THE ROAD TO SALVATION
Many people have been lead to salvation using a selection of biblical passages called "Roman's Road", and it is the most useful tool of pastors and believers witnessing of the power of the Lord Jesus and what He did at the cross. This is just one form of it, though longer than the standard version.
Rom. 3:9-20 gives us that none of us are righteous or justified; we know because of God's laws we are all condemned in sin. Ps. 14:1-3 & 53:1 have it also that none of us are without sin. Who among us that can speak or write have not used what we have spoken or written at some time with deceit, or have cursed or spoken/written bitterly of anyone? The whole world is indeed guilty before God. The laws of God give us knowledge of sin, but do not save us from it.
One might contest the ability to be sinful of perhaps certain handicapped people, or anyone thought of with some affliction like autism seeming to be beyond sin, but Rom. 3:23 calls that the entire human race is condemned in Adam's sin, and therefore there was never at any time a human being who conformed to the glory of God. God's laws are holy, and we are all transgressors needing a deliverer.
At this point those who don't know of their salvation would be worried, or maybe not, but Rom. 5:12 would surely raise fear, because it asserts that from Adam on, all are sinners, and the penalty is death. It was imputed to all men from Adam, so none of us escape.
Rom. 5:6-8 has good news, though, for each and every sinner; out of so much love for us from the Father, He sent His Son, Christ Jesus, to die for us, a perfect, unblemished, sinless sacrifice. We know the first man to bring sin into the world, his name was Adam, but we also have this 2nd Adam, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to take sin back out of the world for those who believe on Him. Now, from men's standpoint, there was no reason for Jesus to die for us, being as ungodly as we are; but as John 3:16 also states, "...God so loved the world (all of mankind), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
At the moment Jesus died, there was an outward sign to man that His death did open a new way to the Father, even into His very presence because of it! In Matt. 27:51 it is written that at His death the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom, and as the veil was not as we know a veil nowadays, but rather so thick a curtain, it was 4 inches thick! (Exod. 26:31-35,) It was renewed every year, and so strong, if you used horses to try to pull it apart on both ends, it could not be torn! Returning back to this issue of it being rent in twain, this proved that it was done by God and not man, as a sign of a new era that God was now available to all who came through Jesus Christ! Acts 6:7 records that priests of a large number suddenly converted to Christianity, and this is attributed to the tearing of the veil. Imagine being a Christian in that day, seeing all that and trying to take it all in!
What good news to all sinners! Now how do we earn it? Well, Rom. 6:23 says we don't earn it; the wages of sin is death; but God's gift to man is salvation through Jesus Christ. Rom. 6:15-23 explains that in Adam we were in sin, and the Lord demanding carnal, wicked, shameful living, to be repaid with death. We earned the death penalty for transgressing God's holy laws, and the penalty had to be paid. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin, and since God is holy, He can't go against His own laws, and that's where Jesus comes in, our living sacrifice in our place, paying our sin debt in full. In Christ, we become servants of clean, spiritual living, serving righteousness the rest of our lives. We all know what a gift is, don't we? It is something freely given, unpaid for, unmerited.
Let's look at the sin issue, which is covered by Paul concerning sanctification and the law. Rom. 7:1-6 explains that the believer is no longer under the law using as an example that our marriage to the law is divorced by Christ's death, and we are married to Christ being fruitful behaving with Christian living. Rom. 7:7-12 explains that the law itself is not evil, but good, but it also illustrates that sin has the power of death. Paul explains how he feels in Rom. 7:15-25 over that which he knows concerning the law and sin, how he wants not to sin, knowing the laws of God, but that his body and mind somehow are having this war in which he wants to do good, but sins, and how he "...delights in the law of God...", but that he can't stop himself from committing even one sin, and finds himself a "...wretched man that I am!". He asks in Rom. 7:24b and answers in Rom. 7:25, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
Rom. 10:9-11, 13 has it that whoever should say that Jesus is Lord asserts His being God. The inward belief and oral confession is to salvation, and whoever believes in Jesus will not be alarmed (Isa. 28:16), He is a precious corner stone for we who believe. Jesus is our Mediator to God through His death on the cross.
Now for one hearing all this for the first time who also has an open mind, it's exciting and gives way to anxiety, and they will want to know how to be sure. There are two answers to this, the first in 1 John 1:9. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Here we are returned to forgiveness and fellowship with the Lord in confessing our sins, and we are admitting to God that our sins are indeed sins. If we do not confess our sins are sins, then we are disagreeing with the Lord what is sin, aren't we? But let us confess all our sins to Him, knowing He loves us and showing trust in the word here, that He is faithful to forgive all. As the next verse says, "If we say thaat we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."
The second part of your assurance is in 1 John 5:13, which basically restates John 3:16, that believing in Jesus assures eternal life.
Some may come back to that concept I spoke of earlier that they would ask the question how to earn this eternal life, and here is where one would guide them to Eph. 2:8-10. Salvation only comes through faith, which means knowing the gospel as is written in Rom. 10:14, believing those sent by God to preach (Isa. 52:7), that what they say is true. Receiving the Savior, we become children of God, even His sons of Him, by believing on the name of Jesus, as is promised in John 1:12. Now while Eph. 2:9 says works cannot save, they assuredly come with salvation per verse 10. Now I lastly want to call you to James 2:17, which tells us that workless faith is futile, and gives us example in James 2:15-16. James finally explains that faith and works must be combined in order to get into heaven in James 2:24. Genuine faith is productive in that works accompany it.
Jesus spoke a parable of true believers in Matt. 13:1-23, where they who respond fruitfully are those who are truly saved. Examples of works that true believers might perform are in Matt. 25:34-40.
