Bible Study Romans Part 34-His Righteousness

Romans 1:16–17 doesn’t flatter us, and that’s exactly why it’s such good news. When Paul says the Gospel is “the power of God unto Salvation,” we’re forced to ask what kind of power we actually need and what, exactly, we need saving from. We pick up the study again in the King James and slow down over the line that has shaken consciences for centuries: “the just shall live by faith.”

We walk through why “the righteousness of God” is not merely a beautiful trait we admire from a distance, but a righteousness God reveals and provides, a righteousness that truly satisfies His own standard. That distinction matters because standing naked in front of divine justice is not comforting, it’s terrifying. The Bible’s own imagery of the Law and the Mercy Seat helps clarify why we need more than encouragement. We also revisit Martin Luther’s story, his exhausting attempt to earn God’s smile, and the moment Romans 1:17 turned his despair into clarity.

Then we bring it home: faith is not a workaround and it’s not self-improvement. It’s receiving what Christ has done, because the Law’s penalty is real and the debt must be paid. We also challenge the modern habit of selling Christianity as a way to get a happier life, instead of the way God makes sinners righteous and reconciled to Him.

Listen, share this with someone who’s tired of trying harder, and leave a review if this study helps you see the gospel more clearly.

Transcript

Welcome And Why This Matters

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Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel. God's Word is supreme at Chapel Ministries. We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God. We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day. The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold, and we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture. Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible. It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision. Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us. It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word. We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death. In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death. Never treat what God has said lightly. There's truly nothing more important to you. Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

Returning To Romans And The Gospel

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Well, we're back in the letter to Paul's letter to the Romans. We took a couple of weeks off for various reasons. We are back now. This has been an exciting letter so far. We are starting to really get an idea of what God is doing. We're learning in a very specific way what God has been planning for us all along, since the Garden, since sin entered into the lives of human beings. The letter to the Romans is important to us Christians because we learn in it exactly what God has been doing, and it's been very informative so far. It will be, it will continue to be. We have been sort of stuck on a couple of verses. Let me go ahead and read those. Before I do, I'm going to remind you that we read out of the King James. You can read along with us if you want to, because the verses are on the screen. I do encourage you to bring a Bible with you when you come. Most of you won't have a King James version. So if you're reading along with me in your own Bible, you'll notice some differences. That's fine. The message is pretty much the same. So here we are, letter to the Romans, first chapter. I'll start in verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. For the last little bit, we've been sort of all over the place. We've talked about so many things. I feel like we're getting a little lost. But, you know, I think that is the natural way to teach from this letter. You've heard me say over and over that these introductory verses are jam-packed with doctrine. The rest of this letter will basically be pulling out each one of those little important pieces and dealing with them individually. But as Christians, we can't just gloss over these concepts. There is so much to discuss. There is so much to digest. There's so much cross-referencing with other scripture. But now the focusing is just about to begin. We have arrived at the nuts and bolts of true Christianity. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

Martin Luther’s Terror And Turning Point

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You know, one of the heroes of Christianity was Martin Luther. And like myself, Martin Luther was raised a Catholic. Like myself, Martin Luther struggled in his youth with trying to please God. We both saw God as someone who was way up there, tapping his holy foot, his holy arms folded in front of him, glaring down, waiting for us to come up with just the right formula for turning his holy frown upside down. Even now, when I think of it, it almost makes me shudder. In my youth, I could not get a sense that I was on the right track with God ever. And according to Martin Luther's own writings, he could neither. He tells us that he immersed himself in efforts to achieve a breakthrough. He wanted so desperately to prove to God his fealty that even the ordinary means didn't seem enough. It's not that he shunned his attendance at Mass or the reverence of the sacraments or the prayers to the saints or lighting candles or whatever else the church said he had to do. He did all of that, but so much more. He even decided to take on the austere lifestyle of a monk. Again, there he excelled and exceeded the rigorous requirements of that monastic order. To Luther, no amount of personal discomfort or pain was enough. It even got to the point that his friends and family worried for his life. He seemed determined to make God love him, even if it killed him. And then he came across Romans 1:17, and it changed his life and his outlook. And that eventually changed all of Christianity. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. The entire Bible was written to communicate this one thought. Now, people call this the Christian message, but my friends, if you ask me, that's too limiting. This is more than the Christian message. This is Christ's message. This is God's message to the world. The entire book, this entire book has been preparing us for this one thought. The just shall live by faith. Everything that's been communicated in the Bible is like a small puzzle piece. As you make your way through, you pick up these puzzle pieces and you place them down among all the other pieces. Slowly, in God's word, you start to see how each piece fits with another. Then you start to notice whole sections emerge, right? You you've put puzzles together before, haven't you? That's what this is like. Slowly, little portions start to build up. You do that over and over and over. And eventually the big picture is, to use Paul's own word, revealed. This is what he means. The big picture has always been there, but now God is making it all fit together. The just shall live by faith. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith. The faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

What “Righteousness Of God” Means

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So what does that mean? We got started on this discussion and then got sidetracked a few weeks ago. As I said, it's not hard to let that happen since we're dealing with so much important information. So let's talk about the righteousness of God. Now, let me start out by saying, and we're only going to touch on this, this is not an expression or a description of something that simply belongs to God. This isn't speaking of a possession of God and then nothing else. The righteousness of God, in other words, isn't referring when Paul talks about a righteousness of God, he isn't referring to an attribute of God. Yes, the righteousness of God revealed by the gospel is something that belongs to him, but it's more than that. It has to be, otherwise, the word gospel would be a nonsensical one. If all we're doing here is observing some characteristic of God, no matter how lovely, it's not really good news, is it? It's only good news if it's news that does something good for us. And let me tell you, standing in front of the righteousness of God with nothing to shield us is the opposite of good news. We can't face the righteousness of God if that's all this is, because it would consume us. That's what the Ark of the Covenant tells us. The Ark of the Covenant contains the very symbol of God's righteousness, the ten tablets of the law. It's inside the ark. And over the top of that ark, standing between us and the standard of the law is what's called a mercy seat. The job of the mercy seat is to protect us against that righteous standard of God. You know, part of Luther's confusion and fear was due to this very issue. Early on in his life, he interpreted and indeed taught that Paul's reference here, in fact, meant the attribute of righteousness that is God. Are you following me here? I know this is a difficult concept, but it's a terrifying thought. Early in Luther's life, he did not see any good news here whatsoever. In fact, he even once said, quote, this is Martin Luther, as often as I read that declaration, I wished always that God had not made the gospel known, because this fuller revelation of the righteousness of God seemed to make me utterly hopeless and helpless, and I did not know what to do with myself. The righteousness of God blocked the way. In other words, if we're staring at the righteousness of God, a righteousness that he keeps for himself, a righteousness he holds tightly to, then what possible chance do we have for salvation? This is a difficult concept. If you are raised in a religion that tells you, do this and do that, and you're going to make God happy. That is not found in the Bible. And that's what Martin Luther found out. You can't do do and do not do and get on God's good side. Eventually, Luther found out gloriously that this is not the proper interpretation of Romans 1:17. This is not a righteousness that God possesses, but rather, now listen to me, because it's almost too wonderful. I'm sure words are going to fail me. But this is a righteousness that will satisfy God. This is a righteousness that's on his approved list, if you'll forgive what seems to be irreverence. I just want us to see this for what it truly is. You see, righteousness, the only way to define righteousness is being in compliance with God's demands. If it is a righteousness that God endorses, then it's considered his righteousness. There's no other way, as I just said, to properly define that. Actually, the truth is if you describe righteousness without reference to God and what he expects, then you're not describing righteousness. You might be describing morality or socially accepted behavior or just being a good guy, but without those two requirements, that it's his and it satisfies him, then your concept of righteousness isn't righteousness at all. And that's what terrified Luther so much. To expect righteousness out of a man means in every way we have to meet God's expectations. And Luther was honest enough and knew his Bible well enough to know that that isn't possible on our own. His correct understanding of Scripture, the part he got right, told him that we, if we are born under Adam, we can do nothing that is acceptable to God because every action has before it the stain of original sin. And listen, nothing corrupted with sin can ever meet God's approval. And everything we come up with in front of it is sin. And God's not going to approve it. In fact, he won't even consider it. It doesn't make its way into God's inbox. It's rejected immediately because it's unclean. To be true righteousness, please listen to me. To be true righteousness, it has to be to God's liking. And nothing you can do, nothing on your own, will make God happy. Nothing you consider moral or right or good will make God happy with you. Because before it, in front of it, covering it is the stain of sin. We're talking about salvation. So please understand that's what we're talking about here. We're not talking about anything else. We're not talking about what you do after you're saved. We're talking about salvation. Please keep that in mind. The gospel of Christ, the power of salvation, is a righteousness, a way to satisfy God through faith. And the reason it satisfies God is because it comes from him. If it came from us, it will not satisfy him. If it comes from him, it has to meet his standards.

Faith Exchanged For Real Righteousness

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If it meets his standards and we have access to it, then we are saved. And listen to me, this is the important point. Your faith in the gospel of Christ, your reliance on it is traded by God for a righteousness. Listen, the message of the Bible, the message of the entire Bible, the law and all, is that you have no shot at any other righteousness. If you reject the one righteousness that God can give you that he will accept, you will not be saved. You cannot bring anything to God that will please him. In fact, that's why he sent his son. He doesn't want to give up on you, but he knows that you don't have what it takes. You haven't a path to righteousness in yourself. He has to give it to you. And the gospel of Christ reveals a righteousness that first is of God, so it qualifies, and it's available to you by faith, something you can do. This is God's plan of redemption. I'll say it again. The whole Bible has led to this. Some time ago, I told you Romans 1:17 was my favorite verse, and this is why. It is ground zero in the Bible. Everything has led to this. Isn't that what Paul put in the beginning of this letter? The gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in holy writings, the whole book, the whole Bible is one big promise about this righteousness that God revealed from faith to faith. Oh, I see. So God sort of, you know, gave us special treatment. He fudged the numbers, if you will. He came up with a with a workaround so he could so he could make us able to come into his presence through some side entrance. Not in the least. Nothing is more important to God than his word. And and in this sense, I'm not referring necessarily to just what he's put in the Bible. When I say his word, I don't mean scripture. To me, scripture is the record of his word, but what I am saying is nothing is more important to God than what he says. Nothing is more important to him, whether it's written down or not, than what he says. Once he says something, then he does everything he can to protect what he said and preserve it and see it through. Listen to how God put this to Jeremiah the prophet, chapter 1, verse 12. Then said the Lord unto me, this is Jeremiah speaking, then the Lord said unto me, Thou hast well seen, for I will hasten my word to perform it. God said it even more strongly to the prophet Isaiah, chapter 55, verse 11. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Once he said it, that's it. Whatever he said becomes all important. And he said that if we sin, we shall surely die. That is God's justice. By sin comes death. He will never turn his back on his word and his justice, no matter what the cost. He said to satisfy his justice, sin must be paid for with death. And therefore, as Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones puts it, the gospel is as much concerned about righteousness as the law was. Listen to me, this is an important point. The gospel defeats death, not the law. To make this point, Jesus once said, Matthew 5, 17, think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. There's nothing that is further from the truth. Listen, our only hope, the only hope for any of us when we come face to face with God is that we're righteousness. And listen to me, we will all come face to face with God one day. That's why we carry with us the gospel when we go. You know why, right? Because therein is a righteousness of God. Isn't that what Paul said in verses 16 and 17? And I'm not going to read it because I'm sure you know it by heart. The gospel is not something to be ashamed of, Lito Tes. The gospel is something to shout and jump around about because therein is a right. Righteousness, not just any righteousness, any righteousness that isn't of God, first of all, isn't righteousness. And no matter what it is, it won't do. It doesn't work. Therein, in the gospel is a righteousness of God revealed, uncovered, shown to us. In the gospel, this righteousness comes to light from faith to faith, because God has said, all along, the just shall live by faith. By faith we are given a righteousness of God. Now, this is going to come up again and again, but I'm bringing it up here because it's so incredible. This righteousness given to us by God for our faith is actually a judgment. When Jesus died for you and you accepted that fact, God passed a sentence of righteousness on you, and that means you're righteous, right? Didn't we just cover that? When God says it, it's so. When you accepted Christ, he said, God said, that's it, you're righteous, and so you are. From that point forward, God doesn't see you as anything else. That can't change because he's already said it. Not even you can change that. Even though I was a murderer in my past, your past doesn't exist anymore. Even though I've sinned a thousand times since my conversion, well, you shouldn't have done that, work on it. But yes, what you did didn't matter, therefore, what you do doesn't matter. If your old sins couldn't affect your righteous judgment, your current ones can't either. Now, I'm not telling it to go ahead and sin. I'm just saying, once you've sinned after you've been saved, it doesn't change anything because you had nothing to do with it in the first place. Work on it because when you sin, you're not going to enjoy your salvation. You're not going to be a light for God. You're not going to glorify your Savior. So stop doing that. But it isn't going to change your salvation. It's going to change the way the world sees you, and that's bad. Christ will not be honored when you're a sinner, but it isn't going to change your salvation. And if you're not selfish, which I hope you're not, then that should matter to you. It should matter that your Savior, the one that died and bled for you, is dishonored by your sin. I'm getting off track. Because God said, due to Christ's work on your behalf, you are righteous, actually, factually, forensically righteous. You know, sometimes I say you're righteous in God's eyes. Well, I don't want to say that here because that statement almost infers that outside of God's eyes, you could be something else. And you're not. You are righteous, and that's it. If you've done what God said to do,

Accepting The Gift And True Assurance

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which is believe on my son, then you are righteous. You aren't until then. Let me just make that clear. Because he died doesn't automatically make you righteous. There's one thing you have to do, and that's accept it. I've said this before. If Catherine bought me a movie ticket and I never take it from her, I'm not getting into the movies. It doesn't change the fact that that ticket's been bought for me, that my right to go into the theater is there, but if I don't accept it from her, I won't get in. I can't walk up to the ticket taker and say, my wife bought me the ticket. Can I go in? No, I'm sorry. I need to see proof of that. When you accept Christ, when you have that righteousness in your possession, because you've accepted it by faith, then you're allowed in. You're righteous. That's it. That's what the gospel has done for you. Well, John, I don't feel righteous. Doesn't come into it. I try to tell my unbelieving wife that I'm righteous, she doesn't believe it. Doesn't matter if the whole world declares you unrighteous for life for all time, because God has said it, then you're righteous. When God said, Let there be light, that was no more of a reality than when he said you are righteous. When he told Adam, you shall surely die, that happened. When he said that when you believed in the gospel, you're righteous, that happened. The sun in the sky, warming the earth, is no less real than your righteousness. In fact, that sun is going to disappear one day, but your righteousness won't. Job asked the question long, long ago, but how should man be just with God? You see, the real question is not a question about man, it's a question about God. How can God reconcile mankind and stay just? Listen to me, my friends. Ultimately, your justness is not important to God. His justness is. He wants to be reconciled with us, but not at the expense of himself. Now, this may not make you very happy, but you're not God's biggest priority. He is, followed by his son, then his spirit, then you. That's the hierarchy. Now, before you hardliners start throwing things at me, I am being a little dramatic here. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, so they are all three taking the top priority spot, but I'm sure you knew that's what I meant. The point is, there is no such thing as reconciliation at all costs. There is a limitation to what God is offering you. There are conditions, as there are in any covenant. This is the covenant of righteousness. Whatever God has already spent is all he'll ever spend. The budget to save you has been capped, which is fine because it won't take anything else. Once Jesus offered his holy life, all fees were paid. The ransom was satisfied. John, this is all

The Gospel Is Not Self-Help

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lovely, but why are we spending so much time on this? Because I want to see your salvation, God's righteousness given to you by faith for what it is. This isn't offered to you so you can be happy. It's going to do that. But listen to me, your mere happiness cheapens the blood he spilled, if that's all it was for. This isn't meant to just get you out of the troubles you find yourself in. Those are the kinds of things the modern church world dangles in front of you to entice you to come forward, to sign your commitment card, to become a member, a tithe-paying member of your church. Life got you down, struggling with addictions, can't find a job, finding love in all the wrong places, try Jesus. Of course, he does all of that, but those are the outcomes of something far more important. The trouble is we don't know what trouble we're in. You think your trouble is that you're unhappy. You think your trouble is you're a crackhead. You think your trouble is that you're in a bad marriage. And listen, I'm not minimizing the impact of those things on you. Those difficulties are real and they're painful, but they're nothing compared to the real trouble you're in. Your actual problem is you are defenseless in the presence of a just God. And again, your ignorance of that is not your fault. You've been poorly taught. Your preachers will, for instance, take a wonderful verse like 2 Corinthians 5.16, wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know him we no more. They'll turn that beautiful passage into something about overcoming racism. A horizontal application of a divine proclamation. They'll tell you that the babe in the manger has come to bring peace in the world, all the while ignoring what Jesus Himself said about 30 years after that manger, Matthew 10, 34. Listen, think not that I am come to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Why do you think the world is disgusted by your point of view? They'll tell you you're disgusting to find that depiction of the Lord's Supper offensive. They say, How dare you say that? That means you're intolerant. They hate what you think. Jesus did that to you. He brought you a viewpoint of the world that they hate. That means there will be no peace on earth. Christ came to bring us peace with God, with the Father, but he brought us a sword against the earth. Verse 36, and a man's foe shall be that of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Jesus is come to make your life easier. Wrong. He came to give you a cross, Matthew 10, 38. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. Now remember, he's taken his cross in front of you. He said, Take your cross and follow him. He's not doing anything that he doesn't expect, he's not expecting you to do anything that he's not doing up in front of you. Verse 39, he that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. Jesus lived a perfect life, died a horrible death, and sailed out of a sealed tomb, not just so you can straighten things out at home with the missus. He came to make available to you a way to straighten out your life with God. Because that's what's broken. That's the real trouble you're in. Without the gospel, which is the power of God, you are simply unacceptable. And I'm being a little polite there. You are simply damned. Without the power of God, you are already damned. That's what God's word tells us. But I'm such a nice guy. Unacceptable. I call the bingo numbers every Wednesday night, and Father Jerry says, I'm a big help. Unacceptable. My son's on the faculty of Moody Institute. If you or he haven't seen the power of God, which is the gospel, and applied it to yourselves, then both of you remain unacceptable. We humans just don't know what real success is. We think it's a good retirement at 55, peaceful borders, universal health care, lots of walking trails, and good public transportation. If you talk to most Western Europeans, that's how they see things. That's how they list success stories. They say, you know, we were once in constant warfare, but now we decided to make quality of life our top priority. And their churches have been slowly emptying ever since. Once they made this world their priority, who needs the next? Most of their beautiful churches are nothing more than cold, lifeless tourist destinations now. Okay, crime is down. Okay, job satisfaction is up. I suppose people are healthier than they've been in decades, and yet their souls are barren. You don't believe me? Watch the Olympics opening ceremony again. Upside down priorities. Getting along in this life has become far more important than getting into the next. The devil has convinced them of that. And oh boy, has he been successful. Try and preach the gospel over there now, and they'll run you out of town. Politely, of course. The purpose of the gospel's arrival among us is to give us a righteousness, a righteousness of God, a way that we can stand just before Him and nothing else. Other wonderful things result, but Mr. Preacher, Mr. Minister, stop putting the cart before the horse, because if your congregation doesn't understand the reason for the cross, they'll never achieve what you claim the cross does for them. If you don't convince them that they need that cross to avoid death, meaning separation from God for eternity, if you don't convince them of how important that is, then they'll never be truly happy, and they'll bring dishonor on God's true plan. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein is a righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. The just shall be happy by faith, shall have a good marriage by faith, lots of friends by faith, good job, addiction-free life by faith. That's not what it says. The focus is survival, spiritual survival. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Jesus Pays The Debt The Law Demands

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If you think your faith is going to give you peace with this world, or riches in this world, or more friends in this world, then you have an incomplete view of your justification. Your faith, as revealed by God, your faith in the gospel will lead to a righteousness of God for you that will allow you, as one who is now just to live. But how does it do this? How does faith make us just and allow us to live? Well, the answer is the gospel. The gospel is the power of God, and it reveals a righteousness of God, which is made possible, made available through the death, the sacrifice of his son. Because Jesus took the punishment of our sin on himself. We can be just when we believe that. And we live by the power of God, revealing a righteousness given to us by faith in that death, faith in that sacrifice, faith in that effort to pay for something we couldn't pay for. You see, one of God's basic rules is by sin comes death. Paul describes it elsewhere as sin bringing death. Death is our lot. We die because of our sin. Listen, sinners must pay with death. The wages of sin are death. You've heard that? Your faith, your reliance on the gospel leads to you being sin free when you trust that somebody else has done something for you you can't do that leads to a sin-free life. That's the righteousness that God has revealed through that gospel. And that righteousness is given to you by faith. Being sin free then makes you just in God's eyes and everywhere else, because the justness, the righteousness of God, which makes you just was given to you due to the fact that Jesus paid with his death that which you owed. When that happened, because that happened, you'll live. Because you have been made just by the power of God, which is the gospel. He paid your debt, and you believe it. I took that ticket from Catherine, put it in my pocket. Now I can walk through and watch the movie. The buying it wasn't the last step. That's where the Christian church has got it wrong. The Christian church says, well, he died for us all, so we all can walk through. That's found nowhere in the Bible. And your church tells you that so that you'll keep coming back. This ministry, we keep losing followers. Can you believe on YouTube? Our numbers are going down because we're preaching from the first letter of Paul to the Romans that says you have to believe in order to be righteous. People don't like that. They leave this ministry because of it. If you believe that Christ paid your debt, then God clears it. He clears that debt and gives you what you need to be in his presence once again, a righteousness of his. That's been the plan since the garden. When Jesus came, lived, and died, that plan became fully implemented and ready to be adopted and applied by faith. Before all of that, the law hung over us like a sharp-edged sword, waiting to slice us to pieces. I put waiting in my notes, but the truth is it was slowly chopping us to pieces from the day we were born. The law was tearing us apart. We were not complete until we accepted Christ. Through his earthly life, Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of that chopping up law. Please understand that. Therefore, what else could the law ask for? If the law was satisfied, what more could it ask? Once anything has been satisfied, what else can you do? Nothing can be added to something that's been satisfied. Once the highest penalty of any law has been paid, it's paid. If you were a murderer and you got it sent to the electric chair, they won't unbury your body and punish you again. It's done. They can't do anything more to you. What once held us captive for ransom, we've now been freed from because Jesus gave it what it wanted. It wanted death for our sins. So he gave that to it. That's why we go to the table of the Lord. That's not what we're doing today, but that's what we celebrate when we go to communion. We celebrate the shed blood on our behalf. The law can no longer come for us since it has what it's wanted. This is the gospel, and the gospel gave God what He wanted in order to reveal a righteousness that he could give to us in exchange for our faith. Sin was not going to defeat God. Nothing will defeat God. So we had a plan in place, and that plan was a righteousness revealed by faith. The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Can you now see why God decided to

Closing Words And How To Connect

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call it good news? Of course you can. What comforts me is that we'll be good, we'll be going over this again and again in even more detail. You may not like to hear that, but that's what we're going to be doing as we move through this letter. Listen, if you if you haven't cared for what I've said so far, your mood's not going to improve. But I'm asking you to stick with it. Let all of this sink in. After all, this is your eternity. Anyhow, we're back at it next time. Please join us if you can.

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We hope this study has blessed you. God's word is a great treasure, and it's our belief that a thorough, purposeful study of it will bring all of God's children to an understanding of his eternal plan of redemption. It is our prayer that this will be so for all of our listeners. Please join us again soon. New content is being added all the time, so make sure you check back often. For more information on Chapel Ministries, including our YouTube channel and podcasts, please visit www.chapelontheweb.com. And if God has laid it upon your heart to share materially with us, we encourage you to follow the links to our Secure Giving page. Please note, Chapel Ministries is not an IRS registered nonprofit organization, and your donations to this program are not tax deductible. It's our hope that you do not rely on taxing authorities to decide for you who is worthy of your generosity.