I'll bring you by a way that
you know not." He would have never, never chosen the path.
I know I'd have never chosen the path that the Lord has taken
me on. You know, I've learned this,
when it comes to the providence of God, just kick your feet out
and go with it. Like you're in a spring, just
kick your feet out and just roll with it. It's my honor to be here. I've been here many times. And
it's a real blessing to be here and an honor to stand in this
pulpit. If I thought any more highly
of your pastor, it'd probably be wrong. But I think so highly
of Paul. And I've known Paul many a long
time. Appreciate their hospitality,
keeping us And to you for having us. Turn to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. Paul said, I preached two years
before him. I don't know that I preached,
but someone sent me the tapes when I very first preached, and
I just threw them away. I said, what did I know? What
did I know? But, you know, our pastor was
very patient with us. And the Lord was very patient
with us. And here we stand 40 some years later, preaching the
Gospel. Still needing him just as much
as the first time I stood before him. The title of this message tonight,
I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. I am not ashamed. Paul says in
verse 14, I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians. both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me is, according
to the gifts and the abilities that God's given me, I am ready
to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. And I can read
it like this. So as much as in me is, I am
ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rocky Mount also. Two thousand years later. Same
gospel. 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. For therein,
in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Now Paul made it very clear that
he was ready to preach the gospel to the church in Rome. He identified
the gospel that he was ready to preach over in verse 3 and
4. He's talked about the gospel
which concerned Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Son of
David. The gospel is concerning The
Son of God. God Himself. That's what it's
concerning. Son of God as well as Son of
Man. We cannot preach one without
preaching the other. When we preach Jesus Christ,
we are preaching God in human flesh. We're not saying, and
I think this is where so many mess up, because they don't know
Him. They don't know it. They say,
think, this part is God, this part is man. No, this is God. This is the God-man in one undivided
person. This is the God-man. And we preach
the whole Christ. We preach Him in His offices
as prophet, priest, and king. He's our prophet, priest, and
king. I thank God we have a prophet. who came from glory to tell us
of God, to reveal to us the Father. He said, as I hear, I speak. I speak. And He's our priest. He represents us. And He's our
King. We have a King. Aren't you thankful
with the mess that's going on in our day? Are you not glad
that there is a King who reigns over all, who sits at the right
hand of God, And He rules over absolutely everything and everyone,
and He's our King. Our King. Our King's doing this. He's our prophet, priest, and
King. He's the only mediator between God and men. I thank
God there's a day's man between me and God. I'd be in a lot of
trouble. We preach Him as the one and
only substitute for sinners. The only one. No one else and
nothing else. So Paul says here in verse 15,
So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to
you that are at Rome also. As he was a debtor to the Greeks
and the barbarians, Paul was anxious. Anxious! Now, I've done this now for over
40 years and I still get very nervous. I still get very nervous
doing this. But at the same time, I'm anxious
to deliver the message. I have a message. I have a message
of good news for sinners. Now, if you're not a sinner,
I don't have anything for you. But I have a message of good news
to sinners, and I'm anxious to stand here and tell it to you.
Nervous, but anxious also. Anxious. And Paul was anxious
to fulfill his duty by preaching the gospel to the church in Rome.
And it's evident that Paul counted not his life dear to himself
because he knew that preaching the gospel in Rome was going
to meet with severe opposition. He knew that. But you know, Paul
said this in one place in the book of Acts. He said, I count
not my life dear unto myself. Now this is the pinnacle of discipleship. I count not my life dear that
I might finish I don't count my life dear to
me at all. Do you know what it is not to count your life dear? Not to be afraid to die? Not
to be afraid to give up your life for the gospel? And Paul
knew when he went to Rome, he was going to face strong opposition.
But he also says this to encourage them that were going through
severe opposition in Rome. He said, I'm not afraid to preach
the gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. Now what does Paul mean by this
statement, not ashamed? Not ashamed. Paul was satisfied
of its divine origin. It's of God. What I'm telling
you is of God. What I'm telling you came from
heaven. It came from the throne of God. The gospel is not something
made up by men. It is God's gospel. It's God's way of redemption. It's God's way of saving sinners.
This is of God. That's why He said, I'm not ashamed
of it because of its divine origin. It's of God. Paul was not ashamed
of the person that the Gospel sent forth, Jesus Christ. At
one time he was, just as you and I. At one time, we were ashamed
of Jesus Christ. We were ashamed of our Creator.
We were ashamed of the One who gives us our breath. That's astounding
to me. It's humbling to me when I think
that at one time I was ashamed of Jesus Christ. And Paul was
too. He wouldn't be caught dead with
him at one time. He wouldn't let his name roll
off his lips. But not now. Oh, the power of
grace. The power of grace. Paul was
not ashamed of the person the gospel sent forth. They said,
can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Well, one good thing
he had. One good thing he had. Jesus
Christ. Many were ashamed of his heritage. They called him the carpenter's
son. We know you. You're the carpenter's son. Well,
it's evident you don't know him. He's God's son. They were ashamed
of his appearance. Poor. They were ashamed of his
followers. Publicans and sinners and harlots. If he knew what kind of people
they were, he wouldn't associate with them. And they were talking
about people like me and you. They were talking about us. Not ashamed. Many were ashamed. They were
ashamed to admit that they needed such a Savior. But Paul, Paul realized. That if I'm going to be saved,
this is the one who's going to do it. Jesus Christ. God in the flesh. Many were ashamed
of His gospel. None good, no not one. Many were
ashamed to admit their own wretchedness. They said, we'd be not sinners.
But Paul says now, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed. The Greeks called
it foolishness. Their philosophers called it
foolishness. And they believed them. And the Jews founded a
stumbling block. But Paul says, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel
of Christ. Paul was not ashamed of the people
in the dress. Sinners. Sinners. You know, there was a time Paul
wouldn't even walk close to a sinner. He'd go across the street to
keep from walking beside what he considered to be a sinner.
But not now. Not now. Paul was a very learned
and educated man. And the bulk of Christians in
that day were unlearned and ignorant men. And yet, Paul was not ashamed
to call them brethren. Because he learned that the Lord
was not ashamed to call him His brethren. One time, years ago,
was the first time I was standing in an unemployment line. And
I was standing there and I felt ashamed. I did, I felt it. I'd
always had a good job working, here I was in the employment
line. And I felt ashamed. And this scripture, this scripture
came to me that He's not ashamed to call us His brethren. And
when I was standing there in that line and that scripture
came to me, I thought, what in the world are you having to be
ashamed of? You're in the line you ought
to be in. You're in the right line. Unemployed, broke, in trouble. You're in the right line. And
get this, the Lord stood in that line. And not only stood in that
line, he stood at the head of it. He's not ashamed to call
us brethren? How could we ever be ashamed
of the gospel? That's of God. How could we ever
be ashamed? Paul was not ashamed of the persecutions
that it brought upon him. He said, I've suffered the loss
of all things. You know what? He was glad to do it. He wasn't
complaining. He wasn't complaining. He was
glad to do it. He said he was in prison often,
and he was glad to be there. He was glad to be there. He was
just as comfortable there as he was if he was sitting in a
palace. The Apostle was not ashamed to
live the Gospel. He said, for me to live is Christ.
One could not be around Paul long before hearing the Gospel. Now you're not going to be around
the Apostle Paul long before you find out who his Lord is.
You're going to find out who Jesus Christ is. He is not ashamed
of it. He took every opportunity to
make him known. He said in 1 Corinthians 2, 2,
For I determined not to know anything among you. And the Corinthians
were a learned people. They were a cultured people.
Paul said, I don't want to know any of that stuff. He said, there's
one thing I want to know. It's not that he wasn't interested
in me, but there's one thing we're going to settle first.
And that's our relationship with Jesus Christ. Our friendship
is going to be based on our relationship with Jesus Christ. He said, I'm
determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And that message never changed. It never changed. Now what is it to be ashamed
of the Gospel? What is it to be ashamed of the
Gospel? It is not to identify with Him
publicly. When you are ashamed of someone,
you don't want to be identified with them. If you're ashamed
of them, you don't want to be identified with them. And then
it's not to identify with His people. Not to be seen with His
people. Not to congregate with His people.
And then it's not to tell the truth about Him. To be ashamed
of that message, of the doctrines of the gospel. A shame, listen to this, is to
be ashamed to confess that it took such a death to save a wretch
like me. When you look at the cross, what
do you see? What does the cross of Jesus
Christ say about me." When you look at Him on the cross, His
visage, it says, was marred more than any man. He was unrecognizable. They beat Him so much. It took such a person, God, to
come into this world and to suffer at the hands of His own justice
and to be crucified. and be tormented. What does that
say about me as a person? It took that person to die that
death to save this wretch. How wretched must I be? How wretched
must I be? It's a shame to confess that
it took such a death to save them. And then to be ashamed
of the gospel is to keep silent when he's being lied on. You know, it doesn't make me
mad when men, you know, they get on, these politicians, they
get on TV and they lie and they lie on one another. That's what
men do. That's what they do. Let God
be true and every man a liar. But it makes me mad when they
lie on God. Because when they're lying on
each other, That's men being men. But to lie on God, to stand
in a pulpit and lie on God Almighty, that makes me mad. I find that
upsetting. The kingdom that I'm interested
in is the kingdom of God. I'm not interested in the kingdom
of men. God's going to burn it up. God's going to burn up the
kingdom of men. He's going to destroy it. It's
the kingdom of God. We pray, Thy kingdom come. We pray for the prosperity of
God's kingdom. The rest of them He's going to
destroy. Now, Paul speaks here of the efficacy of the Gospel. He says here, it is the power
of God unto salvation. It's not the power of persuasion.
If I can persuade you, somebody else can persuade you in another
way. It's not the power of persuasion. It's not a system of beliefs. It's the power of God. It is
God giving you life. It's God commanding life through
the Gospel, begotten by the Word of Truth, which is the Gospel.
There's a power that goes forth with the Gospel when God sends
it forth in power that can't be denied. Paul said to the Thessalonians
in 1 Thessalonians 1-5, that our Gospel came not unto you
in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in
much assurance. It came to you in power. It's
the dynamite. It's the dunamis of God. Now
how is this power manifested? When God sends the Gospel, in
power, how is it manifested? It will overcome all the false
beliefs you held in the past. Do you know, do you realize what
power it takes for you to trash everything you believed? It takes
the power of God. It takes the power of God for
you to take everything you believed before you heard and understood
the Gospel, and throw it in the trash. And say, teach me, Lord. Teach me. Teach me the Gospel. All that we believed and rested
our souls on in the past, we throw it away and we trust Jesus
Christ alone. Alone. And then it's manifested
And that it enables us to overcome persecutions and not quit. Now
you and I really don't know. We don't really know what persecution
over the Gospel is. Like our ancestry. You go over
and read Hebrews 11. And read some of the early church.
Well, back here in Paul, back in Rome and Nero when he was
putting them feet into the beast and putting them on a post and
lighting his garden with it. These are our ancestors in the
faith. But the Gospel, when it came
to them in power, enabled them to overcome that persecution
and not quit. And not complain and give in.
No, they were glad to die. They were glad to suffer. You
know when the disciples were beaten, they came back rejoicing
that they were counted worthy to suffer for the Gospel. It
troubles me, I'm telling you, it troubles me that we don't
suffer any more than we do. This is for me. This is for me.
I question myself. I say, am I really preaching
the Gospel forcefully or passionately and as it is? Because I ain't
making anybody mad. I mean, do you see somebody just
really upset and want to tear your head off? I think in our day we've become
so tolerant that we just let everything go. And there's a point where tolerance
becomes acceptance. And that's a problem. And then his power is manifesting
and overturning idolatry, the things we worshipped before.
Remember Diana of the Ephesians, worshipped by the world? When
the gospel came to town, they turned from her to worship the
living God. Only the Gospel can do that.
Only when the Gospel comes in power will it dethrone the idol
and God be enthroned in the heart. And then the Gospel's power is
seen in its influence in our lives. They catch a criminal
and they put him in prison. And they put him in prison to
do what? To reform him. And how many of them are let
out? And they're repeat offenders. But let the gospel. Let the gospel
come. And it ain't going to reform
him, it's going to transform him. It's going to transform him.
And that man is a new creation. I don't care if he was a murderer
or what he was. That man is a new creation in
Jesus Christ. He's not the same anymore. When
God saves a man, that man or that woman is not the same anymore.
You go over and read 1 Thessalonians when the Gospel came in power.
They left their idols and they received the Gospel in months
of affliction and the Word of God, the Gospel went out from
them. Paul said, I don't need to tell anybody about you. They
tell me about you. They tell me about you. You heard
about that church down there in Rocky Mount? Oh, my soul. It changes lives
now. The Gospel changes lives when
it comes in power. You'll never be the same. How
can someone be the same as born of God? How can something born
of God ever be the same? You can't. It's not possible.
It's not possible. You'll make a husband, a better
husband. I tell you what, if you're just as mean as you were
before and after, you're just as lost. You're just as lost. The Gospel makes a husband a
better husband, a wife a better wife, children better children,
employers better employers. It makes a difference. It makes
a difference. And then here we see here it's
divinity. It's the power of God. The Gospel
is the power of God. The Jews said, they said He cast
out devils by Beelzebub. This is by Beelzebub. The pagan
said, it's nothing but the power of the masses. Paul said, no,
no, no. It's the power of God. It's the
power of God. This preaching, what I'm doing
right now, and what David just did, that's the power of God
Himself. That's it. We don't have to add
anything to it. Just leave it in its raw state. I was in a restaurant one time
and I ordered a steak and the lady said, would you like some
sauce with it? I said, not if it's any good. Leave the gospel as it is. It's
good. You don't have to sauce it up.
Just leave it like it is. In the hand of God, sinners will
be saved. I expect sinners to be saved
because That's what the gospel is all about. Saving the sinner.
Glorifying Christ. It's the power of God. Listen,
it's the power of God to save. It really saves. Sometimes when I'm at the house
and I'm sitting around, I'm just stunned that the Lord saved me. I'm saved. I said it to a man
one time, he made fun of me. Saved is a Bible word. God has
saved me by His grace. God has saved me by His power.
God has saved me by Himself. He has saved me. As David said,
God has died. What was that song we sang? There's
a fountain filled with blood drawn from whose veins? Emmanuel's
veins. Paul told the elders there in
the book of Acts to take care of the church, to oversee it.
over which the Lord purchased with His own blood. He said God
purchased with His own blood. It's the power of God to save.
Listen, it saves. It keeps us saved. It's authentic
and saved. That's why it's good to preach
it over and over and over. Paul said in Hebrews 2, he said,
beware lest you let these things slip. That's why it's important
to preach it over and over and over. I won't let it slip. Lord,
I won't deny you. Though all these deny you. He
was talking about the disciples sitting back there. I can imagine
they probably said, did he just say what I think he said? He said all of us would deny
him, but he wouldn't. And we know what happened. He denied the Lord and he needed
that. He needed that. As bad as that was, that was
a need be. Peter needed to be brought down.
And the Lord knew how to do it. It's the power of God to save,
to keep us saved, and it saves us from future wrath. Saved from
the wrath to come. It's on its way. The wrath of
God is on its way. And we are saved from the wrath
to come. And then its objective is the glory of Christ and the
salvation of sinners. The Gospel is the power of God
of true salvation to everyone that believes. It gives all the
glory to the Father who chose us, the Son who redeemed us,
and the Holy Spirit who regenerates us. And it gives none of it to
us. Nobody in glory will stand up and say, let me tell you what
I did. You will be there. That's your attitude. He gives all the glory to them.
And the end result is the salvation of our soul. No one has ever
been saved apart from the gospel. No one. And the power of it is realized
through faith. Spoken of here, Paul says, is
applied through faith. And faith is what? The gift of
God. The gift of God. Faith embraces
Christ as its all in all. Now what does the Gospel reveal? For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. Of who? Of God. God came into this world and
worked out a righteousness for you and me. For every believer,
for everyone who hears the letter, God... No one could ever produce
what God demanded, but God. And God provided everything He
demanded. God came into this world and
God worked out a righteousness in the flesh. In the flesh. This righteousness is of God. Righteousness by which sinners
are saved, it's revealed in the gospel. It's not revealed in
the law. I think what's revealed in the
law, sin. Sin. You know, here's what's
sad, that rich young ruler, He came to the Lord and he said,
what must I do to inherit eternal life? He knew something was missing.
He knew something was missing. It won't give rest. You see,
the works don't give rest. And the Lord made him on the
grounds he came on. He said, well, keep the commandments.
And he said, which? He just said commandments. That's
plural. It means all of them. And he said this, all these have
I kept from my youth. You know what's sad? His morality
became his undoing. We think that outward, sinful,
living conduct is the undoing. This man's morality became his
undoing. All these have I kept from my
youth. And he went away sorrowful. The Lord told him to go sell
all he had. The law says thou shalt not covet. He couldn't
do it. He couldn't let it go. It couldn't let it go, it had
to. But there is a righteousness,
listen, there is a righteousness that we have in Christ that's
of God and is accepted of God and we are accepted in Him. And
we are righteous. Do I feel righteous? Now, if I went by the way I feel,
I'd be a mess. I'd be a mess. Because, you know,
I feel good today. I may feel bad tomorrow. Who
knows? My feelings are like a thermometer. They're up and down. But this righteousness is of
God. And it's ours. In Christ. And God has accepted it. He provided
it and we have it. He's given it to us. Now how does this faith that
receives this righteousness, how does it come? Scripture says in Romans 10,
17, so that faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. There
is nothing more important that you will ever do in your whole
lives than what you're doing right now. You're hearing the
Word of God, the Gospel. You know, we pray for our loved
ones that the Lord would save them. And I do pray for my loved ones
that the Lord would save them. But I try to get them to hear
the Gospel. Because they're going to have
to hear the Gospel. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word
of God. And this righteousness is revealed in the Gospel. Salvation
comes by revelation. The Holy Spirit takes the things
of Christ. He takes His righteousness, His
blood, His person, and He reveals it to the heart. And you say,
I see. I see. I'll never forget when
I heard my pastor, Henry, preaching on television. And the first
time I heard him preach, what he was saying matched what I
was reading. And for the first time I said, I see it. I understand
it. I understand how God can save
me. I understand. That's amazing. And here we are
47 years later. And He's still saving me. He's
still saving me. Well, Paul said, here I'm going
to close, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ. That's a miracle. That is an
absolute miracle. That we are not ashamed of Jesus
Christ. And the greater one is that he's
not ashamed of me. That's astounding to me. I can't
wrap my mind around that. He's not ashamed of me. And this gospel that we're going
to preach again and again and again, tomorrow, next day, and
every day after that, by the grace of God, we're going to
keep preaching it. Because it's the power of God,
listen, to save and to keep us safe. Keep us safe.