Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
August 12, 2001 A.M.
Not Ashamed of the Gospel
Reading - Romans 1.8-17
The challenge of our lesson this morning is found in Paul’s statement that... He was not ashamed of the Gospel... Because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.
The word gospel is from the Greek (Yoo-Ang-ghelÕ-el-on)... It means Good News.
-The gospel is the good news message from God about salvation.
-The gospel is the good news message about Jesus... His life, death, burial and resurrection.
-The gospel is the good news message about God’s grace... His mercy... His loving kindness toward us.
-The gospel is the good news message of power... It has within it the power to save us and keep us saved.
-The gospel is the good news message about God’s judgement and how we can escape eternal condemnation through faith in His Son Jesus.
But... Listen now... The gospel is good news to us only... ONLY if we will....
Hear it... Believe it... Accept it... and Obey it.
The power of the gospel is found in our faith and obedience to the message.
If we are ashamed of the gospel... If we resist it... Then it becomes powerless to save us.
So... The lesson this morning...
What does it mean to NOT be ashamed of the gospel?
First... It means that we must not be ashamed of the person of the gospel.
The gospel exalts a person... Jesus Christ.
The Bible is a Jesus book from beginning to end... Scripture is dominated by Him...
-The Old Testament is filled with His promised coming.
-Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the chronicles of Jesus; His birth, life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension.
-Acts through Revelation tells us how to live in anticipation of his second coming.
There is no doubt that... Jesus is the gospel.
In First Corinthians chapter one... Paul tells us that in his day... some were ashamed of Jesus. He said... The cross was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.
-The Jews were ashamed, disappointed in Jesus’ lineage... His birth... Life and death.
-The Gentiles could not understand a God coming to die on a cross... Greek gods didn’t die!!
You see... Paul was not... and we must not be ashamed of Jesus.
Someone says, Brother Randall... I would never be ashamed of Jesus.
OH!... How many times this week did we mention His name to others?
You see... We are proud to have known Sam Walton personally or some movie, video or sports star.
We name drop all the time... Right? But do we drop HIS name?
Audience... Listen to me... If we are not ashamed of Jesus:
-What will we do the next time an invitation song is sung? If we will not respond to His death on the cross for our sins... Then we are ashamed of Him
-What will we do the next time we have an opportunity to witness for Him?... To tell others the Gospel’s good news.
-What will we do the next time we have an opportunity to serve the Jesus in others?
-What will we do the next time we have an opportunity to be a Christ-like example?
You see, the daily decisions we make tell us... and the world around us whether or not we are ashamed of Jesus and His Gospel.
Secondly... Paul is saying... I am not ashamed of the power of the gospel. The world into which Jesus came was interested in power... For instance
-The Greeks boasted of their intellectual... philosophical power. Acts 17.21 tells us that the Athenians liked to do nothing better than to sit and talk of the newest, the latest intellectual... philosophical ideas.
-The power of the Jews was prophetic power. The hope that energized the Jewish nation was of a Messiah... One that would come and throw off the Roman yolk forever and restore Israel to the glory days of David and Solomon.
-And for Rome... Her faith... Her power was in her military might.
Not much has changed today has it?
We are still a people interested in power.
-Intellectual power... Power in education.
-Power in politics.
-Power in Star Wars weaponry.
-Power in new technology.
We must know this morning that real power is in Jesus... He has...
-Power over nature...
-Power over Politics...
-He has power over our lustful desires... Sin and Satan...
-He has power to forgive all our sins....
-Jesus has power over death, hell and the grave.
-He has power over our eternal destiny.
Church... We like Paul, must have faith in the fact that ultimate, omnipotent power is in Jesus.
Listen to the scriptures that support such a faith fact...
Philippians 4.13... I can do all things through Jesus who gives me my strength.
Ephesians 3.20... Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.
Colossians 2.10... For in Christ is all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. And you have this fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
John 1.12... To those who believed in His name, He gave them power to become the sons of God.
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ... For it is the power of God unto salvation.
We know Jesus is the ultimate power in our lives... Don’t we? There are too many of us here this morning who have seen Him work wonders in our lives:
-Forgiving our sins.
-Removing the guilt of an ugly past.
-Enabling us to rise above some destructive temptations.
-Enabling us to preach, teach, and serve others.
-Healing our bodies.
-Bringing unity to our ruptured relationships.
-Giving us peace... hope... and contentment.
Paul sums it up so well in First Corinthians 1.18, when he wrote... For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing... But to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Thirdly... We must not be ashamed of the priority of the gospel.
My point here is that the gospel of Jesus is...
-The first gospel.
-The ONLY gospel,
-And the complete gospel.
Jude 3 tells us that we are to... Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered.
The definite article T... H... E... The faith speaks of:
-A doctrine...
-A body of truth
-The gospel good news.
Paul writes to the churches of Galatia saying... I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and turning to another gospel... Which is really no gospel at all. Some are confusing you by perverting the gospel of Christ. Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel other than that which you have been taught... That which was once delivered.. Let him be eternally condemned.
You see, the gospel of Christ has perpetual validity. It is perpetually relevant. There is no need for additions... subtractions... or updating. In fact... modernization of the gospel is forbidden by scriptures.
I hear preachers talk of making the gospel relevant.
No!... The gospel is always relevant.
It needs no embellishment from us.
It only needs to be preached... taught... shared with others in its purity... In its original form ... Just the way it was once delivered.
Folk... The power to save is in the gospel!!... In the message unchanged.
We in the church... In this church... Must say NO to modern updates.
Paul warned Timothy that... A time was coming when people would have itching ears... Wanting to hear something besides the unadulterated... unchanged... Gospel... Something other than the truth once delivered.
Paul’s admonishment was preach the word... Preach the good news.
God help us at Bella Vista to always demand that the gospel, and the gospel only, be preached from this pulpit and taught in our classes... RIGHT??
It’s ironic that... In the first century... Preaching the gospel changed the world.
Today the world is changing the GOSPEL we preach.
We must know that the power of the gospel is found in its purity... in its original form.
God help us to not be ashamed of the priority of the gospel.
Number four... We must not be ashamed of the purpose of the gospel.
The purpose of the gospel is to forgive sins... To save the lost.
Jesus said...
-I came to seek and save the lost.
-I came to call sinners to repentance.
Return to Pentecost... Acts 3... Acts 4... Acts 8... Acts 9... Acts 10.
All these chapters tell us that the purpose of preaching the gospel was crystal clear... Salvation of lost men and women.
Too many churches today have turned the gospel into social... political...economic good news.
Yes, it’s true... when obeyed... the gospel will cure many of our social, political, and economic ills... However... This is not the primary purpose... This was not the reason of Jesus’ coming.
The gospel of the New Testament is...
-A message of salvation...
-A love letter from God...
-A book of Christian doctrine...
-A pattern of how to live... So as to be eternally saved in heaven.
The purpose of the gospel is conversion. The gospel is for our spiritual welfare... Jesus said... What does it profit us to gain the whole world and lose our own soul?... What will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Listen to Paul in Ephesians 1.7 as he plainly states the purpose of the gospel... In Him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. We must not be ashamed of the plan of the gospel.
In our churches today... Some, in super sophistication, look down their noses at the idea of a plan of salvation that says that the gospel contains a blueprint on how we can be saved. The idea has become to forget the plan... Just preach the man... Preach Jesus.
So the question is... Which is it... the PLAN or the MAN?
Church... Its not a question of either or... but both.
Listen to these statements from the lips of Jesus...
-The words I speak will judge us in the last day.
-If you love me you will keep My sayings... My commandments.
-He that rejects Me... watch it now... And the words I speak as one that will judge Him.
2 John 9 tells us... Those that abide not in the teachings of Christ have not God.
We must take the man and his plan for our salvation. Remove the plan out of the New Testament and what do you have?... Jesus... as a good man... But without the power to save.
Paul says salvation has two aspects... By grace through faith.
-Grace is the love of God expressed through Jesus.
-Faith is our acceptance and obedience of Jesus and His teachings.
Grace is God’s part... Faith is our part. Salvation is more than just the grace of God sending his son. There is a road to travel... A way to live.
-Jesus says... I am the way the truth and the life.
-He said... The way to eternal life... The WAY of salvation is straight and narrow.
-The early Christians were known as those of THE WAY
God help us to not be ashamed of the scheme of redemption.
Then... We must not be ashamed of the people of the gospel.
Some today want Jesus... but deny that His church has anything to do with the gospel.
Some people see the church today as a pharisaical fossil which evolved from the dark ages. They speak of her worship, as we’ve practiced this morning, as if it were a plague.
Some have become too sophisticated to associate and worship with the church of God... The people of the gospel. They are ashamed of the church of Jesus Christ.
But... Scripture tells us what kind of relationship Jesus has with His church.
Colossians 1.8... He is the head of the body... Which is the church.
I Corinthians 12.27-28... You are the body of Christ, and each of you is a part of the church.
In Second Corinthians 11.2 and Revelation 21.1 and 9... We find the church referred to as the bride of Christ.
Then Ephesians 5.25... Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.
Ephesians 2.19... Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household.
Hebrews 10.29 tells us... If we made fun of the blood of Christ, the spirit of grace, the plan of salvation, the Son of God, we will be punished.
NOW listen closely...
If the church is... The body of Christ... The bride of Christ... The household of God... THEN...
-To make fun of the church...
-To be ashamed of God’s family...
-To criticize the church... Her leadership... Or any member...
-To equate the church with other religious organizations...
-To talk against her programs of work...
-To forsake her assemblies...
Is a slap in the face of God... Jesus... and the gospel.
Is it possible that... Some of us are guilty of being ashamed of the Gospel?... YOU SEE...
-How we love the church is how we love Jesus.
-How we TALK about the church is how we TALK about Jesus.
-How we treat the church is how we treat Christ.
Because it is... His body... His bride... His family.
Then finally, we must not be ashamed of the promise of the gospel.
Hedonism says: Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die.
The gospel says... We know that if this earthly house of our existence is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Are we embarrassed by heaven??
Are we???... We must be... Because we are seldom found talking about it... RIGHT?
We must not be ashamed to...
-Believe in heaven...
-Talk about it...
-Sing of it...
-Pray for it....
-And tell others about it.
Indeed... Heaven is the promise of the gospel.
Well... In light of the lesson this morning are we ashamed of the gospel?
Perhaps the best way to determine if we are ashamed is to watch and see how we react to...
It’s Person
It’s Power
It’s Priority
It’s Purpose
It’s Plan
It’s People
And it’s Promises.
We have an opportunity right now to demonstrate how we feel about Jesus and His gospel.
-We can become a child of God by faith, repentance and New testament baptism, immersion in water for the forgiveness of our sins.
-We can come rededicating our lives... Making all things right with God and others.
-We can come repenting of our being ashamed of the gospel.
-We can come placing our membership in this church family.
Don’t be ashamed of the GOSPEL... As we stand and sing this invitation song.
Will you come?
