Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Romans 16:25-27 NIV)
In the first verse of the book of Romans, the apostle Paul says that he was “set apart for the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1). In the words of our lesson, the last three verses of Romans, Paul says that God “is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel…” Do you hear a word that keeps showing up? The message of the Bible is called the “gospel.” Paul uses that word in the very first verse and in the very last sentence and ten other times in the book of Romans. The gospel… The gospel… Like, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). It’s all about the gospel!
So what’s the “gospel”? We should probably know that, huh? The word “gospel” means “good news.” The gospel is “good news.” So what “good news”? Unfortunately, there are a lot of different gospels floating around Christianity. I bet you’ve heard of some. There’s the “social gospel.” Heard of that? The social gospel says that the purpose of Christianity is to make society a better place by ending problems like poverty or racism. Then there’s the “prosperity gospel.” Heard of that? The prosperity gospel says that if you just believe hard enough and pray hard enough, you will be wealthy and prosperous. There are a lot of “gospels” floating around.
So what’s the real “gospel.” Notice something that Paul says in our lesson. He says that the gospel is “in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past.” What does he call the “gospel”? A “mystery.” According to the Bible, the true gospel is a mystery. It’s not something that anybody can come up with on their own. It has to be revealed to us in the Bible. Let’s be honest, anybody could come up with the prosperity gospel, right? “Let’s make up a religion where we all get rich!” That’s not hard. The true gospel is a mystery we can only know from God’s Word. So today we’re going to use the whole book of Romans to learn the gospel.
The message of Romans starts with this: People are really sinful. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people” (Romans 1:18). That doesn’t sound like good news! But we need to hear it. According to Romans, there are two ways that people especially show their godlessness and wickedness. Know what they are? First, people deny that God created the world. It doesn’t get more foolish or wicked than that. Second, people sin sexually however they want to. Those two sins provide proof of how sinful people are. People deny God created the world and sin sexually. Sound familiar? People are really sinful.
Maybe you say, “That’s not a mystery. I see how sinful people are all the time!” Okay. That’s true. Here’s the mystery the Bible reveals to us: “You are that sinful too.” Did you know that? If I say that people out there are sinful, nobody would argue, right? But the Bible says that even we religious people are just as sinful. Maybe our sins look different, but they are just as bad. Sins like hypocrisy—looking good just on the outside. Sins like self-righteousness and pride—“I’m better than those people.” Sins like judging others without judging ourselves. It’s not a mystery to hear that the world is sinful. Here’s where the mystery hits home: You’re sinful. I’m sinful.
In fact, the Bible goes deeper into our sins than we would ever want it to. Here are some of the things that the book of Romans says about our sins: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). What do you think? Do you like hearing that? Of course not. Is it true? Yes. The Bible shows us that we are so much more sinful than we think, “so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God” (Romans 3:19). We are accountable to God.
And you say, “That’s still not good news!” You’re right. That is not good news at all! But we need to hear it. It’s like when a person goes to the doctor thinking they are all healthy. But then the doctor gravely says, “You have cancer. It’s serious.” Why does he say that? So that he can provide the solution. The cure. Ready for the good news? It’s this: “The righteousness of God is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). There is a solution to sin: Jesus Christ. He sacrificed himself in our place to pay for our sins. Jesus saved us! So, “a person is justified by faith” (Romans 3:28).
How does that work? How does it work for someone to be “justified by faith”? Paul gives an example: Abraham. The Old Testament says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3). We all need to be righteous. We need to be good. But we’re not! So here’s the good news: When someone believes in Jesus, God credits that faith as righteousness. Understand what that means? When you believe in Jesus, God looks at you and says: “You are righteous. You are perfect.” Not by what you do. By faith. That is good news!
Because here’s what that means: “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). You have peace with God. Do you see what a mystery this is? No other religion talks like this. No other religion offers peace with God through faith. Here’s how that’s possible: “At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6,8). Paul says, “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20). This is the gospel! We’re saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus.
So that means we can live however we want to, right? If we’re saved by grace, we can go out and sin all we want to, right? Aren’t we awful people? “God’s grace means I can sin more, right?” No! There’s more to the mystery of the gospel: Baptism. When you were baptized into Christ, God did something in you. You didn’t do something for God. No, when you were baptized into Christ, God did something in you. He gave you a new life. He put his Holy Spirit into your heart. Should we just keep on sinning? No! The gospel motivates us to live a new life for Christ!
But that isn’t easy. Actually, being a Christian is hard. It’s a struggle. Because being a Christian means you have two opposing forces warring inside you. You have your sinful nature, and you have the Holy Spirit. What does your sinful nature want? To sin. What does the Holy Spirit want? To do good. See the struggle? I bet you can feel it in your heart and life. Paul wrote this, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15). Sound familiar? What can we do? Listen to what Paul said: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” What did Paul need? Jesus. He needed Jesus again and again.
Have you noticed how this good news always comes back to Jesus? This is part of the mystery of the gospel. The good news is not: “Jesus gets you started, and then you need to finish the job.” The good news is not: “You better take the first step, and then Jesus will help you out.” The good news is that we depend on Jesus Christ our Savior for everything. “It does not depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (Romans 9:16). Do you realize how freeing that is? To depend on God’s grace? “In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last” (Romans 1:17). The gospel says it’s by faith from first to last.
So I guess we need faith, don’t we? How do we get faith? The Bible has to tell us, because that’s part of the mystery too. Faith doesn’t come from our decision or our human will. Instead, “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17). Where does faith come from? Hearing the message! If we can only know the gospel through hearing God’s Word, what’s the only way to have faith in the gospel? Through God’s Word. Is it all coming together? The Word creates faith in our hearts in Jesus our Savior.
Does that mean we don’t do anything? Well, we don’t do anything to save ourselves. But we have lots to do. Since we’re saved by God’s grace, Romans says, “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1). How do we say “thank you” to God for his grace? We offer our whole selves to God. Here are three things Romans says about our Christian lives: “Overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Romans 13:9). “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak” (Romans 15:1). God’s grace leads Christians to be grateful, gracious people. Grateful to God. Gracious to others.
Isn’t the gospel beautiful? The message of the Bible is truly good news! But I’ve skipped the best part, at least in my opinion. It’s Romans chapter 8. Do you have that bookmarked in your Bible? You’ll want too. It says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:31-32). What good news! God is for us! And this: “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39). Nothing can separate us from Jesus’ love. That’s the gospel!
Actually, Paul doesn’t just call it the gospel. Notice what he calls it in our lesson: “My gospel.” All of this is so personal. Sin is personal. Your sins are the biggest problem in your life. Grace is personal. God loves you! Jesus’ salvation is personal. Jesus died and rose to forgive you. Baptism and faith and new life are so personal. God gives them to you through the power of his Word. I don’t want you to leave today thinking, “I know a little bit about the gospel.” I hope you leave today believing, “This is my gospel.” This message is true for you. It’s all true for you.
And here’s how it ends. Here’s the last verse of Romans: “To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.” What is the goal of the gospel? Glory to God. That sounds like the angels, doesn’t it? “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14). When you believe the gospel, life is all about giving glory to God. That’s why we celebrate Christmas. I know you know the story. Come to give glory to God! “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” This is my gospel! Glory to God in the highest.
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