We are memorizing the Word of God together, one
verse per week. If you do not have a copy of
our memory verses, the first four that we're
memorizing, you can get a three -by -five card
out in the bookstore. Those are free. And you
can find out the verses we're memorizing and
have before you, conveniently, the translation
that we're memorizing from. It is the New International
Version, and it's a little different than...
the translations maybe that you've memorized
from in the past. I want to tell you that if
you have a hard time making that change, just
don't worry about it. The important thing is
to hide God's Word in your heart, not necessarily
the translation that you're using. So if you
find it hard to make the transition into the
NIV, particularly with a verse that you've memorized
out of the King James or some other version,
then just say the verse out of the King James
Version when we say it together. If you see it
a little differently than we do, we're not going
to mind a bit. The important thing is to hide
God's word in your heart. Today's verse is Romans
1 .17, so let's say it together. Romans 1 .17.
For in the gospel a righteousness from God is
revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from
first to last, just as it is written, the righteous
will live by faith. Now, there was a misprint
on the card this week. I apologize. Someone didn't
proofread that carefully enough. It says, the
righteous will live by faith. That's the way
that last quote from Habakkuk should read, even
in the NIV. Last part of our text for today,
I'm going to ask you to turn in your New Testament
to Romans chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, and get
the outline out of your worship folder so that
you can follow along with us. Romans chapter
1, verses 16 and 17. I am not ashamed of the
gospel, because it is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes, first for
the Jew and then for the Gentile. For in the
gospel a righteousness from God is revealed,
a righteousness that is by faith from first to
last, just as it is written, The righteous will
live by faith. In verse 16, we have the third
of three I am's spoken by the Apostle Paul. He
says in verse 14, I am obligated both to Greeks
and non -Greeks, to the wise and the foolish.
Considered himself a debtor to all men because
of the gospel that he possessed and the need
that all men have for that saving message. In
verse 15, the second I am. He says, that's why
I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you
who are at Rome. Some of them may have wondered
why Paul had delayed in coming. After all, he
had been an apostle now for a number of years.
He had covered thousands of miles in his missionary
journeys and had never visited them in Rome.
He did not found the church there. They were
in existence as a church for about 20 years by
this time. Apparently, some of the people had
been saved at Pentecost, went back to Rome, and
began to share their new faith with others, and
the church was founded that way. But Paul had
never visited them, so he assures them, I'm eager
to come to you. But as he explained in our text
last week, he had been hindered from coming to
them thus far. Some of them may have wondered,
though, if Paul was a little embarrassed or timid
about the gospel. After all, Rome was a showplace
of human achievement, of human glory and power.
It was the seat of the greatest political and
military might in the world. Its leading citizen,
Caesar, was proclaimed deity. So there may have
been some who wondered if Paul was a bit ashamed
of the gospel that he preached. Did his message
have no prestige to it? After all, he could point
to no beautiful, magnificent temple and suggest
that that was the place to worship. In his book
on Romans, Warren Wiersbe has this good paragraph.
By the way, we have several of his books on Romans
out there in the bookstore, and I recommend them
to you. It says, Rome was a proud city, and the
gospel came from Jerusalem, the capital city
of one of the little nations that Rome had conquered.
The Christians in that day were not among the
elite of society. They were common people, even
slaves. Rome had known many great philosophers
and philosophies. I pay attention to a fable
about a Jew who rose from the dead. Christians
looked upon each other as brothers and sisters,
all one in Christ, which went against the grain
of Roman pride and dignity. To think of a little
Jewish tentmaker going to Rome to preach us a
message. is almost humorous. Well, maybe that's
what was in the mind of these people. And yet
Paul writes to tell them, I am not ashamed of
the gospel. Lenski suggests that that is probably
a Latodes here. He is saying, actually, I am
proud of the gospel when he says, I am not ashamed.
It was his boast, in fact, it was the only boast
that he had. You know, we are warned by our Lord
Jesus. of being ashamed of him. Turn back with
me to the Gospel of Luke, to chapter 9, and notice
this warning by our Lord in verse 26. These are
thought -provoking words, and I frankly am not
sure that I understand the full import of them
after having studied them. But he says, if anyone
is ashamed of me and my words, The Son of Man
will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory
and in the glory of the Father and of the holy
angels. Our Lord warns us about having an attitude
of shame regarding him or his words. That is
why the Apostle warns Timothy in his second letter
to that young preacher, chapter 1 and verse 8.
So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord,
or ashamed of me, his prisoner. And he testifies
regarding himself, I am not ashamed because I
know whom I have believed, and am convinced that
he is able to guard what I have entrusted to
him for that day. Apparently Timothy, because
of his timid nature, tended to be reticent to
share his faith. to proclaim it boldly. And so
Paul exhorts him not to be ashamed of the Lord
or of the gospel, even as he, Paul, was not ashamed.
We should never be ashamed of the gospel. The
Apostle Paul gives us the reasons for that in
these verses that we've read this morning. Why
we should never be ashamed of the gospel. Reason
number one, because of its origin. You know,
when you have a message that originates with
a high authority, you don't have to be ashamed
of it. Can you imagine a football player coming
into the huddle after talking with the coach
in the sidelines and sheepishly keeping quiet,
even though the coach had given him a play to
give to the team? The players would say, what
did he say? What did he say? And the player would
say, well, it's too embarrassing to tell. Now,
can you imagine a player being on a team very
long? who had that kind of an attitude? For that
matter, can you imagine an ambassador from a
country getting a message from headquarters and
then failing to deliver it to the embassy in
the country where he was assigned? Such a thing
is unthinkable. An ambassador has a high office.
When he receives a message from his country,
he has full authority to declare that message,
and he does so confidently. And boldly. Right
now we have ambassadors from both Argentina and
Britain in Washington. And even though the two
of them are in conflict, they are not afraid
to speak boldly their point of view before our
embassy, before our State Department. Why? Because
they have a message with authority from their
own country. They are not ashamed. Moses was
not ashamed either. when he went into the court
of Pharaoh and delivered the message of the Lord
to let the Jews go from their captivity. Nor
was Nathan ashamed when God sent him into the
courtroom of David the king and told him to lay
before David the charge of David's sin. Nathan
did that boldly. Daniel wasn't ashamed either.
As he stood before Belshazzar and delivered to
him the final message from God, which said, You
are weighed in the balance and found wanting.
The kingdom is taken away from you tonight. Can
you imagine a man even who had an office, as
Daniel did, saying that to such a despot, such
a sovereign as Belshazzar? And yet he did that.
When you have a message that originates... With
a high authority, you don't have to be ashamed
of it. And you see, the gospel that we possess
has the highest authority possible because its
authority is God. Its origin is God. Caesar worship
was prominent in the day when Paul wrote this
message. And his messengers were not ashamed
to represent him throughout the empire. After
all, they were the messengers of Caesar, the
deity, they thought. And so, Paul is saying to
the people who believe in the true God, I am
not ashamed, and by implication, nor should you
be. The gospel was not a hybrid message which
originated with him. Rather, it was the good
news of God. It was the good news of his provision,
his only provision for man's sin. And that's
why the apostle makes that statement, I am not
ashamed. because of the origin of the message.
There's a second reason, I think, that he says,
I am not ashamed, and that is because of the
character of the message that he preached. He
says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it
is the power of God. Now, power was an important
concept in Rome. The Greek had their philosophies,
but Rome had her military might. She had legions
of soldiers stationed around the empire to keep
in check any possible rebellion against Rome's
rule. And beyond that, Rome had tremendous political
power. I suppose the city of Rome was like any
capital city of an empire. It was filled with
intrigue and political maneuvering. This is somewhat
revealed in the... work by Shakespeare entitled
Julius Caesar, which many of us have read, and
we see the power struggle behind the scenes and
how that was played out. It's inevitably that
way in a capital city. Power is important. I
spoke with one of our church members who was
in a meeting Friday at the Pentagon, a breakfast,
and he said that he was absolutely amazed at
all the brass that was there from the Pentagon.
most of whom claimed a personal faith in Jesus
Christ. What a tremendous encouragement that
is. He had dinner with a senator the night before
and was with these people of great power. Power
is important in Washington, and thank God there
are Christians who are there representing the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Paul is writing to people
who are in the capital city where this is the
mentality. Paul did not shrink to deliver his
message there because this message has no greater
power than it itself. The good news which he
proclaimed was not just another message or philosophy.
It was no less than the power of God by which
he saves. It's the declaration of the only good
news that there is for the sinner. The good news
that God has made provision for his sin through
Christ. The gospel is not an ethic. It is not
an ideal, as some people seem to think. But the
gospel is power. That is its essence. And that's
why Paul was unashamed of it. Griffith Thomas
said, Christianity is the great moral and spiritual
dynamic. and this, as contrasted with other religions,
is one of its unique characteristics. It is not
merely an ideal or an ethic, though it possesses
both, but in addition and primarily it is a dynamic
which enables us to realize the ideal and reproduce
the ethic. Nothing short of the power of God
can suffice to make even one Christian. That's
what the gospel is. It's the power of God. Now
what does that mean? Is this the omnipotence
of God? That word means his all -powerfulness,
his all -mightiness. Is that the power spoken
of here? Really, I don't think so. Because you
see, God's omnipotence could not save one person.
I believe that the power that is spoken of here
is the power of God's grace. Because it is grace
which provides the means whereby the sinner can
be brought to God. That means being the death,
burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The power of the gospel is not in its logic,
but rather in its dynamic. Its ability to change
people. Its ability to change relationships.
Ask the wife who knew what it was to be abused
and mistreated by a drunkard husband to then
seize her husband gloriously saved and the change
that it makes in his life and consequently the
change that is made in that relationship between
the two of them. The gospel is the power of God.
It is God's dynamic. It changes the way people
think. Before a person is converted, he dislikes
God. He has small ideas of God. He loves himself
and thinks himself a pretty good guy. When a
person comes to understand he's a sinner, that
he needs Christ and trusts Christ, his whole
way of thinking has changed. Instead of a small
God, he suddenly realizes that God is big. Instead
of seeing himself as big, he sees himself as
small and unworthy, and sees God as glorious
and great and holy. The gospel changes the way
a person thinks. There are people who have denied
the resurrection of Christ, but who then, upon
studying it and trying to refute it, have found
their minds changed. The gospel is the power
of God to change thinking. It is the power of
God to change desires. I well remember the young
man that I had the privilege of baptizing about
ten years ago who had been saved out of a drug
culture. He had tried every kind of drug there
was. His mind at that time was only beginning
to be healed. It was like scrambled eggs, frankly,
up to that point. He was not able to think very
clearly at all. I remember when we were in the
baptistry and I said, Tucker, have you trusted
Jesus Christ as your Savior? He said, Amen, I
sure have. Only time I've ever had that response
in all the years. And it was amazing to see how
God changed his desires. He no longer wanted
to live the wild, profligate kind of life that
he had known. He wanted to serve God. And his
goal was still to serve God full time in medicine.
The gospel is the power of God. It is not demonstrated
by arguments, but by what it does in changing
the life. That's why Paul says what he does in
the first chapter of 1 Corinthians. I remind
you of verses 17 and 18 of that chapter, where
he says, For Christ did not send me to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with words of human
wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of
its power. Chapter 2, now verse 1. When I came
to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence
or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the
testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing
while I was with you except Jesus Christ and
him crucified. I came to you in weakness and
fear and with much trembling. My message and
my preaching were not with wise and persuasive
words. but with demonstration of the Spirit's
power, so that your faith might not rest on men's
wisdom, but on God's power. You see, that's why
the gospel made Paul unashamed, because there
was power with it. He could go to the most power
-filled city in the world in that day and proudly
proclaim a gospel because it was the power, not
of men or of military might, but the gospel of
the power of God. There's a third reason why
Paul was unashamed of the gospel, and that is
found in the word salvation, its purpose. He
says, I am not ashamed of the gospel because
it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone
who believes. Salvation is a big word. It's a
broad word. It encompasses a lot. It embraces
all aspects of God's work in and for the repentant
sinner. It is both an act and a process. By that
I mean we are saved at one point of time, but
after that the saving work of God continues to
deliver us from the power of sin. So it's both
an act that's instantaneous, but then it's a
process that grows after that and continues on
in the life. It is proper to speak of salvation
as being in three tenses. One can say, I have
been saved, and be right. He can say, I am being
saved, and he's right. And he can say, I will
be saved, and he's right. Because you see, we
have been saved from the penalty of sin at that
moment that we believed on Christ and trusted
him. Our arrival in heaven is guaranteed from
that moment on. We have been saved. And right
now I am being saved from the power of sin in
me, in my mortal body. I am being saved by the
resurrection life of Christ. I am being saved
now from sin's power. And I will be saved someday
from the very presence of sin. to be in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That's the
whole purpose of the gospel, that men and women,
boys and girls, might be saved. When you talk
about someone being saved, there is a connotation
with that. It means that there is something to
be saved from. It connotes a present danger of
some sort. One does not talk about being saved
unless he is in trouble. And of course, the sinner
is in trouble. He is dominated by the power of
sin. He is helpless in sin. And he is moving
toward a Christless eternity. His destiny is
eternal misery and separation from God. The sinner
is in the deepest kind of trouble that one can
be in. And that's why the word salvation, or
the verb save, is such a wonderful word. Because
it means rescue. It's a word for a lost person.
It's a word for a helpless person. It is a word
that means I have no power in myself to save
myself. It means no effort of my own can rescue
me. It means I have no merit to give me standing
before God. No merit in myself, that is. There's
a word that puts me in the right place and puts
God in his right place. This word salvation.
That's the purpose of the gospel. And that's
one reason that Paul was not ashamed to declare
that message. Because there were people in Rome
who needed this message. Just as there are people
in that office where you work or in that dorm
where you live. Or that gas station where you
fill up with gas. There are people all around
us, folks, who need to be saved. And many of
them do not even realize the danger they're in.
They may understand the emptiness and the frustration
of life. They may sense the purposelessness.
of their living at the present time, but they
may not fully understand the immortal, the eternal,
rather, danger that they are in and their need
to be saved. Paul understood that. I hope that
you and I understand that and that it will make
us bold proclaimers of the gospel so that we
are not ashamed of the gospel. The apostle then
shares a fourth reason as to why he was not ashamed
of the gospel. It's because of the scope of the
gospel. He says it is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes. And then
he says first for the Jew and then for the Gentile.
The scope of the gospel is at the same time individual
and universal. It is an individual message so
that every person must respond, and yet it is
a universal message that is for everyone. There
is no one who is beyond the limit of being savable.
Anyone can hear the good news, and all who will
may respond in faith and believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and the saving of their soul. Paul
was unashamed of this message because it was
for everybody. It wasn't for a certain class.
The gospel that we preach is not just for Americans.
It's not just for the white race. It is not just
for the English -speaking world. This gospel
that we preach is for all men everywhere. There
is no reason for us to be reticent or embarrassed
or timid to share it because it is for all men.
It is for the student at the university, but
it is as well for the professor at the university.
It is for that person who's under you in the
office, but it's as well for the president of
your corporation. Regardless of position at work
or in society or in race or intellect, the gospel
is for all men. All men need it. And because
of that broad scope, it's for everybody, we need
not be ashamed to declare it. The apostle says
it is first for the Jew and then for the Gentile.
I do not think that Paul is saying here that
that is now to be our preference, that is, that
we are to preach to the Jews in a community and
then go to the Gentiles in a community. I think
what he's reflecting here is... The simple fact
that chronologically this was true. This message
of the gospel was first declared to the Jews.
The Lord Jesus Christ was a Jew. He lived in
Palestine among his people. He died and rose
again in Jerusalem. He showed himself to his
believers there in Israel. It was there in Jerusalem
that he told his disciples to tarry. until the
Holy Spirit would come. It was there that he
said to them that they were to be his witnesses
both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria
and to the uttermost parts of the earth. But
he made it clear they were to start where they
were in Jerusalem and then move out. And so the
gospel was for the Jew first in that sense. And
then it is somewhat true also... in Paul's ministry.
Historically, Paul went, in his early ministry
at least, to the Jews first in the towns where
he visited. That was a logical, natural thing
for him to do as a completed Jew. He would simply
find the nearest synagogue and begin to share
his faith and to reason with the Jews there.
And then if the Jews received his message fine,
but if they did not, he would turn to the Gentiles
in the city. The thing that we need to gather
from this is the fact that now there is no difference
in God's sight between Jew and Gentile. There
was a time when the Jew was close to God and
the Gentile was far off. But now both Jew and
Gentile are brought near through the blood of
Christ. They are both on equal footing before
God. There is no difference. In fact, that very
statement is used at least a couple of times
in this book. Draw your attention to chapter
3, verse 22, where the apostle says, This righteousness
from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ
to all who believe. There is no difference, for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God and are justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. There's
no difference now between Jew and Greek or Gentile.
Then again in chapter 10, in verse 12, he says
the same thing. For there is no difference between
Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all,
and richly blesses all who call upon him. For
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will
be saved. And so again he emphasizes the scope
of the gospel. It's for all men. Are you burdened
about that? Are you willing to go down to the
sections of our Twin Cities that are poverty
-stricken and to share the gospel there? To go
to those minority areas where it may even be
a little bit dangerous and there to share your
faith? The gospel is for them, too. It is for
the Indian and the black and the white alike.
There is no difference. And we need not be reticent
or ashamed to share the gospel with anyone. There
is a fifth reason that Paul gives in our text
for not being ashamed of the gospel. It's because
of its condition. He says it's the power of God
for the salvation of everyone who believes. And
then in verse 17, in the gospel, a righteousness
from God is revealed, a righteousness that is
by faith. From first to last. That is, it begins
by faith, and that faith grows and carries one
through the Christian life until he stands before
God. From first to last, the condition of our
relationship to God is faith. It is the power
of God to everyone who believes this message.
Hearing the message is not enough. One must believe
on it. Faith is the only condition. in the bible
for receiving salvation baptism is not added
to faith as a means whereby one is saved in fact
you may have noticed in first corinthians 1 that
we read a few moments ago paul said i thank god
i baptized none of you for god did not send me
to baptize but to preach the gospel and he makes
it very clear that the baptism and the gospel
are two different things all together One does
not have to believe on Christ and join the church
to be saved. One does not have to believe on
Christ and then live a good life to keep saved.
You see, our relationship to God is based on
one thing and one alone, and that is faith. There
is not any efficacy or merit in the act of believing.
Faith itself is not a work. Faith is a reliance
upon God's promise and his provision for sin.
Faith is not a mystical feeling that we get.
It's an act of the will. It is a choice to trust
God. Someone has said, it's the hand of the heart.
It's the heart, in other words, reaching out
to receive from God. Godet has written these
words in his commentary on Romans. Faith, in
Paul's sense, is something extremely simple,
such that it does not in the least impair the
freeness of salvation. God says, I give thee.
The heart answers, I accept. Such is faith. That's
all there is to it. Faith is simply receiving
what God offers. It is not working to merit it.
It is not doing something to impress God. It
is simply saying, Lord, I receive the gift. That's
it. It's that simple. And I'm glad that it is,
because that means that even a child can receive
it. Or someone has said, God has put the cookies
down on this lower shelf so that even a child
can get into the can and get some. You see, God
has made salvation very, very simple. Oh, in
what Christ did for us, there is complex and
deep truth. But receiving the gift of salvation
is extremely simple. It is but to receive what
God offers. That's the only condition. You see,
and Paul was proud to proclaim that kind of a
gospel. The pagan religions taught that you had
to go through certain rituals and offer up sacrifices
and worship Caesar and do this and that and the
other thing. And even when you died, you did
not know whether or not you were in right relationship
to their gods. Paul is saying, look, I have a
message to declare to you that even a child can
understand and believe. It's simple. All you
have to do is believe it and trust. God's provision
for your sins, and you can know that you're saved.
Paul was not ashamed to declare that kind of
a message. And then there is a sixth reason why
he was unashamed, and that's because of the outcome
of the gospel. The outcome is found in the fact
that man is made right with God. He says in the
gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed.
He does not really say the righteousness of God,
which would be God's attribute of righteousness,
but what he has in mind here is that righteousness
that God gives to men. Verse 17 is the logical
explanation of the reason why Christ's death,
burial, and resurrection is the power of God
and the salvation. It is the means by which God
is able to effect the new birth in a person.
A person hears the gospel, that seed is planted
in his heart, and the Spirit of God gives it
life. So he is born again into God's family.
Because of the outcome of the gospel, Paul is
not ashamed of it. He says, a righteousness that
is by faith from first to last, just as it is
written, the righteous will live by faith. I
think there's a better... of that last quotation
from Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 4. This is a
more literal Greek translation when he says,
The righteous by faith shall live. The righteous
by faith shall live. You see, there are two kinds
of righteousness in the world. There is faith
righteousness, and then there is works, It is
only faith righteousness that will get us to
heaven. Works righteousness refers to the righteousness
that I try to produce out of myself. It's the
good deeds that I do to try to impress God that
I'm a pretty good guy and worthy to be led into
heaven. I'm worthy somehow to receive eternal
life. That's works righteousness. It is righteousness
based on my works and what I do because I am
moral or I am kind or I am sharing or whatever.
That's works righteousness. What does God think
about that? He tells us. In Isaiah 64, 6, he
says that all our righteousnesses, our righteousnesses
are like filthy rags. That's God's evaluation.
Why is that? Because all of the good things I
can do can never measure up to the perfect righteousness
that God demands for me to enter into heaven.
God demands perfect righteousness or perfect
conformity to him to enter into heaven, and I
can't do that in myself. I'm a sinner, and so
are you. And so God has very graciously provided
for me righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. And when I, by faith, receive Christ,
he gives me this righteousness, faith righteousness.
God knows that I can never work to get to heaven.
And so he sees me believe in Christ, and he counts
my faith as righteousness. He sees me repent
of my sin, so he pardons my sin, but he does
more than that. He gives to me the perfect righteousness
of Christ, so that when God sees me, he sees
me in Christ. He sees me in Christ's righteousness,
and I am perfectly acceptable to him. That's
how a person is saved, and I want to ask you
the question, if you're trusting... in that kind
of righteousness to get your soul to heaven?
Or are you trusting works righteousness still?
This is to no avail. Works righteousness will
never accomplish it. The only way to heaven is
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and receiving
that gift of righteousness that God has provided
for you through Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.
I'm unashamed to tell you that today because
the outcome of this message may be the salvation
of somebody who's sitting right here today. I
was talking to a friend yesterday who recently
was flying back from Europe. He sat down on the
airplane and prayed that God would put somebody
beside him to whom he could speak about the Lord.
And there was a... young lady that sat down.
He struck up a conversation with her and asked
her what she believed, and she said, I don't
know what to believe. He said, would you like
to know what to believe? She said, I sure would.
He said, no one's ever told me what to believe.
And he got out his Bible, and for the next two
hours, they were flying across the Atlantic Ocean.
He had the opportunity to share with her what
I just shared with you about God providing salvation
for us through Christ. We can never make it on
our own, but that we can be saved by simply trusting
Christ. It came down to the end of their discussion.
He said, do you understand now what to believe?
She said, yes, I think I understand it now. He
said, well, then would you like to become a Christian?
She said, I don't know what to do. He said, well,
you could just pray a very simple prayer and
receive Christ. He said, I'll show you. And so
he led her then in praying a very simple prayer,
and she received Christ and eternal life. In
the midst of all that bustle of lunch being served,
she received Christ. Well, the plane went on
to New York, and they landed. And they were separated
then, customs. And this friend of mine who had
learned of Christ is in his 80s. He was way at
the end of the line. His luggage was almost the
last coming off the plane. He's like most of
us, I suppose. It seems that way at least. And
this young lady was clear at the front of the
line. And she looked back almost a half a block
and saw him. She came back and said, Cal, I'd
like you to come up and take my place in line.
I'll come back here and take your place. He said,
oh, no, I couldn't do that. All these people
have been waiting in line. He said, they wouldn't
like that. So she went up the line with Cal by
the hand, and she said, this guy told me how
to become a Christian on the airplane coming
over here. And I got saved. And now I'm a Christian
because of what he said to me. Do you mind if
he goes up here and takes my place and I go back
and take his place? What happened? Well, she
was converted, and she was not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. Wouldn't it be wonderful if
we could all have that kind of boldness and confidence?
That's what we ought to have. And yet so often
don't we find ourselves looking for excuses as
to why we shouldn't have to say something in
this situation, or why it would be inappropriate
now to speak for Christ, or why it would be embarrassing
and might even disgrace the Lord if we should
say something in that situation. And all the
time our Lord is saying, If anybody's ashamed
of me, I'll be ashamed of him when I come in
my glory. So Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. Let's not be ashamed of it
either. It is the power of God under the salvation
of everyone who believes. Let's pray. With our
heads bowed and with the spirit of God. bringing
this message to a point in our lives. I wonder
today if there's some friend here who would say,
Pastor Call, I have been trusting my own work
righteousness. I have labored hard. I've been
sincere. I've tried my best. But I understand
now that that kind of trying and effort and work
is not good enough to get me to heaven. And I'm
a sinner. and lost and i need to be saved and
i understand that god has provided righteousness
for me through christ would you say to me pastor
call i'd like you to pray for me in closing i'm
not going to point you out or come back to you
and ask you to come forward in no way would i
embarrass you but i would ask you to be honest
enough with god and me To say, Pastor Call, you
need to pray for me because I am not really saved.
Would you lift your hand and then put it down?
Pray for me today that I'll make the right decision
to trust Christ under the salvation of my soul.
You put your hand up and then slip it down. God
bless you. Anyone else? Yes. I'll wait just a
moment more. Apparently many of us are saved
today. I would assume that to be so. But I wonder
if we find ourselves sadly ashamed of the gospel
and of Jesus Christ. And today the Spirit of
God has pricked us with conviction about that.
And by the uplifted hand, we would say to God,
I understand my shame. I understand my guilt.
And I confess that to you. And today my uplifted
hand, God, means that I am no longer going to
be ashamed of the saving message of the gospel.
I'm going to share it and declare it every opportunity
that I have. Indeed, I will make opportunities
boldly. Will you lift your hand to that? Many
hands. Yes. Lord God, forgive us for our cowardly
and shameful silence. You have delivered to us
the most marvelous message in the world, in the
universe. And so often our tongues fail to respond
when we have opportunities to share. Forgive
us. We do give ourselves today afresh and anew
to be faithful sharers of the gospel in a tactful
and kind but courageous way. Make us that. And
even today, I pray that you will give us each
one an opportunity to share our faith. With Paul,
may we truly be able to say, I am not ashamed
of the gospel. And I pray for those friends who
have indicated today a need for salvation, that
before they leave this service, they might open
their heart and receive your free gift of salvation
in Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.