I’m very excited today to share my last Roman Road tract post because in it, we’re going to conclude with the ultimate goal of all Christians! I think I loved sharing these posts more than any other posts I've ever done--because they were about the essence of the Gospel that is so near and dear to my heart. OK, here we go.
My last post, "Climbing the Roman Road Step 5 & 6 (The Response/A Restored Heart),” was about the response a person makes when he comes to the end of his rope. He then needs help from someone much bigger than himself, so he calls out for help from God. His prayer is one of desperation and urgency.
God always responds to this call, and he gives that person a restored heart, free from sin. What’s next for the person who called out to God and has a restored heart?
Steps 7 & 8 (Living Sacrifice/Heaven With Jesus!) give us a serious mandate, then a wonderful outcome. The serious mandate, Step 7, is found in Romans 12:1, where Paul wrote,
"I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
It’s a mandate to, instead of being a dead sacrifice, be a living one. This means that after we become Christians, we obey God’s calling for us to act as Jesus did, to do good works. No amount of good works will get us into heaven--but as Christians, good works are a response of gratitude for what He has done for us. Our good works for Jesus, in a sense, bring a little bit of heaven down here to earth.
Step 8 isn’t depicted in The Roman Road picture in the tract, but I just had to add Step 8. What is Step 8 of the Roman Road tract? It's the ultimate goal of every born-again Christian. It's eternal life with Jesus in heaven. Paul explained it in Romans 5:21:
“. . .so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
It would have been difficult for The Roman Road artist to add a Step 8, “heaven”, onto the top of the picture, but I simply couldn’t leave out the final outcome or scene of the Christian story.
My wife, Dee, will confirm that I love happy endings of stories like what happens in ALL Hallmark movies. I cry at most of them, and I even cry for joy at the end of action stories like Westerns when the hero wins the conflict and rides off into the sunset with the heroine.
But what is the happiest ending of all time? It's when we enter the New Heavens, the New Earth, and the New Jerusalem with its streets of gold—and we live with Jesus there for the rest of eternity!
My wife, Dee, will confirm that I love happy endings of stories like what happens in ALL Hallmark movies. I cry at most of them, and I even cry for joy at the end of action stories like Westerns when the hero wins the conflict and rides off into the sunset with the heroine.
But what is the happiest ending of all time? It's when we enter the New Heavens, the New Earth, and the New Jerusalem with its streets of gold—and we live with Jesus there for the rest of eternity!
