In my last post in this series, I started a discussion on different gospel presentation methods. The purpose in learning these methods is to increase our confidence and comfort level with sharing the gospel, so we will talk with more people about Christ.

Today, I will discuss what amounts to a modified Romans Road presentation.

Modified Romans Road – Good News/Bad News

Romans 3:23 – All have sinned. (Bad news)

Sin is defined as an outright rejection of God’s rule over our lives. As our Creator, God has the right to rule over us, but we often reject God’s rule. In place of His rule, we setup our own rule.

Imagine a rebel force coming together and attacking a king’s castle. They over through the king’s rule and setup their own rule, while at the same time subjecting the king to their service.

This is similar to what it means to sin against God. You see, sinners are not just breaking rules in the king’s kingdom, they are the rebel force overthrowing the castle and setting up their own rule. Lest you believe you are not about of that rebel force, Romans 3:23 makes it clear we all are apart of the rebel force because we all are sinners.

Romans 6:23 – The penalty for sin is death. (Bad news)

Let me provide you with an illustration to help you understand this and explain it to others. If I paid you fifty dollars to work for me today, the fifty dollars would be your wage. It would be what you earned for working. Romans 6:23 tells us our wage as sinners is not fifty dollars, but death.

Romans 5:8 – Christ died for our sin. (Good News)

Let’s say you are in the hospital dying of cancer and I come to you and say, “I want to do something for you. I’ll take the cancer cells from your body and put them into my body.” What would happen to me? The usual reply is, “You would die.” You would be right. I would die. What would happen to you? You would live. The reason you would live is because I took your cancer and died in your place. The thing that was causing you death was taken by me in the hospital, placed upon myself, and I died as your substitute.

The Bible tells us Christ came into the world to do just that. He took the sin that was causing our death, placed it upon Himself, and died in our place. He was our substitute. And on the third day, when He rose from the dead, He proved right then and there that He had conquered death [1].

Ephesians 2:8-9 – You can be saved through faith. (Good News)

Grace is defined as unmerited or undeserved favor. Salvation holds the idea of being rescued or delivered from the penalty of sin. Faith means to trust, with the idea of trusting something you cannot see. Repent of our sin means to turn from, so as to never do again. Now that we have those definitions out of the way, let’s see how that works itself out.

Think about it like this: When you sit down in a chair, you trust it will hold you. You don’t come into a room and examine the chair to see how it is built before you sit down. You just sit down. You are simply exercising faith (trust) that the chair will hold you.

When we put our faith in Jesus, we are doing something similar. We are trusting that He will save us. We are not trusting in our church membership, our good life, or our baptism, but we trust in Jesus alone.

So then, to receive God’s unmerited grace and salvation, we need to exercise faith in Jesus, believing He is our Lord and Savior. As well as we need to repent of our sins.

Concluding Question

After leading someone through these Scriptures, the next thing we should do is ask: Is there anything keeping you from trusting in Jesus as your Savior?

(1) If they say yes, then you ask them what it is and field their questions.

(2) If they say no, then you should ask them a few diagnostic questions to see if they were tracking with you.

• Do you believe you are a sinner, who deserves to be punished?
• Do you believe Jesus is the one who saves you from God’s punishment?
• How are you saved? (They should answer through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice alone.)

The answers to these questions will tell you if the person was tracking with you. More importantly, it will tell you if the person you are talking to has understood the gospel and is now a Christian.

Questions for Reflection

1. Can you walk someone through a gospel presentation using the method outlined above?
2. Is there anyway I can help you understand this method better?

Resources

Modified Romans Road is taken from: R. Larry Moyer, Show Me How To Share the Gospel, 27-31.

[1] R. Larry Moyer, Show Me How To Share the Gospel, 29.

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