The ancient Romans were great road builders.They had amassed the greatest empire the world had yet seen, and it was important to them to be able to send messengers to the farthest corners of that empire (and to receive taxes from the farthest boundaries too!). So it was necessary to build a good road system and to maintain it in good order. In fact, some of those roads, built 2000 or more years ago, are still in place today. The Roman people expected the government to build strong, secure roads with the directions well marked. So when Paul the Apostle wrote his letter to “all that be in Rome,” he made it as straight and clear as a Roman highway.
Like the old road, Paul’s letter has lasted for two thousand years; unlike the old road, that letter, “The Epistle to the Romans,” is as important as ever and as true a guide to the millions of souls that have followed it. Let’s join them in a walk down the Romans Road.
Our starting point is the Book of Romans, chapter 3 and verse 10.
Romans 3:1010As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (Romans 3:10) says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” That is followed by, “There is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:1212They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Romans 3:12)).
The point of these two verses is to show that none of us is perfect. We have all messed up. We all make mistakes. We are all sinners. Most people will admit that they have done things in their lives that are not right, but some people have a difficulty accepting this simple concept of sin because they are trying to escape responsibility for their actions. It’s the “blame it on someone else” game.
Romans 5:11Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Romans 5:1)2 Says, “By one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
This verse refers to the sin of Adam’s disobedience, which is the first sin of mankind and the reason that sin was passed on to all men because we are all his descendents. We are sinners by nature (the nature we inherited from Adam, our great, great, great, great . . . grandfather.) In other words, we have a built-in propensity to sin, and we are also sinners because we practice sin. We have all chosen to sin.
Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) says, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We are personally responsible for our sins, and the Bible tells us that the inevitable price we must pay is death — not just the death of the body, but the “second death,” which will be the “blackness of darkness forever,” in eternal separation from God.
Romans 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) says, “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Now we are starting to get to the heart of the gospel. It begins with the greatest act of love in history. The Son of God came to this earth and took a body and walked the earth as a man named Jesus. He lived and He died just as the very ancient prophecies of the Old Testament said He would. We have the story of His life, death, burial and resurrection in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Now, because of this message of the love of God, many of us have been brought by the Spirit of God to see, understand and believe that Jesus was and is the Promised One, the only begotten Son of God. We know and believe from the Word of God that the Lord Jesus sacrificed Himself to pay the price of our sin, that He was raised from the dead on the third day (proving His victory over death) and that God’s righteousness has been satisfied as to the question of sin.
So how can we receive this most wonderful gift of eternal life? As Paul told the Romans, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:910).
Here in the letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul spells out the means of reaching out and accepting God’s gift: confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that He was raised from the dead. Paul could not have said it more simply —more clearly — nor more truly. It is still the road to heaven, and it is effective after 2000 years.
Why not trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour, right here, right now, right where you are? Just bow your head now and tell the Lord Jesus what’s in your heart in your own words.
Tell Him that you know you are a sinner. Tell Him you know that He died for you. Tell Him you trust Him to do what He said He would do. Ask Him to come into your heart and be your Saviour, just as He said He would. Then thank Him for saving you. Now go and tell somebody else!