Everyone Needs a SaviourSample

It is said that the letter to the Romans could be seen as the whole Gospel in a nutshell. Great heroes of the Christian faith, like St. Augustine and John Calvin, have relied on Romans to refine their theology.

Let’s take the drop together and solidify our understanding of God’s righteousness and grace, humanity’s hope for salvation and a transformed life, lived out in relationship with God and others.

All of humanity is in need of a Saviour!

We hit the ground running in the first parts of the letter. Paul states his case and reason for writing everything that is to follow in the letter - “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…” (1:16 NIV).

This is to say, everything you’re about to hear me addressing, is the message of the Gospel. There are parts where you will feel challenged and there will be parts where you’ll feel encouraged. Nonetheless, It’s a package deal.

After reading the opening chapters of Romans we should realise that Paul is referring to two main groups of people who are lost in their sin:

1) Pagan people who have given over to their natural desires and are lost in empty philosophy. Today’s equivalent = people who make sense of reality by means of their own rationalising. They live to satisfy every natural desire and live by the motto “do whatever makes you feel good." Also, those who have chosen to worship anything ‘created’ rather than the Creator, are lost in sin. Worshippers of the sun, mother earth and father ocean, including worship of self, have “exchanged the truth about God for a lie…” (1:25 NIV).

2) Jewish people who have placed their sole hope for salvation in keeping the Law of God in their actions, instead of letting the Law change their hearts. Today’s equivalent = The religious self-righteous, who are under the impression that as long as we ‘do’ good, we will ‘be’ good with God. Any person that has boiled down salvation to be based on good works is lost in sin. This group includes those who have based their worldview on a mix of good-sounding religious truths that leads to believing one is a good person for doing good.

We can be sure that all people, including you and I, found (or might still find) ourselves in either of these camps before coming to faith in Jesus. Most likely even a mix of the two.

Wow, what a depressing scene in what Christians call “The Good News." My friend, it’s by no coincidence, it’s exactly the point. Before we can come to be saved by Jesus, we need to realise that we are indeed in need of saving.