins the good news that now leads to this step: God loved us that Christ died for us.  So many words within this verse that we can just expound on and savor the goodness of what each one means. 

“Demonstrates”:  He showed it to us.  Too often we live with verbal expressions but here God’s love is revealed by a physical expression by dying for us. 

“His own love”: Literally his affections.  How splendid!  A rebellious creation, a creation that has dishonored him, disrespected Him, and disobeyed Him, yet He still loves us.  We are often quick to turn on those who have wronged us and hurt us, but God did the exact opposite.  He demonstrated His love towards us! 

“Christ died”: Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death.  In dying for us, Christ paid the wages that we were never able to pay.  He died for our sins.  He wanted to take our place!  As I would say when I get a little excited, “Well glory!”  The death that is required for sin has been made in Christ.

“Towards us”, “for us”:  This makes it personal.  The usage of the word “us” in Romans 5:8 includes the usage of the word “all” in Romans 6:23.  All of us who have sinned, there is no one who is excluded, he died.  He paid the wages.  He endured the punishment and the shame of the cross because God loved us. 

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

We must confess and believe on Christ

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; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (Romans 10:9,10)

There are two words that important to the process of salvation: confess and believe.  Here is what we have discovered on our journey through the Romans Road:  We have all sinned, there is no one excluded.  The penalty (or wages) of that is death, but God has offered to us a free gift of salvation or eternal life.  It is a gift that demonstrates God’s love towards us when Christ died and paid the wages or penalty for our sins.