Amen. So the title of my sermon is, I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel. If you look at Romans
chapter 1 in verse number 16, the Bible says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. So the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Therefore, no
one, especially Christians, should be ashamed of the gospel. However, today, people, the
unsaved, the world, and Christians are ashamed of things that they shouldn't be ashamed of,
and they are not ashamed of things that they should be ashamed of. As a Christian, you
should know what things you should be ashamed of and what things you should not be ashamed
of. Turn in your Bible to Mark chapter number 8. We're going to look at Mark chapter number
8. Mark chapter number 8, verse number 38. Mark chapter 8, verse number 38. The Bible
says, this is Jesus speaking, 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. So what does it mean
to be ashamed? This is a very common word in the Bible. We use this word all the time,
but we really want to understand what does it actually mean to be ashamed? There's two
good definitions that I want to cover, and this really helps to explain the context of
what we're talking about when we say, I am not ashamed of the Gospel. So the first definition
of ashamed is to be embarrassed or guilty because of one's actions, characteristics,
or associations. So you feel embarrassed or guilty because of somebody else. The second
definition is reluctance to do something through fear of embarrassment or humiliation,
and both of these definitions are applicable to the sermon tonight. So if someone is ashamed of
God, God says that he will be ashamed of you, especially in an adulterous and sinful generation.
Here when we read Mark chapter 8, verse number 38, it says, Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed
of me and of my words, you know, that's enough right there just to be ashamed of God and ashamed
of his words, but it gives that focus of also in this adulterous and sinful generation. So you
would think that Christians would be less and less ashamed of God in a sinful generation. However,
that is not the reality. As a generation becomes more and more sinful, it becomes more and more
apparent when someone is not participating in the sinful generation. You get this massive amount of
just extremes of hot and cold, and anytime you feel something cold, you can never mistake that
with something hot. Every time you have something hot, you would never mistake it with something
cold. The more sinful a generation becomes, even just a little bit of righteousness starts to look
like, man, is this guy an extremist? This guy is just a hardcore Christian. That's just the reality
of our nation today. We live in such an adulterous and sinful generation that just being your kind of
average Christian looks extreme to them. But this type of Christianity used to be normal. People
didn't used to think it was like extremist fundamentalism or something, but amen, we're
going to be extreme in this wicked and sinful and adulterous generation.
So if you want to blend in with an adulterous generation, then don't be a Christian. Because
especially nowadays, you could be the most lame liberal Christian ever, and people think you're
extreme. They'll think that you're hateful. So especially if you're actually going to believe
what the Bible says, you're going to stick out like a sore thumb. So if you don't want to be
humiliated or you don't want people to make fun of you, if you don't want to stand out,
do not be a Christian. That's for sure. Hey, go to the movie theater and watch all the latest
Hollywood movies. Watch the newest sitcom that is all about people going to bed together outside of
marriage. That's what most of these shows are even about anyway. On every single sitcom that
you watch, you can watch the homosexual that they put into every TV show to brainwash you into
thinking that it's normal. As far as I know, they just legalized recreational marijuana in Arizona.
It was like a popular vote thing. So hey, if you just want to blend in, hey, just go down to the
dispensary, buy yourself a little bit of recreational weed. Hey, drink wine and drink beer
on the weekend. Talk bad about your wife to your friends or talk bad about your husband to your
friends. Hey, especially don't go to church three times a week. You should only go to church when
you think it's going to make you look good or there's an activity that your kids can be a part
of and it makes you look like you're real spiritual. If you just want to blend in with this
adulterous and sinful generation, just, hey, tell your kids that Santa is real and don't mention
anything about the birth of Christ on the day of Christmas. And when you celebrate Thanksgiving,
just drink your beer, drink your alcohol, smoke your cigar, and don't say anything about giving
thanks to God. That's how you blend in with this adulterous and sinful generation. Go into debt
for everything that you own. That way people will think you're not a miserable person because you
have nice things, right? Use foul language every other sentence so that people know that you're
really serious and you're really cool. Hey, if you do all these things, you will fit in perfectly
and you will not be ashamed before men because you'll just blend right in. You're just like all
them. But you know what? Who you are going to be ashamed in front of is God. God's going to be
ashamed of you because you're wicked. The last person that I want to be ashamed of me is my
savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. We should not be ashamed of the gospel. We should not be ashamed
of Jesus. Here's the thing. My mother could be ashamed of me. My father could be ashamed of me.
My whole family could be ashamed of me. But as long as Jesus isn't ashamed of me, I think I'm
going to do all right. I'm going to be alive on this earth, Lord willing, 70, 80, 90 years. I
don't know when that's going to be. But ultimately, when I've been in eternity for tens of thousands
of years, even though there technically won't be years because time won't exist in eternity,
but the equivalent of tens of thousands of years passing, this little 70, 80, 90 year old,
90 year life is not going to mean a whole lot. It is going to matter what I did in this life,
but ultimately I'm just going to be enjoying eternity with Jesus Christ. Amen. So I should
not be ashamed of the gospel and I shouldn't be worried about what men think of me. Turn
your Bible to Romans chapter number six. Romans chapter number six, we're going to look at verse
number 20. Romans chapter number six, we're going to read verses 20 to 23. The Bible says,
for when ye were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then
in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now being
made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness and the end
everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. So there's no fruit in any sin or unrighteousness. Participating in a wicked and
adulterous and sinful generation, there's no fruit in that. If we're ashamed of our sin,
and we know there is no fruit therein, how could we ever be ashamed of Jesus Christ? Right? If we
know that us and our flesh, we are sinful, and that our sin has no fruit, how could we ever be
ashamed of Jesus Christ when it says in verse 20, for when ye were the servants of sin, you were made
free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? So
once you get saved, an application of this is you kind of feel ashamed for all the stuff that you
used to do, and you start to feel ashamed for all the sins that you're doing currently. And it just
gives you a motivation to get that sin out of your life. But how could you ever be ashamed of
the person who actually took all that shame away from you? It wouldn't make any sense. That would
be absolutely illogical. If you're a Christian long enough, and you've preached the gospel long
enough, and you're going to be honest with yourself, we have all been in a situation where
we knew that we should preach the gospel to someone where we had the time, we had a clear
opportunity to lead someone to Christ, and we didn't. If you preached the gospel and you're
so wonder, you know that, I mean, you can think of a situation that's happened to you like that.
Where we were reluctant to share the gospel out of fear of embarrassment or humiliation. Where we
were ashamed of the gospel of Christ. We have all, we all had that one person or possibly several
people in our lives that we know that they need the gospel, but we've never asked them, you know,
hey, are you 100% sure if you die today that you go to heaven? Because we didn't want to be
embarrassed or humiliated. Well, let me flip back here. One of the definitions of ashamed is that
you're reluctant to do something through fear of embarrassment or humiliation. And we might tell
ourselves, man, I was just a little embarrassed. I just didn't want to get humiliated. I just
didn't want it to be awkward. That's what it means to be ashamed, right? Whether or not you want to,
you want to admit that to yourself or not, that's what it means to be ashamed. And this isn't just a
brow-beating sermon. This is to motivate us all to not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Recognize
when those situations are, when we're kind of deceiving ourselves in our own mind and telling
ourselves that, well, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, but I just don't want to get
embarrassed. We need to recognize what this is because the most important thing that we need to
be doing as Christians is preaching the gospel to others and not being ashamed of Jesus and not,
not just not preaching the gospel to someone because of, we don't want, you know, because we
don't want to be ashamed of before men. So turn to Romans chapter nine, just a couple pages to the
right. Romans chapter nine in verse number 33, Bible says, as it is written, behold, I lay in
Sion, a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
So Jesus Christ is a rock of offense. When you preach Jesus, people are going to get offended.
I mean, if you're preaching Jesus and people aren't offended, you probably have another Jesus,
right? That's just a fact. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is a rock of offense. Everyone today
is so politically correct. Nobody wants, they don't want you to say anything even mildly offensive.
And even when you think you're not saying something offensive, it's still offensive.
That's how politically correct it is today. But guess what? The Bible literally, you and I know
that to preach Jesus Christ is offensive. The Bible literally says Jesus Christ is a rock of
offense. So if you are literally saying in your mind, well, I'm not sure if I want to preach the
gospel because I might offend them. That's what the Bible says is going to happen. That's what
the Bible says. The Bible says Jesus Christ is a rock of offense. When you preach Jesus, people
are going to get offended. By preaching Jesus, you are instantly standing against the adulterous
and sinful generation. You have immediately become an outcast and an outlier. If that person is
offended, which we know there probably are going to be, right? I mean, it happens all the time.
We all know situations where we try to preach the gospel to someone and they get offended. This
isn't every single time, but this is what's happening. And this is a lot of the situations
where we're actually being ashamed of the gospel by thinking, oh, this person is probably going to
be offended. So yeah, I don't want to offend them, and I don't want to be embarrassed, and I don't
want them to make fun of me. So I'm just going to skip that. Yeah, it's not the right situation
anyway. I just realized I don't have enough time, right? So if that person is offended, they're
going to take the easiest path of least resistance to avoid your questions about Jesus, about God,
about the Bible. And the easiest way to avoid your question is to make fun of you because you're an
outcast. Because you've instantly, you're no longer a part of the culture of the adulterous
and sinful generation. You've made it clear, I'm a Christian, I'm a sniper from all that,
and they're just going to make fun of you. You know, they might say things like,
oh, so you're just going to preach the Bible to me. You must be a Baptist,
right? Anybody ever got that? I've gotten that one. You probably don't even drink, do you?
Oh, that's why you never say any cuss words. Yep, okay, now it all makes sense. Do you even
watch movies? Do you even know what the such and such show is? I can't name any right now.
I bet you don't even like gay people, right? Right? Everyone ever heard that one? But I mean,
when I say gay, what I really mean is a homo, what the Bible calls a sodomite, okay? I just
want to be clear with my words since it's a misnomer. Does your wife work or do you
make her stay home, right? You just make it fun of you, just poking jabs at you.
These are all the things that you're thinking in your mind that, oh, they're going to make fun of
me. You know, oh, you probably don't even let her wear pants either, do you? Right? So all these
just dumb things that people make fun of, but here's the thing, I'm not ashamed of any of that,
right? All that is righteous stuff. And the reason why I believe all that is because the Bible is
teaching me to live a righteous life. Why would I be ashamed? I love Jesus. I love the Bible.
The reason why I'm living my life the way that I am is because I love Jesus and I love the Bible
and I want to follow that. So why would I ever be embarrassed of that? Those people should be
embarrassed. So the Bible says in Romans 9.33, that whosoever believeth in him shall not be
ashamed. So you can try to shame me all you want, but I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation. And I'm not ashamed of God's commandments.
I'm not ashamed of righteous living. I'm preaching you the gospel because when Jesus comes back,
you're the one that's going to be ashamed. Amen? That unsaved person that's making fun of you,
that you're worried about them embarrassing you, they're the ones that's ultimately going to be
ashamed. The unsaved person who is shaming you has become the one who ought to be ashamed.
They don't want to be associated with Jesus Christ or they feel guilty or embarrassed to
be in a conversation about Jesus. They don't realize that they are the one. They don't
realize that they're the one that should be ashamed. So the first thing that they do is
try to take their shame and put it on you. But again, we're not going to be ashamed of
Jesus Christ. They are the ones that should be ashamed. Truthfully, they are ashamed,
and you are showing them how not to be ashamed by believing in Jesus. Right? Because again,
that's what it says in 933. If you look at the end of that verse, it says,
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Amen? Turn to Romans chapter number 10.
Romans chapter number 10 in verse number 11, the Bible says, for the scripture saith,
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and
the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him whom they have
not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written,
how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of
good things. The Bible says that when you're preaching the gospel to someone, that your feet
are beautiful. Imagine that. And it says that you're bringing glad tidings of good things.
So why would you ever, if God's saying, hey, as you're preaching the gospel, your feet look good,
and you're bringing glad tidings of good joy, why would you ever be embarrassed
to talk to someone about that? Why would you ever be ashamed of that? Why would you ever worry about
being humiliated? Again, the easiest way to not be ashamed is to think about the fact that they're
actually the ones that should be ashamed. Actually, the fact that they're making fun
of you and trying to humiliate you is shameful to them, because you're bringing glad tidings
of good things. You've got beautiful feet. You're helping them to not be ashamed by believing on
Jesus Christ. So I remember someone that I worked with. So this is just a quick story, kind of an
example, a real-life application of not being ashamed of the gospel. So there was someone that
I worked with that they were addicted, and I have no idea what they were addicted to because it was
never made clear, but basically they put themselves in a bad spot very, very quickly. So one day I was
on the job site, and the person I'm talking about, it was him and his son. And the only reason his
son was there helping him is because he was so addicted to whatever that he lost all his
employees. The only person he could get to help him with was his son. So this was probably the
fourth or fifth week on a job that should have taken less than two weeks. So things are just
going super, super slow because he's so addicted to whatever that he just can't hardly work.
So I don't know if maybe I thought that he was going to die,
but whatever was inside of me was leading me to preach to him.
Before that, maybe I never had the opportunity or the situation didn't come up, whatever.
So I was able to preach the gospel to him, and I was able to lead him to Christ. He called upon
the name of the Lord. He got saved. But here's the thing. His son was there. His son was about
30 yards away, and I had the thought that I should preach to him as well, but I didn't.
Now, I had the time. I had the opportunity. I had the ability, and for whatever reason,
I just didn't do it. Whatever's in my mind of, well, he's a teenager. Maybe he won't listen,
or maybe he's going to make fun of me. Who knows? This was such a long time ago,
but all I know is I preached the gospel to him, and I did not preach the gospel to his son.
And I knew I should have, and I didn't.
And so he was a teenager at the time, and about two years later,
he started having seizures, and eventually the seizures led to a coma, and he died.
Now, I don't know if maybe his dad was ever able to preach him the gospel, or whether,
if he ever did get saved somewhere else. I really have no way of knowing that until I get to heaven.
But all I know is I did have the opportunity to preach to him, and I didn't. Now,
I could have preached to him. Maybe he got saved at that point. Maybe he was already saved. Maybe
he didn't get saved. But the reality is that as a Christian, I have a duty to preach the gospel,
and if you've got the time, you have the ability, it's in the right, appropriate situation. You're
not actually being paid hourly by your job to preach the gospel to other people. That would
be an example of an inappropriate situation. If you've got the time and the ability, and it's
the right situation, and you're just not preaching the gospel to someone because, well, maybe they
don't want to hear. Maybe they don't want to listen. Maybe they're going to make fun of me.
That's an example of being ashamed of the gospel. So, this was someone who was completely young and
healthy, and they just died suddenly. So, like I said, I don't know if he ever got saved,
but I know that, like I said, I had the opportunity to get him saved if he wasn't,
and I didn't do it. I had another friend in a similar situation with his neighbor
who was 19 years old, and my friend needed a ride to pick up his vehicle, and his neighbor
drove him to go pick it up, and there was enough time to basically ask the question,
hey, are you 100% sure if he died, did he go to heaven? And there was enough time to preach the
gospel and this car ride to wherever, but my friend, for whatever reason, he only shared a
couple verses with him. Maybe, oh, I don't want it to be awkward, or yeah, I don't want him to
make fun of me, or yeah, if he doesn't accept what I have to say, maybe this is going to be
an awkward car ride. And instead of trying to lead him with the Lord, like I said, he just
shared a couple Bible verses, and again, had he tried to preach the gospel to that ninth-year-old,
maybe he would have gotten saved. Maybe he was already saved. Again, we won't know until we get
to heaven and this particular person, but one day my friend found out that his 19-year-old neighbor
had all just died in his sleep. You know, just literally like that fast, and so again, a lot of
times we would think to ourselves, well, this is a 19-year-old. They're my neighbor. I'm going to
have plenty of opportunities to preach them the gospel. I'm going to see this person probably once
a week for the next several years, so it'll be the right time. It'll be the right opportunity.
It'll feel right. I'll be having a good day that day. I'll feel extra confident. I'll feel good
about myself, and then that's when I'm going to preach the gospel, right? So here's the thing.
If we have the time and ability to preach the gospel, and we hesitate to share the gospel
because we're worried about what they might think, say, or do, or we're worried about what someone
else might think, say, or do, if we are reluctant to share the gospel due to the thought of
embarrassment or humiliation, then that is the act of being ashamed of the gospel. So,
examples of being ashamed of the gospel is basically saying in your mind, well, you know,
I'm just going to give them a track. I'm just going to say a verse so they don't think I'm
weird or something. You know, just a track and a verse. It's good to go. I'm planting a seed.
That's good enough, right? Now again, if we're in situations where we're just kind of passing
through somewhere and just the time isn't there, you're on your job, whatever, and you only have
the time to give a track and share a verse, that's better than nothing. But I'm talking about the
situations where you do have the time. You know that you should preach to them, and you're just
like, oh, but what if they're going to say something bad to me, you know? Or a lot of times
we can just judge people and just be like, oh, they don't look like they like Christians. You
know, they don't even look like they're going to get saved anyway, you know? So I mean, you know,
yeah, I mean, they're just not going to listen to anything that I have to say, so what's even
the point? I'm not even going to give them a track. I'm not even going to give them a verse.
Now if somebody is just like, it's completely obvious that they are like a transgender or
something like that, like that is like crossing the line into the reprobate, which if you listen
to the last part of Romans chapter one, you got a little snippet of that. That's another sermon
that should be preached at another time. Plenty of sermons on Romans chapter one on that topic,
but here's another example. Well, you know, if I give them a track, then they're going to know
that I go to F.W., they're going to know that I go to Faith Ward Baptist Church. They might think
I'm weird, and maybe they'll get mad at me. You know, these are all reasons why we, what we say
in our mind of why we don't end up preaching the gospel to people, and if you, if you, if when you
have these simple little thoughts in your mind, and you tell yourself, you know, right now I'm
being ashamed of the gospel. That's what's going to motivate you to do the right thing
and to turn from that sin. So turn your Bibles to 2 Timothy.
Return to 2 Timothy chapter number one.
2 Timothy chapter number one in verse number seven. The Bible reads,
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou
partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, who hath saved us
and called us within holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life
and immortality to light through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle
and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless
I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him against that day. Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard
of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus, that good thing which was committed unto thee,
keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. So when you partake in the gospel,
you receive eternal life, you are born again, you're going to spend eternity with God,
you are saved, saved, saved. Amen? But here's the thing, you must also partake in the afflictions
of the gospel. And by every definition, us Christians living in America, any affliction
that we have, it's a light affliction. It is so light. How Paul was persecuted and just practically
tortured and just everything that happened to Paul, the fact that Jesus was ultimately crucified
to death, our afflictions are light. All we're worried about is, oh man, am I going to feel
embarrassed? Are they going to humiliate me? Are they going to make fun of me? Again, they're the
ones that should be ashamed. God has saved you. He has called you unto a holy calling. God has
appointed you as a preacher. Even if you're a child, you are a preacher of the gospel. You can
go get other children saved. You can preach the gospel to adults even, right? He saved you. He's
called you into a holy calling. He's appointed you as a preacher. We have a duty to preach the
gospel and not be ashamed of Jesus, who is the one who takes away all shame. So why would we ever
be ashamed of the person, Jesus Christ, who takes away all shame? Why would we ever do that? It makes
no sense. The only reason why you would think that is because you're elevating your own
self above God. You're worried about what other people think about you rather than what God thinks
of you. If you just are worried about what God thinks of you, then you'd be like, you know what?
God is going to appreciate that I'm preaching the gospel to this person.
God is going to appreciate every single time you're preaching the gospel to somebody.
Why would you ever be ashamed of that? It makes no sense. If you're a child of God, God is not
ashamed to have you as his child. So don't ever dare to be ashamed of God. Go to Hebrews chapter
2. Hebrews chapter number 2, verse number 10,
says, For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, and bringing many
sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both
he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed
to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church
will I sing praise unto thee. So God is not ashamed to be your brother. I mean, it's literally,
if we read that verse, it says, For both he that sanctifieth, God, and they who are sanctified,
those who are saved, are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
So Jesus Christ, hey, he's not ashamed of you, so why would you ever be ashamed of him?
It literally makes no sense whatsoever. God is not ashamed of you, so do not be ashamed of him.
We want to say, we want to recognize every single time we preach the gospel,
that if we're ever, you know, worried about what someone's thinking and that stops us from
preaching the gospel, we need to think, we need to just think in our mind, hey, God's not ashamed of
me preaching the gospel to this person, so I shouldn't allow this person to shame me.
So again, just to cover that definition of ashamed one more time, so you have,
to be ashamed is to be embarrassed or guilty because of one's actions, characteristics,
or associations. That would be like if you were just directly ashamed of Jesus Christ,
because whatever it is about Jesus' characteristics, you feel embarrassed or guilty about it.
Now, the second definition, reluctant to do something through fear or embarrassment or
humiliation, that is when, it's basically, there's a situation where you know you should
preach the gospel, but you don't because you're worried about getting made fun of.
So, just to sum it all up, instead of worrying about ourselves and worrying about someone making
fun of us or causing us embarrassment or humiliation or getting mad at us, we should
just think, you know what, right now, this person, they're unsaved, they're ashamed before God,
I'm going to help them to believe in God, and then God's going to make them not ashamed, amen.
So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.