The Apostle Paul loved and valued the Gospel. He could truthfully say, ‘I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord’. There was nothing in this life, nothing in this world, nothing in creation, to be compared to the Gospel of Christ. Paul knew this and he preached the Gospel of Christ, not a gospel of man, nor a half gospel, but the whole counsel of God as revealed in the Scriptures.

The result was that he was never ashamed of his faith in Christ. He was not ashamed of it when he was among his own countrymen and their religious leaders who were furiously opposed to the crucified Saviour: ‘And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God’ (Acts 9:20). He was not ashamed at Athens where the Greek intellectuals and philosophers mocked the teaching of the Gospel concerning the resurrection. He was not ashamed of the Gospel at Rome where he met the wealthy and the powerful of this world. There were many things in these places which could have made him ashamed of the Gospel. There was the prejudice of the Jews, the pride of the Gentiles, and the contempt of the Greeks. Paul held fast his faith in Christ, before them all. We read in the Scriptures of the Lord saying to His people: ‘Ye are my witnesses’. Every believer is a witness to the work of the Holy Spirit and to the power of the Gospel in their lives.

Some are Ashamed⤒🔗

We may have many reasons to be ashamed of ourselves, but none with the Gospel. When there is division and spiritual declension in the church, many are apt to be ashamed of the Gospel as it looks weak and foolish. The world regards the Gospel as a childish and feeble thing that has perhaps done its work in the past but must give place to something higher as man has progressed in knowledge. Some regard it as anti-intellectual, almost childish, and now become obsolete. Multitudes look and listen to the media and science for knowledge of what to believe, but not to the Bible. They are ashamed of the Gospel of Christ!

Also in the visible church there is a tendency for ministers to be ashamed of the Gospel. It is, they think, too simple so they would overlay it with explanation, argument and eloquence to make it more respectable and more attractive. Some of these ministers will preach on morality, on love to our neighbour, on current topics, on politics, on charity, on philosophy, but they are ashamed of the Gospel. It is sad when a minister who knows the truth of the Gospel, if in the company of other clergymen, no matter how refined they be, is ashamed to own the simple Gospel.

If any might have been tempted to be ashamed of it, Paul much more. His education, his life, his teachers, his companions were all such as to make him turn aside from a thing so plain. But, rising above all, Paul declares he is not ashamed of the Gospel that so many of his former friends and teachers despised and scorned.

Elisha not Ashamed←⤒🔗

Elisha the prophet gave a simple message to Naaman, ‘Go wash in the river Jordan seven times’. It was a simple message but what power was in it, for it came from God! Naaman’s pride rose up against it. He expected a show of some kind, a ceremony, or a flash of lightning with thunder. He felt that he had been insulted — just wash in the river Jordan? The prophet had kept out of sight. There was no great show, no ceremony. He thought, ‘If Jehovah is speaking through this man I didn’t even see him. Have I just to take Him at His word’? He felt insulted — just wash in the river Jordan? No showy rites? Nothing to pay? (He had brought a fortune with him.) ‘It is an insult to my intelligence, to my high position’. But it was the message God had sent! Elisha was not ashamed of the kind of good news he had for Naaman. Naaman however was ashamed of the gospel until the Holy Spirit humbled him and made him willing and obedient to the good news. After his cleansing he took back to his land some earth from Israel on which to worship and we believe he was a true follower of the Lord. The power and attraction of the world is so great today that even the visible church keeps silent when she should boldly proclaim the Gospel. Most of us know that when we are in a backslidden frame we tend to lose sight of the glory of Christ, even as Peter, following Christ afar off, became so weak that he was ashamed before a young girl and then he denied Christ openly. But when Christ turned and looked at him, Peter was ashamed of being ashamed.

Why Paul was Not Ashamed of the Gospel←⤒🔗

Had it been the feeble, childish thing which men said it was, he would have been ashamed of it. But it was not so! It was mighty — mightier than philosophy, or argument, or science. It was power — ‘the power of God unto salvation’. The Gospel is not feeble, though it consists of a few common human words. It does not look mighty, but it is so. Let us trust it as such, treat it as such, use it as such, both for ourselves and for others. It is a divine thing. It contains the most potent truths, it leads to the vastest results. Through it God puts forth His power — exhibiting more of His power in it and through it than through any other thing. Creation embodies the power of God, much more the Gospel. It may not seem mighty, but it is so. Here the Holy Spirit tells us it is so, ‘It is the power of God’! Let us reverence it as such. Of no mere human truth can it be said, as of this, ‘It is the power of God’. Let us then make a wide difference between it and all other truth. Let us feel that we are in possession of the mightiest power on earth, that it has lost none of its power in the lapse of ages. It is as powerful now as ever.

It is the Power of God unto Salvation←⤒🔗

There is nothing else in our world that can save but this. In the hand of the Spirit it reaches to, and reverses the condition of the lost. Nothing else can do this. It saves, heals and brings out of darkness into light. Salvation is its goal, nothing less than this — not merely to reform, nor refine, but to save. It is salvation that we preach, eternal salvation.

Let us ask ourselves, ‘What has the Gospel done for me? Has the Holy Spirit used it to humble me and bring me to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? Just as the few simple words that God spoke to Naaman humbled him and made him embrace God’s way of salvation, a way that he at one time despised, so Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote: ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth’.

We pray that the power of the Gospel of Christ will be seen, known, and felt in our homes, our streets, our towns and our land again.