On the Road to Death is a Path to Life
Romans: Unashamed - Building the Church through the Gospel • Sermon • Submitted
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Me - Our 30th anniversary trip this summer was amazing! We planned to travel to Minnesota and then to California with Angie’s brother-in-law and sister. We first needed to go to Minnesota to meet up with Kelly and Hollie, and then head to CA.
So we made our plans, packed up the car, and headed due East!
Of course we didn’t head due East. If we did we would have ended up in Boston, MA!
We needed to travel West in order to get to Minnesota! Duh!
The destination you plan is the direction you take!
We - This is common sense to all of us when it comes to travel. But when it comes to life after death, many think and hope their destination will be heaven, but they are traveling in the wrong direction.
In fact, many are following the wrong map which is leading them to a horrible destination!
God - God has given us the one and only true map. His GPS system tells us clearly how to get to the destination we desire...
Bottom Line - The Road You Travel In This Life Determines You Destination In The Next!
1. Are You Traveling The Road to Death or The Path to Life? (vs. 18)
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
Explain - Here, Paul finishes the comparison he started in verse 12. A comparison between two representative heads. On man represents the portion of humanity that are, and will be judged because he was judged for breaking God’s one command. This one man is Adam.
This judgment will result in condemnation (Remember Revelation 20: 11-15?)
This is the very bad news because it is true for all people (including you)...
However, there is another Man, a long awaited man who we first hear of in Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
This verse, on the heels of the Fall of Man shows that God had a plan to rescue His people from before the very begining.
“Her offspring” will become known as the Messiah...
And because of His one righteous act He made available a right relationship with God (Justification) and the promise of NEW LIFE for all those who are in Christ Jesus - who is this One Man!
His one act of righteousness what His sacrificial work on the cross...
That work on the cross, Jesus’s death satisfied the wrath of God because Jesus bore God’s wrath in our place.
Now, here’s the kicker! That one act on the cross 2000 years ago was certainly was a selfless act, but more necessarily for us, it was a RIGHTEOUS act. And that righteous act put us in a right relationship with God. “It leads to justification...”
What is justification?
Justification - the instantaneous declaration of your innocence based on the righteousness of Christ.
And what is the result of justification? The result is having a right relationship with God!
And what is the result of having a right relationship with God? According to Paul...
“Life for all men.”
Most certainly Paul is talking about eternal life. He isn’t just speaking of physical life. He is referring to the abundant life that Jesus speaks of in...
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Abundant means full - And certainly there are seasons in this life that we would consider to be full and wonderful. But ultimately we are reminded of the reality of pain, hurt and suffering because of the curse that we daily live in.
But...
There is coming a day
When no heartaches shall come
No more clouds in the sky
No more tears to dim the eye
All is peace forever more
On that happy golden shore
What a day, glorious day that will be
There'll be no sorrows there
And no more burdens to bear
No more sickness and no more pain
No more parting over there
And forever I will be
With the One who died for me
What a day, glorious day that will be
What a day that will be
When my Jesus I shall see
When I look upon His face
The One who saved me by His grace
When He takes me by the hand
And leads me to the Promised Land
What a day, glorious day that will be
How is this possible? How is it we can be assured of this “life” in heaven forevermore? Because of the one righteous act of Jesus Christ on the cross that in turn justified/put us in a right relationship with God and consequently gave us new life! Which is ETERNAL life!
Now before we leave this verse, I want you to notice something in this verse.
In the first part it says that condemnation is a forgone conclusion for all of humanity because of Adam’s sin.
And then, we see in the last part of the verse that “one act of righteousness leads to justification and life FOR ALL MEN!
Whoah! Wait a minute! I get it that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But what about LIFE FOR ALL MEN?
Did Jesus death on the cross provide salvation for all people? Are all people saved?
No. How do I know? Well, just jump back up to verse 17...
For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Did you see the important caveat that Paul mentions? “those who receive the abundance of grace...”
One must receive God’s free gift of salvation in order to be saved.
He says this in...
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
and in Romans 4:5...
And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
This is what John tells us in
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
The gospel is offered to all people, but not all people will believe and receive it!
Universalism - the idea that everyone is going to heaven because Jesus died on the cross is an ancient heresy that can be easily avoided by a humble and careful reading of the scriptures.
The reality is all are sinners and only those who repent and choose Christ will live - eternally!
This poem isn’t about salvation but it does speak of the importance of choosing the right path...
BY ROBERT FROST
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Now Robert Frost says that taking the less traveled road has made all the difference. And He couldn’t be more right...
Jesus also talks about a road less traveled. And those who find it and walk it find that it makes an eternal difference!
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Apply - So, which road are you on? It really does make a huge difference. Do you care? How do you get off the one road and on to the one that leads to life? Get right with God by following the detour set up by Christ.
Will you follow Christ today?
Review - The Road You Travel In This Life Determines You Destination In The Next!
Are You Traveling The Road to Death or The Path to Life?
2. Are You Traveling The Road of The Sinner or The Path of The Righteous (vs. 19)
For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Explain - Paul clarifies and expands in this last comparison between Adam and Jesus. He gets personal!
An important word in verse 19 is the word “Made.” In Paul’s comparison, both Adam’s disobedience and Jesus’ obedience “made” or “constituted” or “set” people into a particular camp.
People, according to Paul are, because of Adam’s failure, made to be sinners!
You might be thinking, “What? That’s not fair! Why should I be guilty of Adam’s sin?”
Explain...
Dr. Marting Lloyd-Joned says...
“Look at yourself in Adam; though you had done nothing you were declared a sinner. Look at yourself in Christ; and see that, though you have done nothing, you are declared to be righteous. That is the parallel.”
John R. W. Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 156–157.
Although you were MADE a sinner by Adam and you had no choice in the matter, you prove yourself to be one everyday of your life.
But as Dr. Jones makes clear, you too were MADE righteous. Not by your doing, but by His!
Those who receive the gospel will be made righteous through by the threefold process of...
1. Justification - Becoming right with God)
2. Sanctification - Growing more like God
3. Glorification - Living eternally with God
He made the way! He set up the only available exit on the wide road to destruction!
Where is this EXIT? What is the way?
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
What qualifies Jesus to be the exclusive way?
Paul tells us in this verse - He is qualified by His obedience! Explain...
What is the result of Christ’s perfect obedience?
“The MANY will be made righteous.”
Not everyone - only those who repent and receive! When we do, we become part of His righteous family!
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Chuck Swindoll said it so well...
“Adam made us members of the sinner’s club, but because of Christ we are counted among the righteous before God.” - CSSB
All are sinners, some have been made righteous. And the only WAY to be made right with God is to follow Christ on His road of righteousness!
Illustrate - You are in one of two camps. Either you are a sinner or you are righteous. This is how our God views humanity.
Think of it this in terms of professional football teams.
You are with the Lions or the Green Bay Packers! I’ll let you decide with team represents the sinners and which team represents the righteous!
The point being you are either one or the other, not both!
The good news? If you are on the sinner’s team you can switch teams today! Now!
Apply - How do you know if you are on the winning team? On the right road? That is a great question.
Paul, in another of his letters tell them to...
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
Are you righteous? Is your life characterized by acting and living like Jesus. Not in a check list kind of way, but is it a natual byproduct of the Spirit of God living in you.
Here’s a way to know.
Do you care when you sin?
Does it bother you when you are gossiping?
Are you convicted when you lie?
Does your heart hurt with you are unkind, ungracious, or unholy?
When you fail to love your neighbor (which is anyone) as much as you love yourself, do you care?
How you answer these questions helps you to see where you are at in your relationship with God!
You - So, which team are you? What camp are you in? Which road are you traveling?
Review - Remember - The Road You Travel In This Life Determines You Destination In The Next!
What is YOUR plan for the afterlife? You are traveling somewhere!
The destination you plan is the direction you take!
Are you planning on Heaven as your destination? Then you have to follow Jesus. You must repent of your sin and place your faith in Christ and Christ alone!
I am begging you to forget your GPS! But instead rely on God’s Positioning System! Why? Because that system will lead you to Christ’s road to eternal life!
We - What if we as a church really started to get this concept that everyone we meet is on either the wide road to destruction or the narrow road to life.
What if that were the first thing we think about when someone visits us on a Sunday?
What if we started to pray for one another that we might gain the courage to share the good news of Jesus with those who are headed to an eternal separation from Christ.
What if we started to work as a team, reaching people in all of our circles of influence? Maybe “My Circle” becomes “Our Circle”?
Remember, Paul is writing to a local church not just individuals. And as a church we must work together, pray together, help one another reach those who are still under Adam’s curse.
Conclusion -
Our anniversary trip to MN and CA was amazing! I’m so glad we followed the map so we could get to the proper destination.
But do you know what I’m more thankful for? That God has given me His MAP (His Word) that give the clear path to heaven with Christ because of Christ!
Connection Group Reflection Questions
1. What do these verses teach me about our character?
2. What do these verses teach me about God and his character?
3. Because these words are from God, they are TRUTH! What truth is he asking me to believe?
4. What do I need to do to obey him?
5. With whom can I share these truths?