The Way to God

Do all roads lead to God?

Do you have the right directions to God and to a peaceful, permanent relationship with him? Or are you going the wrong way?

2,000 years ago, the Roman Empire built a network of roads – like our highways today – linking travelers to the city of Rome. Today we say that “all roads lead to Rome” to suggest that all religions lead to God.

Is this true? Do all religions and good works lead to God? Or do they lead to the wrong place instead? “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov 14:12).

Photo by Олександр К on Unsplash

You are going away from God.

In the beginning, God created the first man and woman (Gen 1:26-28). They didn’t need to know how to get to God because they were already close to him. This relationship ended when they turned away from him to commit the first sin (Gen 3:8).

Sin is anything – thought, word, or deed – that violates God’s good purpose for your life (Gal 5:19-21; 1 John 3:4). As the Creator and Ruler of all things, he made you to care for his world and to show his pure goodness to others (Gen 1:28-29).

By disobeying God, the first man and woman turned away from his authority and purpose. Like them and everyone else, you have also turned away from God through sins such as: wrong sexual behavior, idol worship, theft, greed, substance abuse, physical abuse, dishonest business choices, sectarianism, witchcraft, lying, murder, violence, selfishness, profanity, disrespect, and wild parties (Rom 1:28-31; 3:11-12, 23; 5:12; Gal 5:19-21; 2 Tim 3:2-4).

The result of your sin is death, which you experience in many forms: a decaying world, violence and warfare, pain and sorrow, broken relationships, sickness and disease, and physical death (Rom 6:23). These things happen because your sin has separated you from God and the end of this tragic journey will be the Lake of Fire – a place of permanent, painful, unbearable separation from everything that is good, including God himself (Rev 20:14-15; 21:8).

Doing good things does not take you closer to God.

Many people try to get closer to God by following the way of good works (Matt 7:13-14). They believe that doing good things will make up for the bad they’ve done. Yet good behavior will never cancel out your sin. No “works of righteousness” can save you (Eph 2:8-9; Tit 3:5).

No matter how sincere you may be, “there is none who does good” (Rom 3:10). Even when you do good things, they are repugnant to God, for “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isa 64:6; Jer 17:10). The evilness and obscenity of your sin contaminates your heart. Your sinful motives and desires infect everything you think, say, and do (Matt 15:18-19). That’s why your good works cannot save you.

World religions do not take you closer to God.

None of the 4,200 world religions can give you a peaceful, permanent relationship with God.

Buddha and the Eight-fold Path cannot do it.
The many gods of Hinduism cannot do it.
The many rabbis and rituals of Judaism cannot do it.
Muhammad and the Five Pillars of Islam cannot do it.
The gods of any culture cannot do it.
The ancestors of any family cannot do it.
The Roman Catholic Church, the Pope, and the seven Sacraments cannot do it.
Mormonism and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints cannot do it.
The Watchtower Organization and a Jehovah’s Witness lifestyle cannot do it.

No matter how carefully you may follow any of these paths, they always lead to destruction (Mark 7:7; 2 Cor 11:13-15; 2 Tim 4:3-4). Jesus said, “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it” (Matt 7:13). Are you following this wrong way to God?

Jesus is the only way to God.

Jesus said, “I am the way,” not, “I am a way,” or, “I am one of the ways” (John 14:6). He is the only way to God, not one of many. He is the only person qualified and able to give you a peaceful, permanent relationship with God. “There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Who is Jesus and why is he the only way to God? First, he is more than a good teacher or prophet, or the best person who ever live. He is the Creator who made and loves you (John 1:3; Col 1:16-17). He’s not just a good person who can help you; he is the Almighty God whom you must worship and follow (John 8:58; Rev 1:8). He is the way to God because he is God (John 10:30; Tit 2:13). He alone has power to raise the dead and forgive your sins (John 5:26-29; 11:25-26; Mark 2:5-12).

As God, Jesus also became a human being like you (Gal 4:4; Phil 2:6-8). He had a real body, soul, and spirit. He grew, ate, drank, worked, and slept like you (Matt 21:18; Luke 2:52; John 19:28; Heb 5:8). He lived like you, but with one big difference: when he faced temptations to make wrong choices, he never sinned (Matt 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13; Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22).

Jesus always responded to the challenges of life as God himself would do (John 8:29). He thought, spoke, and acted in the right way – always. Since he perfectly exhibited God’s goodness and since you can never be that good, you need him to take your place (Rom 5:18-19).

But he did more than live in your place. He died in your place as well, something no one else can do (Rom 5:6-8; 1 Cor 15:3; 1 Pet 2:24). He exchanged his goodness for your badness and his righteousness for your sin (2 Cor 5:21). When he died, he suffered the consequences for your sin and died the death that you deserve to die (Gal 3:13).

As an innocent person, Jesus took the guilt of all people onto himself (1 John 2:2). Three days after he died, he returned alive forever from the grave (1 Cor 15:3-8). This confirms that he fully satisfied God’s justice (Rom 5:9). He righted all your wrongs and conquered the power of death completely (Isa 25:8; 1 Cor 15:54-57).

Turn to Jesus and trust him as your God and Savior today.

If you die without Jesus as your Savior, you will suffer God’s judgment (John 3:18; 8:24). You will never satisfy his wrath against your sin (1 Thess 1:9-10; Heb 9:28). You will be separated from him forever (Matt 25:41).

Since Jesus triumphed over death, he is the supreme judge who will determine your eternal destiny (Matt 7:22-23; John 5:22, 27; Acts 10:42; 17:30-31; Rom 2:16; Phil 2:9-11). Will you admit your sin and entrust yourself to him completely? He is the only way to a peaceful, permanent relationship with God (Heb 2:14-16; 1 Pet 3:18).

To receive his goodness and complete forgiveness from sin (Acts 10:43; Rom 3:22; 5:21-25; 10:4), you must turn away from your sin, your religion, your gods, and anything else you hope will bring you to God (Luke 13:5; Acts 16:30-31; 17:30; Rom 1:16).

When you trust in Jesus alone as God and Savior, he will place you on the road to God and guarantee your place in his kingdom forever (2 Tim 4:18; 1 Pet 3:18). You’ll enjoy a peaceful relationship with God in this life and a permanent relationship with him in the new world he’ll make, free from the influence and effects of all evil (John 8:36; 10:28; Rev 21:4-5).

He’ll also place his Spirit within you immediately, who will enable you to think, speak, and act according to God’s original, good purpose for your life (Rom 8:9; Gal 4:6; 5:22-24; Eph 1:13). Through your attitudes, words, and actions, you’ll be able to show others what he is like at last (Matt 5:16; John 15:8; 1 Cor 10:31; Eph 2:10; Phil 1:11; Tit 2:11-14).

To receive endless salvation from God, admit that you have sinned against him and ask him for complete forgiveness (Acts 3:19; 10:43; 16:31). Turn away from other god(s) and religion(s) to follow Jesus as your God and Savior (1 Cor 15:1-4; 1 Thess 1:9). Will you call on him today (Rom 10:13)?

If you have trusted in Jesus or have questions about what you’ve read, please contact or visit us soon. We look forward to hearing from you (Eph 1:15; Col 1:4) and to helping you grow in your relationship with God (Eph 4:15; 2 Pet 3:18).

Contact

1401 40th Ave S
Moorhead, MN 56560

info@brookdaleministries.org

218-233-8758