Not Ashamed

Introduction

Back when we started chapter one, we highlighted the fact that the main theme of verses 1-17 is the gospel. Last week, we saw three reason’s why Paul longed to be with these believers, but the third reason was so that he could preach the gospel and have fruit there in Rome. The next four verses are going to tell us why Paul was so eager to preach the gospel in Rome.

Many of us come up with all kinds of excuses for why we cannot share the gospel with others.

I am an introvert so I don’t like talking to people.

I am afraid they are going to ask me a question I don’t know the answer to.

My life is too busy.

I think it is important for all of us to have the same mindset of Paul about the gospel because preaching the gospel is not just for the “professionals.” It isn’t just for the pastors, evangelists, deacons ect. When Jesus gave the great commission, that commission was for all of the church. Some have argued that Jesus was speaking only to the disciples so the command doesn’t apply to all Christians. D.A. Carson points out that the Great Commission does not record Jesus saying to the apostles, “. . . teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, except for this commandment to make disciples. Keep their grubby hands off that one, since it belongs only to you, my dear apostles.”[1] If being a disciple is doing all the things God commanded them to do, then being a disciple includes evangelism.

We see this in three ways throughout the scriptures:

The command to evangelize was given to all believers. Consider Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” which promised that the Holy Spirit would come on them and then they would preach. This promise of the Holy Spirit is given to every believer right; so doesn’t the command as well.

We do see ordinary believers evangelizing in the book of acts Acts 8:1 “And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.” We had Acts 1:8, turn that around and you have Acts 8:1 declaring that ordinary people fled persecution. In Acts 8:4 “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.” The Greek word is from the same word as gospel.

In Ephesians 4:11–12 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:” Pastors and teachers are supposed to perfect the saints in the work of the ministry. The Greek word for “for” in this place is actually “in.”

So if the gospel is our responsibility just like it was the apostle Pauls. I think we should take evangelism seriously. Underlying Paul’s commitment to evangelism was how he viewed himself. In this passage, we see three I am statements that describe how Paul viewed his responsibility to the gospel.

I am Debtor

The first is found in vs 14:

Romans 1:14 “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.”

Later on Paul would declare that he could not stop preaching the gospel because necessity was laid upon him.

1 Corinthians 9:16 “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!”

He felt like he had to do it. It was an obligation that he had to fulfill and if he didn’t he says, Woes is me. Why woe? Because we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ someday. This isn’t merely a feeling of debt or obligation, he in fact has a debt.

There are two ways in which on can incur a debt:

If I borrow or take $100 of yours, I owe you a debt until I pay back that $100. If I were to forget or refuse to pay back that debt I would be guilty of stealing from you. But because I took something of yours, I owe you what I took.

There is another way in which we incur debts. If I were given $100 to pass on to you, I owe you that money. I am in a debt until I pay it to you because I have been given the task of making sure it gets into your hands. If I run off with the money, I have stolen again what belonged to the person who gave it to me and have stolen from you who was supposed to receive it.

As believers, we have a debt not because we borrowed something from the lost or because we necessarily owe them anything. Mankind deserves the punishment God metes out. We have a debt because God has given us something to give to the lost. If we don’t give out the gospel, we are guilty of basically spiritual embezzlement. Misappropriation of funds.

It is like when someone gives a designated love offering at church. At Harvest Hills Baptist Church, if you designate something to someone, it is going to go to that someone. If Keith, our treasurer, were to decide he was going to take a trip to the Bahamas on that money what would we call that? This is what we have done with the gospel. Like Paul we have an obligation to give out the gospel.

I am Ready

Romans 1:15 “So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.”

Paul was not only obliged to preach the gospel, but he was eager. The word Ready- eager, excited fervor to do something. Being in debt can be difficult and you probably write you checks or make your payments begrudgingly. But Paul did not view the debt that he owed as a heavy weight to bear. Paul was excited to preach the gospel.

Why would Paul be eager to preach the gospel?

I mean some of the time he was beaten, stoned, yelled at, rejected. And yet he was eager.

Paul gets to work alongside of God in the work of evangelism

Paul gets to see lives changed by the gospel

Paul gets to see God’s power at work

Imagine getting to see God split the red sea for Moses; or Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead; or Pentecost and the disciples speaking in tongues. We may not see the miraculous in these ways so much today, but we can see God work a miracle anytime someone is born again.

We are only eager to do things that we enjoy or see the point of. Maybe we lack that same eagerness because we feel it is pointless. I understand the feeling when it seems like people aren’t getting saved. But the point is more about giving the gospel than seeing results. Either way, we get to work alongside of God in the work of evangelism.

I am Not Ashamed

Romans 1:16–17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one 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.”

The theme of the entire book is found in these two verses: Salvation by faith in the gospel is made available to both Jews and Gentiles.

Mark 8:34–38 “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Why someone might be ashamed of the gospel:

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

I think many of us are ashamed of the gospel. We know someone needs to hear it but we keep out mouths shut. God and the gospel never come up in conversations with unbelievers. When people say they don’t know if they’ll have answers to people’s questions so they don’t share the gospel, they might be saying they don’t want to look stupid.

Are we not ashamed of the gospel if we are afraid we will look dumb if we give the gospel? You don’t have to have the answers; the gospel can stand on its own feet. Maybe the gospel just seems to unintellectual, so we can’t bring it up. Maybe we are afraid, we are going to look like the weird one. Maybe, we don’t want to offend our friends.

Each of those instances, we are being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul gives us three reasons not to be ashamed of the Gospel.

Why Not be Ashamed of the Gospel:

It is the power of God to salvation

Jeremiah 13:23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”

It might be a cynical but often true axiom that men never change. There are just some things about us that we can’t seem to shake. Like the leopard, you can shave our hair or give us a good shake but the spots will not go away. Somethings about us are as close to us as our skin. To remove them seems like removing us.

Mankind is hopelessly addicted to sin. They may give up a bad habit like getting drunk but they replace it with another sin in their lives. We go from one selfish pursuit to another. And sometimes the more we try to be perfect the less we achieve it. Lost people have no hope of truly overcoming sin. Maybe you are here today and you do not know Jesus as your savior. You might have tried to move past certain sins like anger, pornography, lying, ect and it seems like you are getting nowhere. We can’t change ourselves because our hearts have to change.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God to salvation. It is in him that we can experience true heart change and have our bonds to sin broken. 2 Peter 1:3–4 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

There is power in the gospel that we cannot find anywhere else. Only it has the ability change a man. God through the message of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ can reach into a man’s heart and change him from the inside our. So why should we preach the gospel unashamedly?

Only the gospel has the power to change men’s lives.

to everyone that believeth- This power can only be experienced by those who believe, place their faith in Jesus Christ. You cannot earn your salvation.

William Spurstowe described what trying to earn my salvation would be like:

Living by God’s Promises with Study Questions (The Free Promises of God)

Were the way which leads to heaven a ladder of duties, and not a golden chain of free grace, I could not but fear, that the higher I climb, the greater would my fall prove to be.

Ill. Climbing a ladder that just keeps on going, rungs get weaker as the go.

To the Jew first and also to the Greek- the gospel is available to all. Paul was trying to heal a rift in the church of Rome between Jews and Gentiles by reminding them that they are all saved by the grace of God. The gospel is not just for one group of people. It isn’t only for Americans. It isn’t only for Baptists, It isn’t only for good people. It is for everyone.

2. It reveals God’s righteousness

This phrase the righteousness of God can refer to three different things:

might refer to an attribute of God- if this is the meaning it stands as the ground of vs 18 which speaks of God’s wrath. God is perfectly righteous and just to judge sinners. We all stand guilty and condemned and God is righteous. I do not think this is the meaning here.

might refer to an activity by God- God’s action of saving mankind could be a righteous action. I think the salvation of mankind definitely shows God’s righteousness. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” We need salvation because we fall short of God’s righteousness and God’s goodness causes Him to seek to save us.

might refer to a status given by God- I think this is more the meaning of this passage. Throughout the book of Romans, we are told that we receive righteousness from God. This is one of the things that happens at salvation. Romans 3:22 “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:”

Romans 4:5–6 “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,”

Romans 5:19 “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”

For the technical Geeks out there the word of which is part of the noun God is a Genitive of Source. This verse speaks of the righteousness that comes from God.

Many people have an image of a scale in heaven by which their actions will be judged. Often times we have this idea that as long as my good deeds outweighs my bad deeds, I’ll be fine. The bible teaches that all I have are bad deeds. That side of the scale that I thought had good things in it is empty. Romans 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” The only way any of us is going to make it is if God’s righteousness is put on the scale for us because we don’t have any.

So why should I preach the gospel unashamedly? Because lost men need the righteousness of God and they can only receive that righteousness by faith in the gospel. The verse ends with a quotation from Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: But the just shall live by his faith.”

3. It shows God’s faithfulness

Right in the middle of this verse, their is an awkward phrase: from faith to faith. We have seen other verses like this 2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” But it isn’t always clear how these phrases are being used. In fact there are seven different interpretations of this phrase that I will show you but then I’ll tell you which one I think it is.

a progression from one faith to greater faith- this would seem to imply that we are getting more saved over time, but scripture teaches that we got the whole package when we got saved.

a faith of the law to a faith of the gospel- Paul does not make this type of distinction in Romans. Rather law and faith are complete opposites in Paul’s writtings not two types of the same thing.

from the faith of the preachers to the faith of the hearers- this view would say that as I preach the gospel I am sharing my faith with you and it produces faith in you. Possible.

from the faith of the present to the faith in the future

the growth of faith in the Gentile world- this view focuses on the progress of the gospel. Again I don’t think the context has anything to do with this.

from the faithfulness of God to the human faith response * God’s faithfulness [to his promises and in the life and death of Jesus Christ] always comes first and ours is never other than a response.- John Stott

merely an emphatic statement emphasizing faith’s role in receiving righteousness- Possible

I take the view that it is from God’s faithfulness to our faith- the word from is an ablative meaning it comes from God. God is always the initiator in salvation. Man’s faith is merely a response to Him.

So why would this cause us to preach the gospel unashamedly? Sometimes we are hesitant to preach the gospel because people don’t want to hear it or it seems like no one responds. This is a reminder that there are those that God has already begun working in their hearts. I don’t have to fear failure. This reason goes back to the character of God.

1 Corinthians 3:6–8 “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.”

Conclusion

Do you have the heart of Paul towards the gospel? We do have a debt just like Paul. The gospel has been placed in our care to give out to the lost. Are you hiding your light? What fears are causing you to be hesitant to tell others about the gospel?

I want to challenge you this morning to not be ashamed of the gospel. Boldly proclaim it. And if you just can’t get over the feeling of timidity, meditate on the three reason’s Paul gave for why we should not be ashamed of the gospel.