Trailblazin Ministries

I'm Not Ashamed

Written by LaRosa Johnson
Friday, 26 May 2006

Introduction

As Christians, too often, we're ashamed of the gospel and get scared when it comes to sharing our faith with others. Therefore, we need to examine Scripture to see why we shouldn't be scared or ashamed, and why we should be sharing the gospel with boldness.

Why Was Paul Unashamed of the Gospel?

We'll begin our study by looking at why Paul was unashamed of the gospel and why he was so excited to preach it to the ends of the earth.

Romans 1:16 (NKJV) For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

Romans 1:16 (NLT) For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes--the Jew first and also the Gentile.

Romans 1:16 (AMP) For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good news) of Christ, for it is God's power working unto salvation [for deliverance from eternal death] to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrender and firm reliance, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

I like the Amplified Bible's version of this text because it really gives us a full understanding of what Paul was saying as to why he was not ashamed of the gospel. But before we go any further, I think it's necessary that we define what exactly the gospel and salvation are, just so that we are all on the same page working with the same definition. Looking at the Amplified Bible, we see that the gospel is indeed the good news of Jesus Christ. That good news is that He has paid the penalty for our sins through His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection from the grave three days later, guaranteeing that we have eternal life if we believe in Him. This is the good news that Paul, as well as all the other apostles, preached.

If we look a little further at the Amplified Bible's translation of this passage, we will find our definition of salvation. Salvation is our deliverance from eternal death and damnation. Paul and other New Testament writers portray Jesus Christ as the Author and Provider of salvation on the basis of His sacrificial death on the Cross in the place of us (aka sinners). This salvation and spiritual deliverance is graciously and lovingly offered to us all by God, but only those who turn away from their old ways and trust in Jesus will experience the blessings of salvation.

What are those blessings? We can summarize them as: 1) being saved from the penalty of sin, 2) being saved from the power of sin, and 3) being saved from the very presence of sin. Theologians have terms for these three blessings and they are: justification, sanctification, and glorification. But let's break these down a little further because then we will begin to see why Paul was so excited about preaching the gospel.

First, salvation is being saved from the penalty of sin. As we've already stated, the penalty for sin is eternal death and separation from God. This is what we all deserve because we are all sinful men and women; none of us are perfect, even though many would like to think they are. This is what justification is all about; justification is the divine act of declaring sinners to be righteous on account of their faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus paid for our sins completely and finally on the cross, and it is because of our faith in Him that our sins have been forgiven. So, if we were to break this down into presence of time and verb tense, this portion of salvation would be past tense because we have already been saved from the penalty of sin; the price has already been paid.

Secondly, salvation is being saved from the power of sin. This begins to happen immediately after we have faith in what Jesus did on the cross. It is at this moment of regeneration in which the Spirit of God begins to live inside of us and imparts eternal life into our spiritually dead souls. If we look at Ephesians 2:1-5, another epistle written by Paul, we see this further explained. This is where sanctification begins to come into play. Sanctification can be defined as the process in which God develops the new life of the believer and gradually brings it into perfection. In plain English, that is to say that after we become believers, God works in us so that we begin to readily recognize the sin in our lives and begin to remove it so that we sin less and work towards perfection. In essence, this is when we really become "alive" as believers, as described in Romans 6:11 which states that "Likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord" and Philippians 1:6 which reads, "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ," which is when He returns to the earth again. And again, if we are to look at the tense and timing of this portion of salvation, this would be considered the present tense of salvation. As believers, this is the state that we are currently in, working towards perfection and removing sin from our lives by the Spirit of God.

Lastly, salvation is ultimately being saved from the very presence of sin. This portion of salvation does not come until we are removed from this Earth and our flesh bodies; it doesn't happen until we are face to face with our Savior in heaven, the only place that is free from sin. And that, is what glorification is; it is the ultimate salvation of the whole person or our entire being. It is at this point that God completely molds us into the image of Christ and we're able to enjoy the complete fellowship with God, singing His praises forever. Romans 8:29-30 and Philippians 3:20-21 really bring this point home, and I'll read both of them for you. And again, if we are to look at the timing and tense of this salvation, we find that this form of salvation is the future tense because this is what we are ultimately moving towards in our daily walk.

Well, that was a mouthful, but it is the essence of what Paul was preaching to the ends of the Earth. He was proclaiming that we have been saved from the penalty, power and presence of sin because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and our belief in that work. And it is in that that we can see that it is indeed the power of God working salvation in all those who believe with that personal trust and confident surrender with a firm reliance. It is no wonder that Paul was excited about the gospel and it's power to save!

Now, the more we, ourselves, consider this marvelous truth of salvation, the more enthusiastic we will be about it! We'll be more thanful to God for our salvation and become more eager to share with others the hope that is within us, as described in 1 Peter 3:15.

I'm Not Ashamed of the Gospel!

You know, when I look at the account of the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts, it really amazes me how much this one man was willing to go through to make sure that the message of the gospel was preached to as many people as possible. Paul was hunted down, shipwrecked, put in jail, and so on just to spread the gospel. The other apostles went through similar circumstances as well. When I really think about it, I wonder why today's church isn't as ready to die for what they believe in, dieing for the message of the gospel.

There aren't enough Christians who are like Cassie & Rachel, the two girls from Columbine High School who were martyred because they stood up for their faith. If you had a gun pointed at your back, would you still proclaim that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior if you knew that denying Him would save your life? Yeah, I know it's a tought question, but it's one that really needs to be pondered. Now, most likely, we'll never be put into that situation, but the question still remains. I mean, so many of us, myself included sometimes, are afraid of sharing the gospel because we know that we'll become social outcasts. But the more I think about it, the more a fire inside of me begins to burn stronger and I am now to a point where I am willing to stand and die for Jesus Christ, no matter what the cost; and, it is my desire for the rest of the Body of Christ to walk in the same power.

Again, let's look at Romans 1:16. I AM NOT ASHAMED of the gospel of Christ! Why?! Because it is the POWER OF GOD to salvation for EVERYONE who believes! Not to some, not to a few, not to a select group. It's for everyone! Everyone deserves the opportunity to have the gospel preached to them so that they can be spared from the penalty of their sins.

Check it, in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus Christ gave us the Great Commission and in Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus tells us the two greatest commandments. Now, if we were to really take these two passages to heart, there is no way in the world that we could live our lives without sharing the message of the gospel with as many people as possible. The first commandment is to love the Lord God with our entire being, right? Most of us have no problem with that commandment, at least we don't think so, but that's another lesson within itself. The second commandment is the one that we have problems with; many of us don't love our neighbors as ourselves. You love yourself, right? Well, since you love and cherish your life so much, you want to go to heaven, right? Okay, stop and think about that for a moment. Now, you love yourself so much that you want to make sure you go to heaven. That's fine, but let's go back to what Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you love your neighbor as much as you love yourself, then why in the world would you let them go to hell and pay the penalty for their sins by NOT sharing the gospel with them?! Simply put, if we don't spread the gospel, then we're not living up to the commandments that Jesus left us with, yet we say we love Him. What does 1 John 4:20-21 say? According to the Scripture, we're liars if we don't love our brother enough to share the gospel with him. Just let that marinate for a minute before we move on.

Are you still ashamed of the gospel? If so, then let's keep pressing on in the Scriptures. Let's take a look at Mark 8:38. Wow! That's convicting! It's as plain as day in the words of Jesus Himself; if we're ashamed of Him and what He did for us, then He's going to be ashamed of us when it's time for Him to make His return. I'd recommend taking time to read this particular passage in full when you get time, so check it out (Mark 8:34-38). But the point is, there are going to be consequences if we are ashamed of the gospel. But if we really think about it, what reason do we have to be ashamed?

Let's walk to the Old Testament and look at what David has to say about the gospel before there even was a gospel message. Let's start with Psalm 40:9-10. Even here we see David proclaiming the good news and salvation of the Lord. Look closely at the latter half of verse 9 amd the beginning of verse 10. "Indeed, I do not restrain my lips. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart." When it comes to not being ashamed of the gospel, we need to be like David; we need to make sure that the good news is always on our lips and not hidden away within our hearts. Look at Psalm 22:22. In this passage too, we see David declaring the name of God to those around him. I can't help but to think that some people may have thought that David was crazy for always having the name of the Lord on his lips, but we also see in Scripture that David was considered to be a man after God's own heart. Don't we want to be recognized in the same light? If so, part of that means doing what He has commanded us to do, which is to boldly proclaim His message of salvation to those who have not heard it.

Now, we have to remember that not everyone is going to like or even accept the message of the Cross. Let's look at the reason why, which is found in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. In verse 18, we clearly get an indication as to why we become social outcasts for proclaiming this message; for the ones who are perishing and are going to face the penalty of their sins, this message is foolishness. But for those who have caught the message of the cross, it has become the power of God. You see, this all parallels to what's going on today. In antiquity aka Bible times, the Jews were looking for their Messiah to come with all kinds of miraculous signs and wonders to mark His arrival; then, you have the Greeks who were the philosophers and scientists of their day who tried to explain and figure out everything with logic. It's the same way today; people only want to believe in God if they can have all kinds of signs that He exists, and then for others since they can't explain things by natural means then they want to choose to disbelieve it. People just can't understand how we can believe that we have eternal life by believing that someone was killed on a crucifix and then miraculously raised from the dead three days later. But to those that DO get it, it becomes the power by which they are saved! Now, we can't expect people to get it without ever telling them about it, now can we? That's another reason why we can't be ashamed of the gospel! That's why Romans 10:14 tells us, "And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" That's us! They can't believe without us preaching the gospel!

Conclusion

Well, I'm done. If after all of that Word, you're still ashamed of the gospel, then I don't know what to tell you. If you still are, then I can't help but to say that you need to hit your knees and ask the Lord to reveal to you what's in your heart that's keeping you from wanting to boldly proclaim His good news of salvation. But for those that have gotten this message, I pray that you become a member of the 116 Clique and a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed without abandon. When we think about the goodness of the Lord and all that He has done for us, we should have no problem being a witness to those things and telling others how they can share in the same things.