A Word about the Highway to Heaven from the Book of Romans

Today I want to share a word about the Highway to Heaven as I comment on the Good News found in the Book of Romans.

No, I am not talking about the television show with Michael Landon. I am talking about the pathway to salvation which Paul outlined in the Book of Romans.

The last time that I posted I recounted how, while trying to find the location of a meeting on an unfamiliar road in a nearby county, I ran a stop sign and suffered the consequences of violating the law. 

I commented then that the law was righteous but harsh, and also that there was Good News, and today I want to show how this Good News is found along the “Highway to Heaven.”

Ironically, evangelists also call this pathway to salvation the “Roman Road” in memory of the way that the Gospel spread rapidly through the Roman Empire because of the excellent network of roads that Rome had built to control its Empire. We can just as easily call it the "Highway to Heaven" because that is where it will take us if we let it.

What are the stops along this pathway?

First Stop:  Salvation is Available to All

Romans 1:16 tells us:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 

During a time when our nation seems more divided than any other since the Civil War, it is good to note that the first stop on this road is an inclusive stop. It is within the power of God for EVERYONE who believes to receive His salvation 

As I write this many people around the world are waiting for access to a COVID-19 vaccine. Many others doubt its safety or effectiveness. In contrast, God has great news for all of us.

God not only offers salvation to all, but He can give it to all as well. No waiting, and no worrying about whether or not God’s vaccine for sin works!

Second Stop: We can’t Please God Ourselves 

Romans 3:9-12 says:

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

While we are on the theme of unity, Paul reminded us that while we may not be socially, politically, or ethnically unified, we are unified in one way: WE HAVE ALL SINNED!

And if you think Paul was just speaking of a few people or people groups, in Romans 3:23 he stats flatly that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

So, as the saying goes, “nobody’s perfect” so what’s the problem with that?  No one is perfect, save God, and He can have no fellowship with imperfection, which leads us to our next stop along the” Highway to Heaven.”

Third Stop:  We have Earned Death, but We Can Have the Gift of Life

Romans 6:23 turns us from despair to hope:

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The cost of my traffic violation was high, but not nearly as high as the cost of violating God’s law. The penalty for that is death, or eternal separation from God. 

The Good News here is that we can change our path and we can thus change our destination. We can have eternal life; we just cannot earn it ourselves. How can we make that soul-saving turn?

Fourth Stop:   We are Saved by Confessing Jesus

Romans 10:9-13 tells us how to get to a better place:

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Again, and again Paul gave us Good News as we travelled the Roman Road. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” All we must do is call on Him and surrender our pride and our despair to Him in equal measure and if we will do we “will not be put to shame.”

We must recognize that this salvation is a gift, and we must accept it as a gift. We cannot add anything of our own to it, and we cannot eliminate any part of it. 

We come to Jesus as we just as we are, tired and weary of trying to get somewhere on our own merit, but actually just spinning our wheels. We need Him to give us a lift along this "Highway to Heaven," and He will do so if we just let Him!

Conclusion

I would be glad to help anyone find their way down the “Roman Road” so that it would become their “Highway to Heaven.” You can contact me at otis.corbitt@gmail .com. 

Let me be your tour guide on the trip of a lifetime!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt