The Road Less Traveled

You might notice the borrowed title to my blog today. I use it because if ever there was a road less traveled it would be the road that leads to heaven. Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matt. 7:13-14). If ever there was a minority in this nation and in this world, as Jesus indicates, it is the Christian, and by Christian I mean those who truly believe and are born of Christ.

Let's take a look at that "road less traveled." The gospel of Jesus Christ is presented in the Book of Romans and is fondly referred to as "The Romans Road." I will expand that message of Romans by looking at a few verses in other books of Scripture as well.

Let's begin is in Romans 3:10-11: "There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands: There is none who seeks after God." Everyone is totally and completely lost in sin. No one can be saved apart from Jesus Christ. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?" And in Romans we read: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23). If it were not for Jesus we would all be destined for an eternity in hell, a life separated forever from God.

But that is not God's plan. In fact God made you for a purpose: to fellowship with Him. He loves you and wants you to love Him back and to have a special relationship with Him. But sin got in the way, as we have just seen. Man was made to freely live a life in fellowship with God but man took a wrong turn, choosing to walk away from God and disobey Him. And so sin entered the world, and through sin, death: "Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). So sin caused a break between God and man. Fellowship with God was broken and there is nothing we can do about it.

But God could do something, and He did. The Bible says, "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). The Bible also says, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13). Because of His love for us, Christ died for us. He paid our penalty. "In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:9-10).

That brings us back to Romans: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). He bore our sin: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus was completely without sin. That is what qualified Him to die in your place. He became sin for you by taking your sin upon Himself and dying, shedding His blood, for your forgiveness.

So by God's grace are you saved through faith in Jesus. "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)" (Eph. 2:4-5). "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9).

When Peter first preached the gospel at Pentecost the people came under conviction and asked, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). And so we ask, "What shall we do to be saved?" The answer is simple: "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10:9-10).

Pray. Confess your sin. Ask God to forgive you. Receive Jesus into your life by faith. John 1:12 says, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name." Trust Jesus by faith and you will be saved.

That is "The Romans Road" (expanded), the gospel in a nutshell, or the gospel made plain. When you have received Jesus by faith and know Him as your personal Lord and Savior, you have a certain assurance that you are saved. 1 John 5:11-13 concludes, "And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." Amen.