We dropped Olivia off at the airport yesterday morning. She is en route to Mongolia as we speak. She is currently at the Incheon International Airport in South Korea. She lands in Mongolia about 3 pm our time. Her journey to ride in this Mongol Derby has been a multi-year, multi-dollar, multi-person effort. Pretty much every penny she has earned over the past couple of years has gone toward funding her dream to do this. Here is a video shot about 18 months ago as the reality of doing the race was coming to fruition.
“Why not? It’s the adventure of a lifetime.” My kids are normal people. They drive me nuts sometimes like all kids do to their parents, but my kids also inspire me to be better. Over and over, Madison and Olivia have tackled projects and done things that they know will be difficult, but they chose the road less traveled, which inspires me.
I feel the same way toward people committed to sharing the gospel. I admire people who regularly practice being Jesus’ hands and feet to bring anyone who will listen into God’s kingdom. I admire that. It inspires me.
Even though the gospel message is the center of all that we believe, all that we hang our identity on, and all that brings us hope, I still find that sharing the gospel with a world screaming out for hope is often the road less traveled.
The Apostle Paul walked this road less traveled and was committed to being a guide to others to bring them along the way.
We see this in Paul’s letter to the Romans. The centrality of the gospel and its sharing is his theme. In his letter, Paul says to look for things that interfere with your ability to share the gospel. Don’t let peripheral issues, unimportant and meaningless arguments, deter you from leading people down the narrow road. Don’t allow sin or disruptive people distract you from your mission.
My hope this morning is not to try to shame you into working harder at sharing the gospel with your friends, family, and neighbors.
Instead of shame, my goal is to give you a vision for what God’s empowering prensence in you can accomplish and show you, in Paul’s letter to the Romans, a pathway you can use to lead people to an understanding of the gospel.
The title of my message today is The Romans Road.
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So, if shame is not a good motivation for sharing the gospel message, what are some good motivations? Why share the gospel?
1. It is Our Mission
This is the calling for all followers of Jesus. It’s not just the Apostles, or the early church, or pastors, or missionaries. It is the mandate for everyone who calls Jesus Lord, to be a city on a hill and salt and light to a lost world.
That is why Mission is one of our four values here at New Hope. We are committed to fulfilling the mission that Jesus gave all of His followers following His resurrection.
Matt 28:19 (CSB)—Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”
We participate in Jesus’s mission not out of duty or obligation but out of gratitude for what He has done for us.
The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose.
—C. S. Lewis
2. It is Compassion For the Least, Last, and Lost
This past week, Pastor Jason took a number of our students whitewater rafting on the Deschutes River near Maupin. We talked about who fell out where and what routes they took through some of the rapids. I thought about when I was guiding trips on the Deschutes years ago; part of our training was how to help people who fell out of the boat, even people from other boats who weren’t technically our responsibility.
What kind of guides would we be if, as people were floating by our boat, struggling to stay clear of the rocks and get to shore, we just waved and said, “You’re doing great, good luck.” What kind of guides would we be if we could help but chose not to?
Jesus had compassion for the least, the last, and the lost in our world.
Matt 9:36-38 (CSB)—When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”
We are the answer to that prayer. We are the workers of the harvest. We are the guides watching as people drift past us, struggling to keep their heads above water.
3. It Strengthens Our Faith When We Share It
Paul said sharing the gospel was his passion. He committed his entire life to sharing the gospel message. He says this in his letter to the church in Corinth:
1 Cor 9:22-23 (CSB)—To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some. Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings.
He said, I’ll do whatever it takes to show the world the hope that we have in Jesus, because there is a blessing that comes when we share the gospel.
When I think about Olivia doing the Derby, I think about how it fulfills a dream. I think about all the great stories she will come home with and how this experience will shape her. As a dad, it makes my heart glad. It blesses me.
Similarly, an incredible blessing comes with leading others to understand the gospel message. When you are able to help lead someone who is destined to spend eternity in Hell, separated from the God who loves them, into a new life, a new identity, and a new hope, it will bless you like nothing else.
Luke 15 records three stories or parables that Jesus tells his disciples.
In the parable of the lost sheep, the good shepherd leaves the 99 safe sheep in the pen to find the lost one. When he finds it, he calls his friends and neighbors and says, “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.”
In the parable of the lost coin, a poor woman loses a valuable coin. When she finds it, she calls her neighbors and says, “Come celebrate with me because I have found the silver coin I lost.”
In the parable of the lost son, the son turns his back on his father, takes his inheritance and squanders it. When he returns home, humbled by his experience, the father doesn’t lecture him, he doesn’t shame him, he celebrates. He tells his servant to bring his son a cloak to wear, a gold ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet, and to kill the fatted calf so they can celebrate “because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!”
Jesus said:
Luke 15:10 (CSB)—I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.
This last motivation is perhaps the most significant.
4. To Warn Others About the Consequences of Rejecting Jesus
I have often heard people ask the question, “How could a loving God send anyone to hell?” Good question. My response is, “God doesn’t send anyone to hell. People choose that road all on their own.”
God loves you with an everlasting love. He designed his human family for a relationship with himself. He demonstrated that love in an epic way by sending his one and only Son to die for you. But real love requires free will. Real love leaves me with a choice: I can choose to receive God’s love and forgiveness, or I can choose to reject His love and forgiveness.
God has done all of the work; he has laid the paving stones for the road that leads to life. Now, every person is faced with the choice: Which road will they choose?
The simple definition of evangelism: Those who know, telling those who don’t.
—Leith Anderson
Our mission, as people who have received the gift of life, is to warn those who have rejected God’s love that there are consequences for their choice.
All those who have received God’s love have their names recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Revelation 20 tells us what happens to those whose names are not recorded.
Rev 20:14-15 (CSB)—Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
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So, how do we tell the people around us about God’s love for them, which He demonstrated by sending His Son, Jesus?
Do we do it through a good bumper sticker? Turn or Burn, Get Right or Get Left, Not Perfect Just Forgiven. Are those effective ways to tell people about Jesus?
How about passing out tracts at the park or downtown? Some of you may be familiar with Chick Tracts. They are these cartoon tracts that address all kinds of topics that you can hand out to people. Are those effective?
How about knocking on doors? You can compete with the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses for being one of the most despised interrupters of dinner.
I don’t want to be too down on those methods because there are people who follow Jesus today because of the efforts of people who knocked on someone’s door. The Apostle Paul said by any means possible. These methods fit that description.
The most effective practice, however, to show someone the way to Jesus is through a relationship. Most people will blow off the door knocker or the tract passer because they have not won the right to be heard. But when you demonstrate real love and concern for someone, they tend to listen when you speak. Genuine love and concern, not just a relationship so you can tell them about Jesus, but genuine friendship tends to earn you a listening.
So what do you say, and what do you need to know when the opportunity arises to talk about someone’s need for Jesus?
First, Know How to Tell Your Story
Practice talking about what God has done for you. Practice talking about how knowing God has changed your life. Have a short version and a long version of your story.
Most of you have heard my short version. When I was a Jr. High kid my mom started taking us to church and one Sunday we had a speaker who clearly talked about our need for Jesus and how knowing Jesus would save us from eternity in Hell. I certainly didn’t want anything to do with Hell so I prayed the prayer and asked Jesus to forgive me.
I didn’t see it then, but that moment was when God really began to change me. I didn’t understand all the implications of that prayer, but it was a sincere prayer asking for God’s forgiveness, and I know he heard and answered that prayer in that moment.
That’s my short story.
My long story involves growing up the oldest of four kids, my parents’ divorce, my discouragement over the difficulty of life, and my wondering why God would do this to us. It involves my mom’s discouragement with life and how that led her to start attending this little Baptist church. That decision put me in a place to hear about Jesus, and even before I responded to the gospel, looking back, I can see how God was directing my life.
My long story talks about my journey from that prayer to deciding I wanted to serve God with my life by becoming a pastor and how he has been faithful to me, Stacey, and our family through the years. I’m not perfect, but God has changed me, and I can’t imagine life without Him.
My point is this: Know how to talk about your experience with God; what that has meant to you, and how that relationship has changed you.
Second, Know the Gospel Message in Scripture.
Know the pathway to lead people down when that opportunity arises. One of the ways to explain the gospel in scripture is something we call The Romans Road. It is six scripture verses from Paul’s letter to the Romans that clearly explain, in a nutshell, the truth about our need to respond to God’s love. I like the Romans Road because, as we have seen as we have studied Romans, starting back in September 2024, we have seen Paul meticulously unveil this message so that anyone reading the letter would clearly understand what we need to do to respond to God’s love.
Here are six scriptures that describe the gospel, that you can use to lead someone to Jesus.
1. Rom 3:10 (CSB)—as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.
We are all in the same boat. We all need Jesus. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how bad you are. We all have the same need because none of us is righteous.
Why is that?
2. Rom 3:23 (CSB)—For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
None of us is righteous because we have all sinned. We have all broken God’s perfect law, and because God is perfect and holy, our disobedience leads to consequences. It separates us from God in this life and when our life ends.
3. Rom 6:23 (CSB)—For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We have earned something because of our sin, death. Death that leads to decay in this life and eternal death after this life, which is separation from God for eternity in hell. But because of God’s great love for us, He offers us a gift and a way to overcome death. This gift comes to us in the form of His one and only Son, Jesus.
4. Rom 5:8 (CSB)—But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Even though we don’t deserve it and we can’t earn it, God still loves us. To show us His love, He sent Jesus as a perfect sacrifice to die the death that was meant for us. God freely offers this gift of life to us, all we have to do is receive it. How do you do that?
5. Rom 10:9-10 (CSB)—If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.
When we recognize our need for forgiveness, like Paul said in Rom 3:23, and believe in our heart that Jesus is God’s Son, died on the cross for us, and rose three days later in victory over sin and death, and then confess that with our mouth, we are saved just like it says in this next verse:
6. Rom 10:13 (CSB)—For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
So, what does calling on the name of the Lord look like? It is not a prayer that saves you. There is no magic incantation that invokes God’s forgiveness, but a prayer can certainly express our hearts, and God knows our hearts and our thoughts.
Then I would ask them, “Do you want to pray to receive God’s love and forgiveness?” If they are willing, you can lead them in a simple prayer that confesses their need for forgiveness, and delclares their belief in Jesus as God’s only Son, killed, buried, and risen three days later, victorious over sin and death.
There are many scriptures and ways to communicate the gospel message. The Romans Road is just one of those. Take time to study those verses. Memorize those verses, and then, like a young Pastor Timothy, you will be prepared to give an answer for the faith that is in you.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our study of Romans. This next week, we will jump right into our next series, Daily Bread. We will study different aspects of prayer from the Lord’s Prayer and how being aware of those different aspects can change the way you talk to and listen to God.
Chris Hankel 
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