The title of my message this
morning is Not Ashamed. Not Ashamed. My text will be
Romans chapter 10 and verse 11. Let me begin by making this statement. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Now that's no great claim. It
would be an abhorrent thing if I were. The Lord God declares
that he's not ashamed to be my God. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
darling son, declares that he's not ashamed to call me his brother. It would be unthinkably shameful
for me. to be ashamed of him and his
gospel. I solemnly declare with the Apostle
Paul, before you and before God, I'm a debtor. I'm a debtor to
everybody. I'm a debtor. to the Greeks and
the barbarians, the Jew and the Gentile, the black and the white,
the bond and the free, to everybody. I owe something to everybody. And that I owe is the free preaching
of the gospel of God's free grace in Jesus Christ the Lord. That
by which God has been pleased to save me, to make me whole,
I owe to you. It is my responsibility, my obligation,
my duty, my privilege, my debt, something that must be paid.
That is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord. So as much as in me is, I'm ready
to preach the gospel. And I've been preaching the gospel
of God's free grace for almost 50 years. I was just a boy of
17, barely 17, when I first began to preach. In all that time,
my doctrine has not changed, not so much as a hair's breadth
has it changed. The message I preached then is
the message I preach now. In all those years, I hope I've
grown in the grace and knowledge of my Redeemer, I hope I'm growing
in faith and love. I hope I'm growing in commitment
and consecration to God. I hope God gives me greater understanding
and greater wisdom. But my doctrine hasn't changed.
In the very beginning, my testimony was, by the grace of God, I am
what I am. And my message was Christ and
him crucified. And that hasn't changed. The
first message I preached to you as your pastor was Christ our
substitute from 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21. The first message
I preached to you when first I came to preach to you was the
title, the same title, Christ our substitute from the same
text, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21. And my message today is precisely
what it was then. And I make you a promise, it's
not going to change tomorrow. It's not going to change. I know
folks change their doctrine. And if a fellow changes his doctrine,
one of two things has happened. Either God saved him and he learned
that he didn't know the gospel or he'd been paid off. One of
the two, by some means or other, he'd been bought off. He'd been
bought off. God's servants don't change the
message. They don't alter the message
to suit the society in which they live or the people to whom
they preach or the preachers among whom they labor. They preach
the gospel of God's free grace. My doctrine hasn't changed. It's
not going to change. If you're looking for some other
doctrine, you just have to go somewhere else. It ain't going
to happen here. Not while I breathe, God helping
me. Some of them go, Pastor, how do you know? Because I'm
not looking for anything. I found what I need, and I found
what you need. I'm not ashamed to believe it.
I'm not ashamed to confess it. I'm not ashamed to preach it
because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who
believes. If God will enable you to believe
the gospel you hear from this pulpit this day, you will find
that word to be made of God to you, the very power of God by
which you're saved. It is the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believeth, to every sinner who believes
on the Son of God, for therein the righteousness of God is revealed. That's what the gospel is. It
is the revelation of the righteousness of God. not just the revelation
of the fact that God is righteous, everybody knows that, but the
revelation of the fact that God has made men righteous by the
doing and dying of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is
revealed from faith to faith. God graciously condescends to
take men like you and me, And by our confessing the righteousness
of God, by confessing God's salvation in Jesus Christ, he takes that
faith that he's given us and conveys faith to another by the
proclaiming of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures
speak plainly concerning these things. And I'm not ashamed of
the gospel, because the hope that the gospel gives forbid
shame. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God. We have hope, blessed, comfortable
confidence of life everlasting. Now let's look at Romans chapter
10 for a moment. I want you to know the gospel. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that God will make the
word of his grace, the power of God to your soul salvation
this day. Romans 10. Brethren, my heart's
desire and my prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. They're religious,
religious, religious as all get out. They have religious cliches
and religious sayings and religious habits and religious dress and
religious proverbs and they go to church and they give their
money and they are all excited about religion and go on religious
caravans and religious tours. And they're ignorant, just as
ignorant as if they were monkeys. Have no knowledge of God, no
knowledge of God. No knowledge of God. For they,
being ignorant of that one thing, the gospel reveals the righteousness
of God. Being ignorant of God's performance
of righteousness, God's accomplishment of righteousness by the doing
and dying of his son, God making sinners righteous. They're ignorant
of that. So they go about to establish
their own righteousness. and have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God." I try to look for wise responses
to statements and comments men make about religious things.
And driving home yesterday I had a good while to think about it
when Jeb and I weren't talking, religious comments and preachers
doing this and preachers doing that. What are they doing? What's the
church doing? What's the preacher doing? And
don't leave it to just fellas to come up with whatever they
want to. Are they telling you how to be good? Are they telling
you how to be righteous? How to please God? How to make yourself righteous?
How to live a good, godly life? That's it, that's what they're
doing. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. That's
what's going on all over the world. In fundamental, independent,
conservative Baptist churches all over the world. In this town,
across this state, across this nation, around the world. They're
telling sinners how to make themselves righteous. going about to establish
your own righteousness because they don't know God from a bit
ago. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. Now, no need to
get angry with them. They're ignorant. No need to
be angry with a blind man because he can't see the sun. He's blind.
But they're ignorant of God's righteousness. The very reason
we are debtors and must proclaim the word of the gospel of God's
grace is because folks are dying without it. Read on. For Christ
is the end of the law. for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things
shall live by them. But the righteousness which is
of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in thine heart who shall
ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above,
or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring up Christ
again from the dead. The law of faith doesn't say,
what shall I do? What shall I pay? The law of
faith says it's done. What sayeth it? Verse eight.
The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That
is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, men believeth
under righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made
under salvation. Now look at our text, verse 11.
For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. Here God the Holy Ghost tells
us that faith enables sinners like you and me. Faith in Christ,
believing on the Son of God enables and causes men and women who
know and confess and acknowledge themselves nothing but sin to
stand before God unashamed. Unashamed. Whosoever believeth
on him shall not be ashamed. Now let's look at this text line
by line for just a few minutes. The text first begins with divine
authority, an assurance of divine authority. The scripture saith. The scripture saith. What is
the basis of the message we proclaim? What is the basis of your faith? What is the basis of all that
we declare in this generation? The scripture saith, that's all. The scripture saith, in this
age of enlightened darkness and learned ignorance, I proclaim
the gospel of God's free grace with confidence and authority
that cannot be gainsaved. The scripture saith. Let others
tickle men's ears and flatter their egos, appealing to creeds
and confessions and historic records and religious philosophy
if they dare. This is my only authority, the
scripture says. The scripture says. The sole
basis of my appeal to your souls is the word of God. Now in making
this book and this book alone the basis of my appeal, in making
the word of God alone the source of my doctrine, in making this
blessed book the source of all authority, I'm in good company. This is exactly what our Lord
did. This is exactly what his apostles
did in their own preaching. The statement, the scripture
saith, is conclusive. When God speaks by his word,
that's the end of the matter. Nothing else to be discussed. You may recall a few weeks ago,
I had an article in the bulletin, it might have been just last
week, I can't remember, what said the scripture. And I just
quoted scripture, just quoted scripture. Do you know how enraged
men are by some of the things that were made, stated in that,
just quoting scripture? Well, it's the way you said it.
Folks, they can't stand it. They want something else. The
Scripture says that's all. That's all. That's the basis
of all that I had to preach to you. The basis of all that I
believe. This book is indeed the Word
of God. It is inspired. It is authoritative. It is inerrant. It is absolute.
What the Scripture says is so. And whether it matches with your
experience or not is irrelevant. Whether it matches with science
or not is irrelevant. Whether it matches with your
emotions or not is irrelevant. Whether it matches with what
your mom and daddy taught you or not is irrelevant. What the book
says is so, and we bow to the book. We bow, Bill, we bow our
reason, we bow our feelings, we bow our experiences, we bow
what we've been taught, we bow everything to the book of God.
What does the scripture say? Nothing else matters in any degree
with regard to anything spiritual or religious, to the law and
to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this book, it's because there's no light in them. And the message
of this book is what? That which is taught in Exodus,
where the Lent has been teaching the last several weeks, and that
which is taught in Romans, that which is taught in Genesis, and
that which is taught in Revelation, that which is taught in Malachi,
and that which is taught in Matthew, is exactly the same doctrine.
It's exactly the same doctrine. God saved Abraham the same way
God saved you. God saved Abraham by grace, by
the revelation of Christ, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And God saved you, if you're saved, by his grace, by revealing
Christ in you, and having revealed Christ in you, giving you faith
in his dear son. That's the only way God has ever
saved anyone, and that's the only way God ever will save anyone. The message of the book is authoritative,
and the message of the book is one. The passage to which Paul
is referring in our text is Isaiah 28 and verse 16. He doesn't really
quote the text, but rather he gives us the sense of the text. He tells us that which was the
sense of Isaiah 28. Turn back there for a moment.
Isaiah 28, verse 16. When we speak the word of God,
We don't just repeat what the scripture says, but we give out
the sense of what scripture says. That's what preaching is. It
is opening up the word, telling out the doctrine of the scriptures.
Look here in Isaiah 28, 16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord,
the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation. A stone,
a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
shall not make haste. What's the sense then of the
text? What's Paul saying? What does
Isaiah say? What's the Spirit of God say?
He who believes on the Son of God is safe and comfortable and
secure. He'll not be afraid of evil tidings.
He rests his soul on the doing and dying of God's darling son,
and that's all. He's not shaken. He's not turned
off. He's not ashamed. He that believes
on the son shall not make haste. This word of God itself, I repeat, is the solitary
basis of all true faith. Now here's the second thing we
see in our text, Romans 10 verse 11. Not only is the gospel we preach
a matter of divine authority, it sets before us a very wide
door of hope, thrown wide open, just thrown wide open. Whosoever
believeth, That's a good word, whosoever. I'm glad the text doesn't say,
if Don Fortner will believe. If it read, if Don Fortner will
believe, I know myself well. I'd convinced myself Markie was
talking about another Don Fortner. And there are not many of them
around. I had never seen another one until I moved to Danville.
And that one was a little, short, red-headed preacher, had one
of them Ronald McDonald hairdos, looked like he had his fingers
in a socket somewhere, and it sure wasn't me. But I'd be convinced
if it said Don Fortner's talking about him, it wasn't talking
about me. Wasn't talking about me. But whosoever. I sure fit
that. That makes room for me. That
makes room for you. The word is whosoever. Whosoever. Whosoever. Don't be afraid of
it. Whosoever is a good word. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Whosoever will, let
him come. There's no secret decree of God
that will shut any man out of Christ who comes to Christ. No
measure of sin in the past can deprive you of grace. God promises
salvation to whosoever believeth on the Son of God. Whosoever believeth on the Son
of God. Well, Brother Don, I just, I
can't believe him like I ought to. I can't, I don't have faith
like I ought to have. That's not what he said. That's
not what he said. Whosoever believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting
life. I know the folks who think they're
theologians, they've got to get everything figured out and explain
it so perfectly that they explain it away. You know, when I'm thirsty,
When I'm thirsty, I can't believe these days you have to pay a
dollar for a bottle of water, but you get it at the store,
buy that stuff that's supposed to be purified. Do you know what
I've never done? Do you know what I've never done? I know
some folks think I'm dumb, but if I'm thirsty and there's a
bottle of that cold water in the refrigerator, and I get something,
want something to drink, I pick it up, take the cap off, take
a drink. I have not to this day read the label. I don't care
who makes the stuff. I don't care where it came from
down here across the bridge in Kentucky, or whether it came
from Colorado, or where it came from. I don't even care where
this came from, and it's not even sealed. And I'm not likely
to investigate it to see what all it contains. Let's see if
it's good water. That's just what I wanted. I'd
just take a drink. I'd just take a drink. And I
know there are other brainy folks who spend their lives. You can
probably go to one of the finest universities in the world and
get a degree in waterology. and you can study water all your
life. Put it under a microscope, find
out, tell you about bugs and things in that you can't see,
and things that, where they're headed, come from this place
to that place. Is it water? Is it cool? Is it refreshing? Will it quench your thirst? Take a drink, I proved it. And I'm not gonna try to rob
anybody of the fresh water of life. Whosoever will, let him
come and drink of the water of life freely. And the son of God
says, I'll give it to you. I'll give it to you. Now, look
at our text again. Here's a clear declaration of
the way of salvation. The scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Salvation doesn't come
by doing, but by believing. Salvation is not obtained by
believing facts about Christ, but by believing on the Son of
God. Faith stands in Christ alone. I know whom I have believed. Faith stands upon Christ with
both feet, leaning only upon the Lord. Not feelings, but Christ. Not experience, but Christ. Not
church ordinances, but Christ. Not works, but Christ. Not knowledge,
but Christ. Both feet fixed on the rock of
ages. Christ alone and Christ only
is our hope. What do you mean, pastor? I trust
that man yonder seated on the throne of God who is God in my
flesh. I trust his shed blood for all
atonement for my sin. I trust his blood for all the
satisfaction of God's angry wrath and his holy justice. I trust
his obedience as the man in human flesh who walked on this earth
for 33 years for all my righteousness. I trust his grace, his grace
alone for my salvation. Faith, trust Christ, only Christ. Now, look at this text one more
time. Here is a glorious, glorious
promise made by God the Holy Ghost to every sinner who believes
on the son. The scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Now those words are
found, that promise is found, in numerous places in the scriptures. And each place is found has a
slightly different shade of meaning. The first we saw back in Isaiah
28 and verse 16. The promise was, whosoever believeth
shall not make haste. Every other foundation shall
be destroyed. But this foundation stone, Christ
Jesus, stands forever and cannot be destroyed. And those who are
built on this foundation do not make haste. They'll not be shaken
from this foundation. They'll not be frightened to
flee from this foundation. They'll not be pushed off this
foundation. Sin and Satan shall not overcome
them. The awful hour of death will not cause them to be confounded
because their heart stands fast, believing upon Christ Jesus,
the Lord. When a sinner builds his hope
upon Christ, he's not driven into worry and hurry, but rather
he quietly walks with God. He's not in haste. quietly walks
with God. I don't mean by that that he
doesn't have trouble. I don't mean by that that he
doesn't have pain. I don't mean by that that he
doesn't feel things. In many ways, God's people in
this world feel things like others cannot. I stood alone yesterday
for just a few minutes. I had some distance back. looked at my sister's body lying
in that wooden box, getting ready to drop her in the earth, and
realized that probably as much pain and as much difficulty and
much sorrow as all the other friends and family had, there were few, if any, in the
room next door. who knew my sorrow, my gratitude
to God for his grace to me, and my sorrow at her loss. There are things that the believer
experiences that cause indescribably greater pain than the unbeliever
can ever know on this earth. We know things beyond the grave. and the loss is felt, painfully
felt. But in the midst of heaviness
and sorrow, and some of you have been there before me, the Lord
is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll
not make haste. I'll fear no evil, for thou art
with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. They'll not make haste. Let not
your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me, the Savior said. And then we find this same promise
given in Romans 9, in verse 33. Romans 9, 33. Behold, I lay in
Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of a fence. Whosoever believeth
on him shall not be ashamed. The word ashamed here, it means
to be dishonored, disgraced, put to shame, made ashamed, made
to blush with shame. A person is put to shame who
suffers rejection or has been deceived by a false hope. Let
me give you two examples you'll be familiar with. Adam and Eve,
Rex, when they had sinned, after Adam had taken the forbidden
fruit, they made themselves fig leaf aprons and sought to hide
from God, covering their shame. They had a covering, but they
knew they were naked. They had a covering, but they
blushed with shame. They had never known it before.
Before they walked around buck naked and didn't have any shame.
Didn't have any shame because there was nothing to be ashamed
of. But now they'd sinned against God and they sought by covering
their bodies to cover their soul and cover their hearts because
they were naked and they were ashamed. They were ashamed because
their works were a thing that caused them to be repulsed by
God. Exposed before God, they were
ashamed. Cain and his brother Abel came
to worship God one day. And Abel brought the first thing
of the flock, and Cain brought a huge truckload of corn. Best
chord you ever saw. And the Lord just walked right
by that truckload of corn, didn't even peel back the shirts on
it and look at it, and walked over and took Abel's sacrifice
and accepted it. And Cain was enraged, because
he was ashamed. He'd been rejected. He'd been
pushed aside. but they who trust the Lord Jesus
shall never be ashamed and never be repulsed and never be rejected,
never be pushed aside, but always accepted of God. Then here in
our text, we have the promise. The scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. The word is exactly
the same as we had in verse 33 of chapter nine. Some vainly
imagine that they believe on Christ, who are
ashamed to confess Him. But here, the apostle is speaking
directly in connection with this matter of confessing Him. The Word of God pierces with
a razor-sharp sword. And this is what the Book of
God says, Whosoever believeth whosoever believeth shall not
be ashamed. Shall not be ashamed. Ashamed
to confess the Savior. Ashamed to confess faith in Christ. Those who believe own up to being
believers. They acknowledge that they're
believers. They're not ashamed of the faith
of Christ, that is of his doctrine. They're not ashamed of the faithful
obedience of Christ as their substitute. They're not ashamed
of their faith in Christ. If you believe on the Lord Jesus,
confess it. Confess him in believer's baptism. They're not ashamed to be identified
with Christ, but rather they take their place with him in
the watery grave. I feel sorry for the man who
has a wife he's ashamed to be identified with. I feel sorry
for the woman who has a husband she's ashamed to be identified
with. Oh, there's something wrong with that relationship. There's
something wrong with that relationship. God's people are not ashamed
to be identified with one another as God's people. and they're
not ashamed to be identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
not ashamed to bear witness of him. I'm not ashamed to own my
Lord or to defend his cause, maintain the honor of his word,
the glory of his cross. The believer shall never have
calls for shame. We shall not be ashamed because
our faith is proved to be unreasonable. We are never gonna be ashamed
because our faith has been disproved. We'll never be put to shame because
of believing on the Son of God, because we shall find that faith
in Christ is always satisfying to the soul, always satisfying
to the conscience. Everything else is below that. Nothing else satisfies your soul. Nothing else satisfies your conscience. Look at one more text over in
1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. Verse 5. Ye also are lively stones, living
stones, built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. Now here is the very same word
you find in Romans 9.33 and in Romans 10.11, but here the translators
translated it confounded rather than ashamed. Reckon why? Did they just haphazardly say,
well, it could mean this or could mean that? No, no. But rather
recognizing that one English word, cannot fully translate
the word that the translated in Romans nine and Romans 10,
a shame that could not, you could not fully translate it here in
first Peter. The very same word is translated,
confounded because the believer, one who trusts Christ, you just can't shake it. You
just can't shake them. I have been in situations, particularly
as a young believer, when I couldn't readily answer questions folks
had. I couldn't readily answer arguments folks had. Our children
going to college and high school and having to deal with these
infidels who are professors and teachers, and that's what they
are. They're just infidels, folks who hate God and hate humanity. They pretend to love everything,
but the problem is they love themselves. And so they try their
best to dismantle everything about faith. And the young child,
impressionable, the college kid who thinks they're, you know,
smarter than the rest of the world and had to know everything,
they're so impressionable and they're shaken. The professors
try to shake their faith. And they can't answer all the
questions. Can't answer all the questions. Well, you're going
to have questions you can't answer. You're going to face situations
you can't answer. You're gonna deal with problems
you can't answer. But he that believeth shall not
be confounded. Just because you found out that
there was something brilliant that you just had to, I couldn't
believe the Bible and believe what I saw in the caves down
in Mammoth Cave. I couldn't believe the Bible
and deny what I see in the evolutionary processes of the world. Well,
go ahead and take the caves and take the evolutionary process,
if you take a notion. The believer will not be confounded. He'll not be confounded by men
or devils. He'll not be confounded in this
world or in the world to come. We shall have confidence before
Christ and not be ashamed at his coming. We're safe now being
laid on this stone and will not be removed from it or intimidated
by anyone to flee from it. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou has the words of eternal
life. I read years ago a statement
concerning the death of that infamous lying man who called
himself an atheist, Voltaire. He tried to prove to everybody
he didn't believe in God and his son was dying. And as his
son was dying, Voltaire took his hand and he said, hang on,
son, hang on. And his son looked at him with
a glaze of death in his eyes and said, there's nothing to
hang on to. He that believeth on the Son
of God shall not be confounded. I've got something to hang on
to, do you? And that on which I hang is that
which holds me by his grace, Jesus Christ the Lord. We'll
not make haste to lay hold of any other foundation, but we
shall be found on this foundation even before the great white throne
judgment of God unshaken. Believing on the Son of God,
we shall never have cause for shame, confusion, or consternation. Not in this world and not in
the world to come. When I stand before God, who sees all, who knows all,
in that great day, I bow my head with reverence
and gratitude and thanksgiving, but not with shame. Not with
shame. Because I'm built upon the rock,
on the rock of God, built on the rock Christ Jesus. God dug
down deep and built me on the rock, built upon the rock of
God. Why should I fear when the winds
sweep by, built upon the rock, Christ Jesus? Or shaken be when
the waves roll high, built upon the rock of God? Hush, raging
billows at his command, I built upon the rock, Christ Jesus.
Oh, peace be still, neath his loving hand, I'm built upon the
rock of God. Praise God for our foundation,
sure, built upon the rock, Christ Jesus. No storms can harm our
house secure. We're built upon the rock of
God. I hold not the rock. But the
rock holds me. The rock holds me. I rest on
the rock and the rock holds me. Resting on the rock of God. Oh, may God give you faith in
his son and build you upon the rock. so that you never be ashamed
or be put to shame or be confounded or make haste or be confused. Oh God give you now faith in
his son. Amen.