Intro story-band I used to like
He had allowed himself to become ashamed of the Gospel of Christ
Romans 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel [a]of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
This is a powerful scripture
This verse shows pauls convictions and that they lay in the Gospel of Christ
He is someone who demonstratively lives his life for Christ and makes it known to all
This should be a baseline for all Christians today
At the minimum you should not be ashamed of the Gospel that has set you free from sin and death
The gospel that through Jesus Christ we will be resurrected with Him in the end to live out our days glorifying Him
We have no need to be ashamed of what Christ has done, paul surely wasn’t
This gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes
When reading the word I try to put myself in the position to understand why the writers say things the way they do
Of course paul would say hes not ashamed, we all should
To really understand the depth of this scripture we should analyze some other things first, like who was paul before this
The reason why its important to understand who he was is because it puts a whole new meaning and importance on this verse
Paul was born around the same time as christ
His original name was saul of tarsus
He was born to a family of devout Jews
His lineage was from the tribe of Benjamin
His family lineage was very attached to pharisaic tradition
They followed jewish law very closely and strictly and saul even became a pharisee himself
saul was well known for his attack and persecution of the early church
He would hunt Christians down imprison them, flog, them and even execute them
We see this in scripture during the stoning of Stephen
Acts7:57-8:1
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Saul Persecutes the Church
8 Now Saul was consenting to his death.
At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
saul was someone who would do whatever he thought he needed to do even kill Christians to uphold jewish law
saul denied that Jesus Christ was the messiah and it showed by the persecution he placed on the Church
Until one day on the road to Damascus
Jesus himself appeared to saul
It changed his life forever
His name changed to paul and he began to live for Christ preaching Him crucified everywhere he went
That is why this scripture is important paul went from killing Christians to preaching the same Gospel they did
You also have to keep in mind that people knew who paul was
They knew what he had done to Christians
Romans written about 30 years after the crucifixion so for most people who witnessed this happen was probably still somewhat fresh in their mind
I relate it to something like a tragic family death
Usually people can still remember every detail years later
Think of 9-11
It was tragic and horrible
Most people probably remember where they were and what they were doing that day
That was 20 years ago
In 10 more years it will still seem like the other day
There is no direct biblical scripture stating this but many scholars and historians think its plausible that paul might have even witnessed the crucifixion
They deduct this by what is told about paul being a devout jew and pharisee
Adhering to strict jewish law would have motivated him to be present in Jerusalem during Passover which would have at least put him in close proximity to Jesus
Witnessing this, and knowing Jesus was crucified, knowing the miracle of Jesus, persecuting Christians, and now your stance has been changed
He boastfully acknowledges Christ
He is not ashamed there is no need to be
Paul acknowledges that hes not ashamed because he knows that the cross is foolishness to those that don’t believe
1 Corinthians 1:18-19
18 For the [g]message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
Paul was set free, now the gospel all hinges on the fact the Jesus was the messiah, the king of the Jews
A man who walked the earth sinless, fully God, fully man
Who then died a gruesome death
Crucifixion was reserved for the worst people
He was stripped of His clothes, beaten, spit on, called names, wore a crown of thorns, put on the cross and mocked, even stabbed in the side.
Only to rise three days later and bring everyone who believes in Him to salvation
Of course paul states hes not ashamed even if it was the same Gospel he persecuted, Jesus changed his life and He was going to let nothing stop the Gospel from reaching the people of this world.
This why this scripture has so much more meaning then just words on a page
He wasn’t ashamed of the Gospel
The word ashamed translated means disgraced or personally humiliated
In this meaning it would as if someone was singled out for misplacing their confidence
They trusted something but it let them down
When paul is saying he is not ashamed he is proclaiming that his confidence has not been misplaced
There is no disgrace in declaring it
He gave the rest of his life spreading the gospel
Our confidence in the gospel is not misplaced either
There is no need to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ
Ashamed means-feeling shame, guilt, or disgrace
reluctant or unwilling to do something because of shame or embarrassment
Story- Large conference
That’s how we should be with the gospel
To be unashamed of the gospel means that we need to proclaim the gospel
That’s one reason I don’t like the phrase preach the gospel use words if necessary
Its always necessary to spread the gospel and that means using words
The disciples, apostles and biblical martyrs did not follow this saying and neither should you
They didn’t become martyrs by not using their words to spread the gospel
They didn’t care and it ended up costing their lives
Im not saying you are ashamed of the gospel because you missed your opportunity to share it with someone occasionally
Or didn’t defend what you believe that one time
But if this is habitual in your life you may be ashamed
Don’t allow going against social grain and fear of harassment stop you from sharing the gospel
It set you free and took you from life to death
Like pastor jay said on Sunday there are some circumstances where you need to be a little more careful
Also you don’t always have to defend the gospel or argue with someone
If you are at a family gathering and a drunk relative is flying off the handle about the gospel, just let them
You wont get through to them arguing with a drunk is like talking to a wall
Not only does living unashamed mean we need to proclaim it, we also need to apply it to our lives and show we believe what we are saying
Paul did not preach one thing and live another
He lived out the message he preached
He allowed the gospel to change his life and actions
People saw it happen and he encouraged all believers to do the same
My Struggle
If you let sin run rampant in your life and constantly live in disobedience to the scriptures you are ashamed of the gospel
If you weren’t you would live what you preached
When we blantanly disobey the scriptural standards laid out in the bible you are lacking confidence in the message that you are proclaiming
That means you might not be able to go to all the places you did before Christ
Or spend time with people that might cause you to stumble
That’s why the phrase Jesus hung out with sinners annoys me
Yes Jesus did spend time with sinners, but the difference is He ministered to them
_____________
He wasn’t saying things like I just want them to know im no different then them, see im fun too
Yes he spent time with them but to minister either they followed him or they didn’t
Jesus main group were His disciples that’s who he mentored and discipled
He would preach, minister and meet the needs of people then be like come on crew to His boys and go to the next place
Jesus never engaged in sinful activities so he would just fit in
More often than not people use that saying if they don’t want accountability and still live with their sinful desires
Psalms 1:1
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the [a]ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
If you want to live unashamed then you must allow the Gospel to change your life
Your walk should back up what your mouth is saying
And if you really believe it then that wont be a problem
Just like paul we should not be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ
Because through it Gods righteousness is revealed
Romans 1:17
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
The word revealed in the Greek is apoklutpo
It means to bring light to something, or an unveiling
It is an unveiling of how sinful mans heart is
The gospel exposes the inmost darkness of mans heart
Jeremiah 17:9
“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And [a]desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
The gospel shows us the true righteousness of God and how pure He is
Our own righteousness is nothing without God
People try to do all kinds of good works to prove that they are a good person
It happens all the time
People will say so and so is a good person but without the gospel non of us are righteous
They have there own form of self righteousness
It can never compete with true righteousness
And that is what the gospel reveals
We are sinners that are in need of a righteous God that restores our heart condition through the gospel of Jesus Christ
Those who believe in Gods son Jesus, though unrighteous themselves then become righteous through Him
The scripture goes on to say
; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Some versions say the righteous shall live by faith
Paul is directly quoting from
Habakkuk 2:4
“Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.
Paul also says this in
Galatians 3:11
But that no one is [a]justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”
And one more time in
Hebrews 10:38
Now the[a] just shall live by faith;
But if anyone draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him.”
We need to live by faith
Faith in the Gospel that set us free from sin and death
We have been justified, not by our doing but what had been done on the cross
We cannot earn salvation by our own merit
Only by Believing in Jesus and Him crucified for the remission of our sins will lead us to be righteous
That is why we are justified, through His grace alone
The law showed us by our own doing that we could not obtain any righteousness
But Jesus laid Himself down for our sins that we be made new
That is the faith that we believers live by
Our faith that we fully accept what has been done
Not from a stance of it maybe possible this happened
That it actually happened and we will go to the grave proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Don’t be ashamed of the gospel that has set you free and revealed Gods righteousness to you
Be righteous and live by faith
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