The Gospel – Rom 1:16-17
Part of You've Got Mail—2025

The Gospel – Rom 1:16-17

April 27, 2025


Gospel (euangelion): the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God and salvation thru Christ; the proclamation of the grace of God manifest and pledged in Christ…


do you like getting mail… not email or texts… but actual letters and cards… 1st class mail has declined over 80% since 1997… key factor is electronic diversion… even though people admit snail mail is more personal… 83% prefer email…


new series… You’ve Got Mail… is all about snail mail… letters from Apostle Paul that turned the early church right-side up… and are still changing lives today…
Rom 1:7… “to you who are in Rome… loved by God… called as saints…”
1Cor 5:9… “I wrote you in a letter…”
Eph 1:1… “to the faithful saints at Ephesus…”
1Thess 5:27… “I charge you by the Lord that this letter be read to all…”
2Thess 3:6-15… “if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter… don’t associate with them… I, Paul, am writing this letter with my own hand…”


Paul wrote about half of NT… 114 references to grace in NT… Paul uses it 83 times in his letters… used about 70 times in OT… 13 times in Gospels…
Rom 12:3… “for by the grace given to me…”
1Cor 3:10… “according to God’s grace given to me… I have laid a foundation…”
Gal 1:15… “God… from my mother’s womb… set me apart… called me by grace…”
Gal 2:9… “JPJ… acknowledged grace given to me… keep preaching to Gentiles…”
2Pet 3:14-18… “Paul speaks about these things… some hard to understand…”


most messages will be stand-alone… won’t build on previous ones… let’s start with the most important verses in most important letter ever written…
Rom 1:16-17… “I am not ashamed of the gospel… for it is THE power for salvation to all who believe… for in it, the righteousness of God is revealed…”


first question… gospel is good news… but what is that good news about…
Isa 64:6… “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags… sins sweep us away…”
Rom 1:16-17… “gospel… in it, the righteousness of God is revealed…”


gospel is never about you… no good news in our own righteousness… if you’re hearing a message focused on your behavior… good or bad… it’s not the gospel…
Rom 1:1… “Paul, called as an apostle… set apart for the gospel of God…”
Rom 15:19… “by power of signs and miracles… have fully preached the gospel…”
2Cor 4:4… “the god of this age has blinded unbelievers… to the gospel…”
Gal 1:6-16… “amazed you are turning away from grace… turning to different gospel… not that there is another gospel… curse be on those who preach a gospel contrary to mine…”
1Thess 1:5… “gospel did not come in word only… but also in power, in HS…”


The best help you can give men socially is to help them religiously; and the best religious help is to preach the Gospel. We are responsible for the gospel and the way it is preached. —CH Spurgeon


so what is the gospel… what is the righteousness of God… and how is it revealed… righteousness talked about in OT… but it was veiled, just shadow, until Christ…
Psa 71:19… “Your righteousness reaches the heights… God, who is like You…”
Psa 98:2… “the Lord… has revealed His righteousness…”
Isa 42:21… “because of His righteousness… the Lord was pleased…”
Rom 1:16-17… “in the gospel… the righteousness of God is revealed…”
apokalypto… to uncover, lay open what has been veiled; disclose, lay bare; make known…
2Cor 3:5-18… “read OC, veil remains, it is not lifted… set aside only in Christ…”
Col 2:17… “these are a shadow of what was to come… the substance is Christ…”


part of God’s righteousness is revealed as a gift… but that’s not the full picture…
Rom 5:17… “receive… overflow of grace… gift of righteousness… reign in life…”
basileuo… exercise kingly power, to rule and reign; exercise highest influence, control…
2Cor 5:17-21… “He became sin… so we might become the righteousness of God…”


but God’s righteousness is even more than that… it’s about fulfilling promises…
Gen 2:18… “not good for man to be alone… I will make a helper…”
Gen 22:17… “I will indeed bless you…”
Psa 32:8… “I will instruct you… I will counsel you…”
Isa 41:10… “I will strengthen you… I will help you… I will hold on to you…”
Jer 31:33-34… “I will make NC… I will be their God… I will forgive their sins…”
Eze 36… “I will put My Spirit in you… I will give you a new heart… I will save you…”


OC says God will help, bless, instruct, forgive, save us… the NC gospel says God has done what He promised… His righteousness was delivered at the cross…
Psa 119:123.. “my eyes grow weary looking for Your righteous promise…”
Jer 33:14… “the days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I have spoken…”
Rom 4:13-25… “the promise… not thru law… but thru righteousness by faith…”
2Cor 1:20… “every one of God’s promises is Yes in Christ… why we say amen…”
Gal 3:17-29… “law does not cancel the promise… heirs according to promise…”
Eph 3:6… “coheirs… partners in the promise in Christ thru the gospel…”


but that’s not all… our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God… if we could be righteous on our own… we wouldn’t need a Savior… but we do…
Rom 3:5… “our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness…”
Rom 3:22-24… “righteousness thru faith… all sinned and fallen short… justified freely…”
Rom 4:5… “believes Him who justifies the ungodly… faith credited for righteousness…”
Col 1:20… “reconciled everything… thru Christ’s blood shed on the cross…”


the law does not demonstrate the righteousness of God… the cross does… it shows His justice toward sin… His faithfulness to creation… His mercy toward sinners…
Rom 3:21-26… “apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed… thru faith in Jesus to all who believe… Jesus was the mercy seat thru His blood to demonstrate God’s righteousness… so that He would be righteous and make righteous those who have faith…”
Rom 8:19-21… “creation eagerly awaits for sons of God to be revealed… creation itself will be set free from the bondage of decay into glorious freedom…”
Rom 11:11-32… “regarding the gospel… God’s gracious gifts are irrevocable… as you once disobeyed but now have received mercy… God had mercy on all…”


righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel by faith to faith… not faith to works or works to works… it is unveiled simply when we believe… that’s the gospel… and it is THE power for performing miracles and living a life of power…
Rom 1:17 TPT… “this gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness… a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe… and it moves us from receiving life thru faith… to the power of living by faith… we are right with God thru life-giving faith…”