Step 1: The bad news – sin

Why start with sin?

Jesus said: “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick” (Mark 2:17). A person who does not know he is sick will not look for a doctor. In the same way, nobody looks for a Saviour until God’s Word shows him that he is lost.

That is why the apostle Paul, before he explains the Gospel in the letter to the Romans, spends almost three chapters (Romans 1:18 – 3:20) showing that the whole world is guilty before God. Only then does he write: “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested” (Romans 3:21).

What the Word says

1. God is holy. “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3). “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

2. All have sinned. “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Jesus showed that God looks at the heart: anger is like murder and lust is like adultery (Matthew 5:21-28).

3. Sin separates. “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God” (Isaiah 59:2).

4. Sin brings death and judgment. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

5. We cannot save ourselves. “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).

How to say it

Read the verses together and ask simple questions:

“The Bible says in Romans 3:23: ‘All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.’ Who does ‘all’ include? … Me too. And what does Isaiah 59:2 say sin does between us and God?”

Do not argue; let the Word of God do its work. “The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin (John 16:8).

The bad news is never the end of the message. Romans 6:23 continues: “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” That leads to step 2.