Long Ago, when the Roman Empire was at the height of its glory, a common saying was "All Roads Lead to Rome." I want to tell you about a very special road -- a road that existed then and still exists now. This road, now almost 2,000 years old, has never led to Rome. Yet, strangely enough, it is called the Romans Road.

        The Apostle Paul described all of the landmarks along this road in an open letter to the Romans of his day. In his letter he pointed out that it is crucial for every man, woman, boy and girl to travel down this road at some point in his or her lifetime. The eternal destiny of every soul on earth, even today, hangs on the decisions made while traveling down this road. For those who make the right decisions, the road can be very short but for those who make the wrong turns, it can be long and very, very dangerous.

        Please allow me to point out the highlights of Paul's letter and then you can read it for yourself. The Romans Road is always best traveled with a guide who knows the way well, for it leads to...well, let me show you.

        As your guide, I must warn you that the philosophies of this world lead to a dead end. We must accept the Word of God, the Bible, as the only immutable truth. Unless you do this, you will get lost in a maze and may never get back to the Romans Road.

        But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): (Romans 10:8)

        So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)

        The Apostle Paul wrote of a serious problem that all of us have which can only be solved by successfully negotiating the Romans Road. He put it like this:

        for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23)

        For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

        Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. (Romans 6:12)

        If you have not successfully passed the temptation to follow the Path of Sin, now is the time to turn from your sin. The act of turning away from sin is called repentance and this is absolutely necessary to get the gift of eternal life Paul spoke of previously.

        Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)

        At this point we encounter a most curious fact -- one that seems to run contrary to conventional wisdom. Paul wrote:

        being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Romans 3:24)

        For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. (Romans 11:6)

        Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. (Romans 9:32)

        Many people simply cannot believe that the correct way is the easiest and free. Without a guide, many people take this wrong turn and try to pay for the eternal life they hope to receive.

        At this point you may be thinking: "Paul certainly seems to say that eternal life is free, but I still can't believe I can obtain something of such value for nothing. There's still no such thing as a free lunch." Congratulations, you have correctly analyzed the situation. Eternal life is so valuable no one can afford it.

        Now, I want to tell you an old story. God created man with a free choice of will to serve God or serve himself. Man chose poorly and rebelled against God. God had already established the penalty for rebellion as eternity in hell but He loved mankind and did not want to destroy him. The solution was God's decision to send His only begotten Son into the world. He lived and died as a man to pay the penalty for each of us.

        But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

        Jesus lived a sinless life for 33-1/2 years and then was hung on a cross by the Roman soldiers of His day. The blood He shed on that cross was the very blood of God and is sufficient to wash all our sins away if we request it. Jesus was buried in a tomb but proving Himself to be God Almighty in the flesh, He conquered death and hell and arose from the dead.

        He now freely offers the same resurrection to all who will accept His death as payment for their sins.

        How about you? Will you accept His gracious offer?

        The apostle Paul wrote, speaking of Jesus:

        whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, (Romans 3:25)

        Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. (Romans 5:9)

        We have now come to the end of the Romans Road. Do you know where we are? Do you recognize that hill? It's called Calvary; it's the place where Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us -- died to pay for the sins of all the world.

        You've come so far, now one more step and you will enter a whole new life in Christ Jesus. It is a step of faith as Paul put it:

        but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, (Romans 4:24)

        who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. (Romans 4:25)

        Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have* peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1&2)

        For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)

        being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Romans 3:24)

        so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:21)

        Now that we find ourselves at the foot of the cross of Calvary, let us humbly kneel before Almighty God and remember the things we have learned on our journey. We first learned that we have to believe God's Word, the Bible, which includes the letter to the Romans to guide us down the right path. We learned that we are guilty of sin before God and that we must repent or turn away from a life in sin to truly follow God's will for us. Following this, we learned that God Himself, through Jesus Christ, paid for our sins with His own blood. This cleared the way for us to have eternal life. All that's left for us to do at this point is ask for it.

        that 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. (Romans 10:9&10)

        For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)

        How about it? Will you sincerely pray a simple prayer such as this one in order to receive eternal life?

Dear God,

        I realize now that I am a sinner headed for eternity in hell. I know that because Jesus paid for my sins on Calvary's cross, I can be forgiven. I can have peace with you. I now renounce my life of serving sin and self. I ask you to grant me the gift of eternal life. I thank you that you have said, "whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." That includes me.

        Thank you for saving me based solely on what Jesus did on the cross. In Jesus Name, Amen.

        Now there are a couple of other things you need to do.

        First, tell someone you have received Jesus into your heart as your personal Saviour. Be bold and frank in acknowledging Him as both Saviour and Lord of your life.

        Secondly, you need to find and start attending a good, Bible-believing, Bible-preaching Church to fellowship with other believers who will help you grow in your new life in Christ. I would encourage you to find a local church in your area that teaches God's Word faithfully. Many churches with "Baptist" or "Bible" in their name are faithful to the Bible. I would stay away from Pentecostal or Charismatic churches and "denominational" churches such as Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, and so on because the majority of those have departed from using the Bible alone as their authority for faith and practice. I would also stay away from any Baptist Church that teaches the King James Version is the only Bible translation we can trust.

        Start trying churches. Make sure the pastor opens the Bible and preaches from it. Ask God to guide you and direct you in your search. Try Sunday morning and evening services along with Wednesday nights if they have one - this gives you a good idea about a church.

        Once you have found a church that meets these criteria make an appointment with the pastor and I am sure he will be glad to answer your questions and anymore you might have.