I would like to read a few Scriptures from the book of Romans. We will begin in Romans 1.
Romans 1:1
Paul, bondman of Jesus Christ, called apostle, separated to God’s glad tidings.
Then, in Romans 1:15-16:
So, as far as depends on me, I am ready to announce the glad tidings to you also who are in Rome.
For I am not ashamed of the glad tidings; for it is God’s power to salvation to everyone that believes, both to Jew first and to Greek.
Lastly, in Romans 10, we will read Romans 10:13-15.
For everyone, whosoever, who shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call upon Him in Whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe on Him of Whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without one who preaches?
And how shall they preach unless they have been sent?
According as it is written,
How beautiful the feet of them that announce glad tidings of good things.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we thank You for how You have led us this morning to remember You and to see You. We thank You for Your presence. Lord, we thank You for putting Your Word before us right now.
Just as we read this morning, only You have the words of life. We commit this time to You. We want to hear from You, Lord. We do not want to go away from You. We want to maintain Your presence this whole time. In Jesus’ name, amen.
In the letter to the Romans, the main theme is the gospel of God. All the way through the book of Romans, we see that the gospel is very big. There is a lot in Romans, and the gospel is such an inclusive term.
At the beginning of the letter, in the first seventeen verses, there seems to be a spotlight on the preacher of the gospel. We can really see the heart of Paul, the preacher of the gospel. As an introduction to the whole book, we can find something about the messenger of this message.
What we want to look at today is this: What is it about the preacher of the gospel? This is foundational even for understanding the gospel and for looking more deeply into the letter to the Romans. We want to spend our time looking at this preacher of the gospel and at the first seventeen verses as an introduction to the letter.
Hopefully, in learning about the messenger, it will help us to experience the message more thoroughly.
First, we need to know: What is the gospel? In the first four verses, Paul shows very simply what the gospel actually is. His gospel message is so on his heart, so bubbling over in his heart, that as he starts this letter, he cannot help but tell us what the gospel is.
Right at the start, in Romans 1:1, Paul says that he is “separated to God’s glad tidings,” set apart for the gospel. Then he goes on to tell us what the gospel is.
In Romans 1:2-4, we have a description of the gospel. The first four verses have two large parentheses, so when you read them, you can get confused. It is like a long sentence with two parentheses: sometimes you have to take the parentheses out to understand the sentence first, and then put them back in.
For example, we could say, “The preacher of the gospel and the gospel are closely related.” That is a short sentence. But then we could add parentheses: “The preacher of the gospel, which should include many Christians—the whole church, all of us, not just evangelists—and the gospel, which of course is our Lord Jesus Christ, are closely related to each other.”
That is a long sentence. If you take out the parentheses, it is very short and precise; but with the parentheses, it adds to the sentence.
In Romans 1:2, after speaking of the gospel, Paul says:
Which He had before promised by His holy prophets in the holy Scriptures.
Then, in Romans 1:3, he says:
Concerning His Son.
Then comes the second parenthesis:
Come of David’s seed according to flesh, marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
If we take out the parentheses, we have a very short sentence: The glad tidings concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
That is the gospel. The gospel is God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. The gospel is a Person. The good news is actually the Lord Jesus. The good news is God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
There is a fourfold aspect here: God’s Son, Jesus, Christ, our Lord. These are four titles or descriptions that show the fullness of the gospel.
Throughout the Scriptures, this is a normal way of showing the fullness of the gospel. We have the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
God’s Son is especially expressed in the Gospel according to John. John mainly emphasizes that He is the Son of God.
Then we have Jesus. Jesus is the name given to Him when He was born as a human being. The Gospel according to Luke mainly emphasizes that He is the Son of Man, that He is human.
This is the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is fully God, and He is fully man. When we speak of Him, we know His Person and we know His work. His Person is that He is fully God and fully man. He is the Son of God, and He is Jesus.
With His work, we have Christ. Christ is preached in the Gospel according to Mark. Mark shows Him as a Servant, as a bondservant, as a faithful Servant of the Father.
Christ means the Messiah in the Old Testament; it means the Anointed One. He has been anointed for a task: to complete the task the Father gave Him. He was faithful all the way to the end. He took the form of a bondservant to the Father and was obedient to the Father all the way unto death, even the death of the cross.
When we speak of His work, He came to accomplish the work on the cross. This is part of the gospel. We do not separate the Person and the work.
But it also says, “Jesus Christ our Lord.” The Lord is especially preached in the Gospel according to Matthew. Matthew preaches Him as King, as the King of the kingdom of the heavens.
His work as Lord is based on His finished work on the cross. But He has risen from the dead, He has ascended to the throne, and He sits until all His enemies are put as a footstool under His feet. He is interceding for us. He is interceding for the church.
He is bringing the work that He finished on the cross to full completion—in the saints, in the church as a whole, and even in this world. He is bringing everything to its final end. It is based on His work on the cross, but He is working now. The Lord Jesus is alive, and He is working right now.
When we share the gospel, we know His Person and His work. His Person: He is fully God and fully man. His work: He died on the cross for your sins; He died on the cross for mankind. He is living today and interceding for us, that we may be brought into the fullest salvation.
The letter to the Hebrews explains this again. Hebrews 1 says that He is better than angels, higher than angels: He is the Son of God. Hebrews 2 shows that He became lower than angels: He became a man. There you have His Person, fully God and fully man.
Then Hebrews 3:1 says that we should consider our Apostle and High Priest, Jesus. As the Apostle, He is the Sent One. That is what apostle means. He was sent out for the task, like Christ in Romans 1:4.
As the High Priest, He stands interceding in the heavens. He is not only a High Priest; He is the Priest. He is a kingly Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Aaron was a priest, but Melchizedek was both priest and king. That is our King, our Lord, and our High Priest.
Whenever we consider the preacher of the gospel, we must remember that he is not preaching a formula or merely some doctrines. Every time he preaches the gospel, he preaches Christ.
When we preach the gospel, we share a Person. We share the Lord Jesus. You may take different aspects of the Lord in what you share, but always remember: we are not simply trying to share three steps or some other method. If we are going to share the gospel, we have to share Christ with others.
Philip the evangelist, when he was sharing with the Samaritans, preached Christ to them. That is our message. That is Paul’s message here: the gospel preacher’s message is Christ.
Who is the gospel preacher? In Luke 4, we have the account of the Lord Jesus reading in the synagogue. He opened the scroll of Isaiah and read these words:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news.
After He finished reading, He sat down. Everyone was astonished as they looked at Him, and He said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears.”
The Spirit of the Lord was upon Him. He was anointed to preach the gospel, the good news. Our Lord Jesus is the first and ultimate preacher of the gospel.
During His life on earth, He preached the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of peace. He preached to the poor and to the blind. But what was He preaching? What is the gospel? He Himself is the gospel.
As He preached the gospel, He was the Messenger and the Message. When He opened His mouth and shared the good news, He Himself was the good news. The two are so closely related. In Him there is no separation.
He fully manifested the gospel in everything He did, in Who He was, and in His whole experience. Out of the abundance of His heart, His mouth spoke, and He preached the good news.
The messenger and the message should not be separated. The gospel preacher must manifest the gospel and express the gospel. A witness is a witness, and then he testifies. The Lord Jesus is our example.
After He rose from the dead, before He ascended to the Father, He told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:8, He said:
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
What He said in Acts 1 is very similar to Luke 4. Luke wrote both books. When he began Acts, he said that he had already written what Jesus began to do, and now he would show what Jesus continues to do through the church.
In Luke 4, Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. He has anointed Me to preach the gospel.” But in Acts, He said, “The Spirit will come upon you, and you will receive the anointing to be My witnesses, to preach the gospel.”
What He began to do in a limited way, as one Man on earth, limited in time and space—going to this city and that city—He now does in an unlimited way through the church. Our Lord Jesus is still the preacher of the gospel.
He is the gospel, and He is the preacher of the gospel. Now this is in a corporate way. He is the Head of the church—the big Head with a big body.
His body can now go all over the earth. The body can preach in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth—even in Richmond, Virginia—and all at the same time.
Before, when He opened His mouth, whoever was present could hear Him. But now He speaks through the whole church. The whole church is the gospel preacher now. He uses the whole church to announce the glad tidings.
There should still be no separation between the preacher and the message. The church is living by the gospel. The gospel is not merely for unbelievers. We received the good news as unbelievers, but the gospel message is our Lord Jesus Christ.
As believers, we continue to abide in the gospel, learn the gospel, and grow in the gospel. We continue to meet the Lord in this way. As we mature in the glad tidings, we share them with unbelievers and with believers.
The church is constantly sharing Christ with itself. Believers share Christ with one another. That is the gospel. When there is a need or a lack, we share the good news—we share Christ.
Whatever your problem is, we have good news for you: Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the Son of God. Christ is your solution. If you meet Him, you have peace. If you meet Him, your problem is solved. He is the good news.
As the church rises up, the whole church is used together to announce the gospel. We see this in the book of Acts. It was not only a few people preaching the gospel.
When the Holy Spirit came upon the church at Pentecost, all one hundred and twenty were testifying of the great things of God. Three thousand were saved that day. Peter gave the long message, but before that many were testifying in different languages, and they were preaching the gospel.
People were added daily to their number. We may not know who was witnessing, but when persecution scattered them, the whole church preached the gospel wherever they went.
We can focus on Philip the evangelist, who went to Samaria, but all the saints went out to different cities, and all of them preached the gospel. Not all were evangelists; not all were apostles. But all were announcing the gospel.
If you are an evangelist, your measure is different. Your gifting is different. The amount you may do may be different. But all of us, if we have received the gospel, will speak out of the abundance of the heart.
If we are with unbelievers, what is on our heart? Christ is on our heart, so we share Christ. That does not always mean you are strangling somebody and hoping to get them to pray within five minutes. But if you share Christ, you are sharing the gospel.
Paul was writing Romans to believers, and he hoped to announce the gospel to them. He said, “I am ready to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.” He was speaking to saints. So we share the gospel with one another.
The gospel is so full. It has layers upon layers. It is like a nice onion: you eat the outer layer, but there is more to eat. Maybe you cannot handle the whole thing all at once, because you will cry. So you eat one layer, put it in the refrigerator, and another time eat another layer.
That is the way we receive the gospel. We receive a little at first, but the gospel has layers upon layers, and we continue deeper and deeper, all the way to the core. It is always Christ, but He is so unsearchable.
When the church announces the gospel, believers share Christ with one another. Christ is on your heart, so out of the abundance of the heart your mouth speaks. You share that fellowship.
Paul says that he wanted to come to the Romans for mutual comfort, each by the faith which was in the other, both theirs and his. He wanted to impart something of Christ to them, but he also wanted to receive Christ from them. This is the way of the church.
The whole church rises up in preaching the gospel to unbelievers, though some may have more contact with unbelievers than others. It depends on where you are and what your circumstances are. But the whole church is involved.
Philippians 1:5 says that the Philippian church shared in Paul’s gospel. They prayed for him, cared for him, and helped him financially. Paul preached, but the Philippian church provided support in prayer and finances. They had a share in the gospel.
Some people may hand out a thousand tracts a day. Maybe they live in New York City and meet a thousand people in a few minutes. But they may not be able to afford a thousand tracts a day. Someone else can buy the tracts and give them to that person. You see how it works: the whole church works together.
When someone is saved, that person is brought into the church, and then we need the whole church to help the new believer. That is part of the gospel work.
When we share the gospel, we do not do it as an individual matter. We do it knowing that we are part of the body of Christ. The anointing to preach the gospel is upon the whole church. It comes from the Head down upon the body.
When you share with a family member, a coworker, someone at school, a stranger, or a friend’s friend, remember: “I am part of the body of Christ. That is why the Holy Spirit is upon me to share the good news. The Holy Spirit has come upon the whole church.”
A major thing in sharing Christ is that we forget about ourselves and see Christ. The gospel sharer and the gospel being shared should be closely connected.
When you share the gospel, experience the gospel at that moment. If you experience Christ at that moment, then you can share Christ with another person. If you are not experiencing Christ at that moment, what are you sharing?
If it merely comes from thoughts in the mind, it should not be that way. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Now we want to become more specific. We have considered the whole church, but now let us look at the individual Christian. We will use Paul as our example and consider the first seventeen verses of Romans.
We can divide these verses into three parts:
Paul says, “Paul, bondman of Jesus Christ, called apostle, separated to God’s glad tidings.”
To be set apart for the gospel has two aspects: one is on our side, and the other is on the Lord’s side.
On our side, Paul says that he is a bondman. We set ourselves apart for the gospel. To be a preacher of the gospel, we have to consecrate ourselves to be His bondservants.
For Him to set us apart first requires that we set ourselves apart. To whatever degree we know, wherever we are spiritually, there are different depths; but as much as we know, we set ourselves apart to our Lord Jesus. That is consecration.
Consecration is when we say, “I am all for Him, and He is all that I am about.” That is consecration.
On His side, those who are His bondservants can be set apart for the gospel. The Lord will not send someone who does not come to Him as a servant. He does not force anything upon us.
If we want to live our own life, He will not use us or send us. He wants to set us apart and sanctify us for Himself, but He allows us to choose. God purposely limits Himself in this way.
There is a limitation according to the degree we set ourselves apart. That is the degree to which He will set us apart. If we find that we seem limited, perhaps the Lord is limited because we are not fully giving ourselves to Him.
We might say, “The Lord never uses me to share Christ with anybody, whether saved or unsaved.” Something is wrong if we never share Christ. We probably have not been set apart for Him.
Romans 10 gives us a picture of the whole flow from the gospel preacher to the person who is saved. It traces the process backward, but let us look at it in reverse.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is when someone is saved: they call on the name of the Lord. But how will they call upon Him unless they have believed? You cannot cry out, “Lord Jesus,” unless you have believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.
But how will they believe unless they have heard the word? And how can they hear the word unless someone preaches it? God’s normal way is to use His church to preach the Word and share Christ. Then someone hears Christ, believes, calls upon Him, and is saved.
But how can they preach unless they are sent? The whole initiation is the Lord. He is doing the sending of the preacher of the gospel. He is sovereignly working, even though man’s free will is involved. He is the One sending, initiating, and standing behind it all.
I am not speaking about apostleship. I am speaking about ordinary believers. An apostle is a sent one, and Paul is an example because he says that he is a bondman and an apostle. He gave himself to the Lord, set himself apart to the Lord, and the Lord set him apart for the gospel.
Borrowing the meaning of the word apostle, every believer can understand that he or she is sent. In Romans 10, the word “sent” comes from the same Greek root. How can they preach unless they have been sent?
The Lord sends those who have confessed with their mouth, “Jesus is Lord.” Romans 10:9 says:
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
When someone is first saved, that person knows Jesus as Savior and Lord. At the beginning, a new Christian gives himself or herself to the Lord. They are His bondservants right from the start. It is not merely some later step that we eventually reach.
At the beginning, we are wooed by His love, and we say, “He is my all. I give myself to Him. Baptize me.” We respond and give ourselves to Him. Then He sends us to share.
As a new believer, you may not know many Bible verses—perhaps only one—but you can testify of your experience of Christ. You are His witness right from the beginning.
If you are really the bondservant of the Lord, if you have given yourself to Him, then He sends you to share. You may immediately share with friends who knew you before you were saved. Your family knew you in the flesh; now they can see Christ. That is a real power of the gospel.
Romans 10 is not merely a ladder; it is a repeating circle. The one sent to preach the gospel is the same person who was saved and confessed with the mouth, “Jesus is Lord.” The Lord sends that person, who shares Christ; another person hears, believes, calls on the Lord, and is delivered.
The gospel is for the unsaved and for the saved. Romans 10 is not only for unbelievers. To be saved is to be delivered.
As Christians, when we need deliverance from ourselves, the flesh, trials, temptations, or problems, we believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead. Another believer may share something of Christ with us and say, “Christ is the way through this.”
Then we believe that His life overcame death and that we have His life within us. His resurrection life is able to overcome this. As that wells up in our heart, we can give ourselves to Him again and confess, “Jesus is my Lord.” Then we are delivered.
I am not trying to give a formula. I am saying that, in a general way, all our experiences are the gospel, and all our experiences are Christ. It keeps going deeper and deeper.
Whatever level of the gospel you have experienced, if you have given yourself to the Lord at that level, you can share that gospel with other saints. We can share Christ to the degree that we are experiencing Christ today.
If you have given yourself to Him as a bondservant, and He shows you more, then give yourself to Him again as a bondservant. Everything He shows you of Christ, give yourself to walk fully in it by His grace. His resurrection life can do it in you.
If you remain at lower levels when He has shown you much more, He cannot really send you to share Christ, because you are not walking in Christ according to the full measure He has shown you.
The messenger cannot preach the message unless he walks in the full message he has received. Even when you are sharing with an unbeliever, you need to be right with God to share Christ.
You may share verses you have memorized or something you remember from the past. But when an opportunity comes to share Christ, make sure you are right with the Lord. Look up to Him immediately. Call out to Him. Give yourself to Him completely. Be washed clean by the precious blood.
If we are not walking in the full measure of Christ, let us call out to Him. Believe that He rose from the dead. There is no need to walk in less. He has given us the overcoming life to walk in the full measure.
The messenger can fully express the message only when Christ is the abundance and fullness of the heart. What is going on in your heart? Is He what your heart is all about? What are you meditating on? Where are you living? What are you experiencing?
Out of that, it will become very natural to share Christ.
It is like a grandparent. The abundance of a grandparent’s heart is often the grandchildren. When you are with grandparents, they want to talk about their grandchildren. They have pictures and stories—often the same ten stories over and over—but it is the abundance of their heart.
If Christ is the abundance of your heart, then when Christians gather together, they will want to share Christ. We can talk about the weather only so much. The weather may be interesting, but Christ is on the heart. “Do you know what the Lord Jesus has done for me lately?” That is because He is on your heart.
This helps with unbelievers too. Sometimes we wonder, “How do I break through?” If Christ is on your heart, you will break through. It will come up somehow. If people ask a question, you will have something to share of Christ, because Christ is what is going on in your life.
This is a prerequisite for the preacher of the gospel. Paul was a bondservant. He set himself apart for the gospel, and the Lord set him apart.
When we share the good news, it is not merely us sharing. We are actively involved, but it is by God’s grace. It is His sending, His initiating, His leading, His Spirit, His life, and His Christ in us that enable us to share Christ with others.
Romans 1:8-15 may be called “Ready to Announce the Gospel.” In this section, Paul shares that he has heard the report of the Roman believers, that he prays for them often, and that he makes mention of them constantly.
One thing he prays is that he may come to them and share the gospel. His whole heart is for them. He wants to share Christ with them.
He says, “I am ready to announce the gospel to you.” He had been ready, but the Lord held him back. One of his prayers was, “Lord, give me the opportunity to go to Rome and share the gospel.”
Paul knew many of the saints in Rome. In the last chapter of Romans, he lists many names. He could probably do that from memory because he made mention of them often in prayer. When you make mention of people, you remember their names.
Why was Paul ready to preach the gospel, while we often are not? An opportunity comes, and we miss it. I am focusing now on sharing Christ with unbelievers.
By ourselves, without Christ in us, even if we think, “I need to share the gospel with this person,” we are often not ready. Unless someone grabs us and says, “What must I do to be saved?” we do not know what to do, and the opportunity goes by.
It is like breaking bread on Sunday morning. If you are ready, all you need is a little nudge from the Holy Spirit. You are on the edge of your chair, wanting to thank Him for what He has done. The Holy Spirit gently nudges you, and you open your mouth and thank Him.
But if you are not ready, you dare not open your mouth unless you receive an overwhelming feeling. Your heart starts pounding, and you feel as though you must do something or you will fall down. Then you speak.
It is often the same way when sharing the gospel with the lost. Sometimes we receive an overwhelming burden, but that is rare.
The normal way of the Holy Spirit is gentle. He simply wants to nudge us. He is quiet, and He wants to nudge us in our spirit. But we are waiting for something overwhelming.
How was Paul ready to preach the gospel? In Romans 1:9, he says that he served God in his spirit in the glad tidings of God’s Son. His service was spiritual service.
His serving was from the spirit, not from his soul, his own thinking, or his own will. He did not decide where he would go. He did not go to Rome until the Lord allowed him to go.
If Paul had gone to Rome by his own decision, he might have gone comfortably. But when God sent him to Rome, he went as a prisoner, captured in Jerusalem and taken to Rome. Yet under God’s leading, he preached the gospel there, unbelievers were saved, believers were edified, and all heard the gospel.
We need help in growing spiritually. It is too large a matter to cover fully now, but wherever we are, let us go on by the Spirit and not by the soul. Let us go on by the leading of the Holy Spirit and not by ourselves.
When we live by the Spirit, we depend upon the Holy Spirit. We do not depend on our own skills, eloquence, or ways. If you feel that you are able to share the gospel in many ways and simply go forward puffed up in yourself, that is not serving in the spirit of the gospel.
Serving in the spirit means being sensitive to Him. But here is one very practical, down-to-earth point: Paul says, “I make mention of you.” Prayer shows that you cannot do it by yourself.
To pray for the lost and pray for the saints shows that you are not going in to help them by yourself. It will be the Lord Who does it. If anyone is going to save someone, it will be the Lord Jesus.
The Father, by the Holy Spirit, brings people under conviction and works on their hearts. That is what prepares them for the gospel. No matter how well you can convince someone, you cannot do this by yourself.
I have seen this happen many times, and I have done it myself. You may argue the gospel with somebody and perhaps mentally defeat them, but they walk away unsaved. You did not share Christ; you merely convinced them mentally.
If we depend on ourselves, no one will be saved—perhaps someone may be saved by accident, praise God—but that is not the normal way.
Paul was ready to go to Rome because he prayed for the church in Rome, for the lost in Rome, and for all those people. When you pray, you start to receive the burden.
You may say, “I do not have the burden to share the gospel with my relatives.” Pray for them, and you will receive the burden. When you pray, you commune with what is on His heart. He is already interceding for that unbeliever. He already desires that person to be saved.
As you pray for someone, you begin to touch His heart. You begin to know what He feels toward that person. In prayer, many things are shown to us, many leadings come to us, and many burdens come to us to share the gospel.
We are made ready through prayer for souls—both to share Christ with believers and to share Christ with unbelievers. One reason we do not share the gospel much with unbelievers is that we do not pray much for unbelievers. One reason we do not share Christ much with saints is that we do not pray for them.
As you pray for people, suddenly you want to share Christ with them. When you see them, you smile a little bigger. Sometimes, after I have been praying for someone and then I see that person, I just want to hug them. They may wonder what is wrong with me, but I have been praying for them. I am joyful to see them, and I want to share Christ with them.
The same is true with unbelievers. When you pray for the lost in general and pray for opportunities, you become ready. Paul prayed for an opportunity to share the gospel in Rome. When the opportunity came, he was ready.
If we pray for an opportunity to share the gospel, the Lord may give us an opportunity. We have not because we ask not. We do not want to neglect sharing the gospel with unbelievers, nor do we want to neglect sharing Christ with believers.
The gospel messenger shares in the reality of the gospel through prayer. In prayer, Christ leads us. In prayer, Christ works through us. In prayer, we depend upon the Lord.
Even if you go and share and make mistakes, thank God, someone may still be saved because you prayed. I have seen people saved through some of the worst gospel preaching, much of it mine. I would never do it that way again, but they were saved.
When I was first saved, I preached the gospel in a very wrong way. But I knew I should pray, so I prayed for people a lot. That is the only reason they were saved, because I had no idea what I was doing. I did it all wrong and shared things wrongly, but somehow they were saved.
If we go to God first, then we can go to man. Go to God for man, then go to man for God.
Yesterday, I was meditating on these words while walking around the neighborhood. My legs were tired, so I sat down at a picnic table. Then the Lord interrupted me. I was enjoying thinking about these verses, and suddenly I was interrupted.
A young girl, perhaps fourteen or fifteen years old, was walking around with her iPod and everything. If you have been rejected a hundred times while sharing the gospel with teenagers, you can become afraid in the flesh. In the spirit, we have shaken the dust off our feet, but in the flesh we remember those times.
I had prayed a couple of hours before, “Give me an opportunity.” I went out walking, but I forgot my tracts. Usually, because I am a scaredy-cat, I hand someone a tract because it is easier for me than simply walking up and starting a conversation.
The Lord gave the opportunity. The girl sat down at the picnic table, apparently waiting for a friend. She had earphones in. The Lord reminded me, “All I have to do is nudge you.”
In my soul, I did not know what I should do. But deep inside, I felt a gentle nudge. In my mind, I could reason, “Should I share? Should I not share? What am I going to say?” My will was undecided. But I knew that I was supposed to share.
That is intuition. You just know it deep inside. It is not primarily in your mind, though you can understand it. It is more like, “Okay, I should share.”
I had a Bible in front of me, so I probably looked safe. I asked her, “Are you a Christian?” She said, “Yes.” Usually, when people answer that way, they may not really know what it means.
We began talking. She asked, “Is that a Bible?” I said, “Yes.” I asked whether she had read the Bible before. She explained that she grew up attending church meetings, and that was why she thought she was a Christian. But her family had stopped going because her parents wanted to sleep in on Sundays.
I asked her, “Do you know what the gospel is? Do you know what the good news is from the Bible?” She said, “No.” So we went on and shared for a while. She was very excited, though she had many unusual questions about hell, ghosts, and many other things.
The Lord used it. We got around to the gospel from every angle. The Lord kept reminding me, probably because I had been meditating on these words: Share Christ the whole way through. Experience what you are sharing while you share it.
Even when we were discussing hell, I shared Christ. Eventually, we came to receiving Christ, because I shared some of my own experience, and she was very interested.
Then her friend arrived to pick her up. Her friend may have wondered, “Who is this old guy with my friend?” But I had a Bible in front of me, so I looked fairly safe.
I asked the friend, “Are you a Christian?” She said, “Yes, I am a Christian. What diocese are you from?” I said, “I am not from a diocese,” and shared a little with her about the church.
Since they both said they were Christians, I shared with them as Christians. I said, “We Christians still need to confess our sins and be forgiven by the precious blood daily. Are there any sins you have not been forgiven of?”
We talked about that for a while. I wrote down some verses for them because they had to leave quickly. As they walked away, the friend who had arrived said, “You just made my day so much better.” The other girl said, “Yes, me too.” Praise the Lord.
But I will tell you: my normal way in the flesh, without Christ in me, is to look down at my Bible and read it. I do not dare say anything because I think I might be rejected or that something else might happen.
When we are ready to announce the gospel, all we need is a nudge from the Holy Spirit. Like the apostle Paul, if we are going to share the gospel with others, let us prepare ourselves. Let us pray.
If you do not know how to prepare, if you say, “I do not know what to do; I do not know what to share,” start to pray. If you start to pray, you will begin to learn what to do.
As you pray for someone, perhaps you will feel, “I need to talk to that person.” You may not yet know what to say, but perhaps the Lord will give you Scriptures to share.
Perhaps, as you pray, you recognize some wrong idea in a person’s mind that is holding them back from receiving Christ, whether the person is saved or unsaved. Then you may feel that you need to search the Scriptures and learn how to share that truth from the Word of God.
You begin to train yourself and learn. As you pray for someone, perhaps you feel led to write that person a letter—a personal gospel tract.
The letter to the Romans is Paul’s gospel tract. It is Scripture, of course, but when Paul wrote it, he sent it to Rome. It was passed around everywhere, and people throughout church history have been saved through Romans.
Sometimes we can write something ourselves. It may be an email or a letter to a friend for whom we have been praying. You are burdened, so you share something in a letter. Or perhaps you write something to give to strangers.
Perhaps you are praying for a Christian and know of a helpful book. You may feel, “I want to get that book for that person.” All of this comes from prayer. This is sharing Christ.
You may not have five minutes with someone. Perhaps you have only ten seconds. But if you have a piece of paper to hand them, they can take it home and read it.
Whatever method we use, the preparation comes from prayer. The Lord leads us and gives Him the opportunity to teach us. If we have questions, we can ask another believer for help: “What if they ask me this? What do I do?”
The more we do this, the more ready we become to share Christ. The more we already share Christ with believers, the more ready we become to share Him with unbelievers.
As you pray, you begin to feel responsibility. You have to be faithful to follow the Lord for the sake of these souls. Sometimes we do not follow Christ simply because we are drawn by His love, to our shame. But when there is a new Christian or another believer for whom you are praying, you may feel, “I have to be faithful to help this one.”
The Lord can use that to keep us. It is like parents continuing on because they have children dependent on them. As you pray for others, you begin to feel responsible, and the Lord uses that to help our growth, help us learn the gospel more, and help us learn Christ more.
In Romans 1:16-17, Paul says:
For I am not ashamed of the glad tidings; for it is God’s power to salvation to everyone that believes.
Why was Paul not ashamed of the gospel? Because it is the power of God unto salvation.
Why are we ashamed of the gospel? In ourselves, without Christ, most of us are shy when it comes to sharing the gospel—even if we are otherwise outgoing.
Even Peter, who was very outgoing and often opened his mouth, was ashamed of the gospel. When the Lord was being taken to the cross, people asked Peter, “Are you not one of His disciples?” And Peter denied Him.
Jesus said:
Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father Who is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father Who is in heaven.
One way of being ashamed of the gospel is to be ashamed of the Person of the Lord Jesus. He is the gospel.
Throughout history, many Christians have failed in this area. Sometimes they have faced persecution, perhaps even the possibility of death, and the way out was to be ashamed of Christ. Sometimes they were pushed to deny Him.
Sometimes it is not a verbal denial; it is simply not opening your mouth. Sometimes shame means that you do not confess Him before men when you should.
Peter was a real gospel preacher. He preached the gospel, and three thousand were saved. He preached again, and five thousand were saved. He was a fisher of men. But left to himself, without Christ, he was ashamed of Christ.
Thank God, there is repentance. Peter repented, and the Lord restored him. Fifty days later, Peter stood before all Israel at Pentecost and preached the gospel boldly.
If you read his message, he gave nobody an excuse. If someone wanted to throw stones, Peter was the one to throw them at. He told them, “You crucified Him.” He preached the gospel boldly. He was a different man.
He was not ashamed of the gospel because, at Pentecost, he experienced the gospel afresh. He knew that the message was the power unto salvation. This was the only way. This was the best news. This was real.
Even if people reject it, it is still real. We often become ashamed after rejection. But do not be ashamed. What you shared is real, right, and good. That is the truth. If they reject it, that is their own responsibility.
When we share the gospel and live in the reality of the gospel, we will not be ashamed. Peter could stand up because he was experiencing Christ in him. He was experiencing the gospel right then, and he preached by the grace of God.
Sometimes we may be ashamed not of the Person of Christ, but of some truth of the gospel—before believers or before unbelievers.
Peter is again an example. At one time, Gentile and Jewish believers were eating together. Then certain Jews came from Jerusalem, people associated with James, who did not understand that there was no longer a separation between Jew and Gentile in Christ.
Peter knew the truth. He had preached the gospel to Gentiles in Cornelius’s house. He knew that in Christ and in the church there is neither Jew nor Gentile. He had been living in the reality of it.
But when these other Jews came, Peter pulled away from the Gentiles and ate only with the Jews. He was ashamed of a truth of the gospel that he knew. He feared men rather than God.
Paul says in Galatians 1:10:
For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.
If we are Christ’s bondservants, we care about pleasing Him. We are His servants.
In Galatians 2, Paul rebuked Peter to his face. But thank God, there was repentance. Peter repented. We know this because in his letters he spoke well of Paul. He did not disown him.
At the end of his second letter, Peter says that Paul wrote according to the wisdom given him by God. He says that some things are hard to understand and that some people twist Paul’s writings, as they do the other Scriptures. Peter called Paul’s writings Scripture.
We can be ashamed of a person, ashamed of the truth, or ashamed of the Person of the Lord Jesus. All these things have to do with being ashamed of the gospel.
In 2 Timothy 1:8, Paul told Timothy:
Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner.
This is sometimes a temptation for Christians. We may think that we could stand if it came down to gunpoint, but do not trust yourself even for that. When it comes down to martyrdom or some severe trial, our only hope is to abide in Christ.
Look up to Christ. See the gospel afresh, and then you will be okay. If you are in the flesh and by yourself, you do not know what will happen. Even the strongest person—even Peter—may deny Him.
Our way of living as living martyrs, living witnesses—for witness means martyr—is to abide in the gospel and abide in Christ. Then we can witness and testify. Otherwise, we will be ashamed.
People were ashamed of Paul. He said that all Asia turned away from him. Why were they ashamed of Paul? Sometimes, when persecution comes—whether in the world or in the church—the deception is to single out a person.
Perhaps a person is especially manifesting the gospel. Those who do not want to walk in the full way of the gospel may become offended by that person. If you want to please men, you may stay away from that person a little.
Perhaps privately you will still go and talk to that person, because you know that person is really following the Lord. You know that is the way to go, but you do not want to be publicly associated with that person. This is being ashamed.
Do not be ashamed of the Lord’s prisoners. Do not be ashamed of preachers of the gospel or Christians who follow the Lord wholeheartedly, even if others may be offended or speak against them.
Others may associate you with that faithful person. They may say bad things about you or call you names. But if that person is a Christian who is faithful to the Lord and follows Him, do not be ashamed of that person.
Stand before men. Let persecution come. Do not be ashamed of the gospel, because that person is manifesting the gospel.
The trickery of persecution is that people may not be ashamed of Christ openly, but they become ashamed of His messenger. They may persecute someone because that person fellowships with a believer who is really walking with the Lord.
Do not be ashamed of the Lord’s prisoners—those who are following Christ. Own those saints. Remember those who have gone on before us. We should own those faithful leaders who are following the Lord. We should not be ashamed of them, because that is a taste of being ashamed of the gospel.
When Paul shared the gospel, there was no separation between the gospel and the messenger. The gospel could freely flow. The power of the gospel for deliverance was real in his heart at that moment.
To be ashamed means that we will not open our mouths. If we are going to open our mouths, we need to know the gospel afresh. If the gospel is fresh with us, we are ready to share it because we know, “This is the good news: Christ.”
Whether speaking with Christians or unbelievers, our greatest hindrance in opening our mouths is that we are not abiding in the gospel. The preacher of the gospel and the gospel itself should not be separated.
Do not try merely to go out and be a preacher of the gospel. Abide in the gospel. Out of the abundance of your heart, you will speak. The Lord will give us opportunities, and if we are living in the gospel, we will open our mouths and share.
How can people call upon Him in Whom they have not believed? How can they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? They will not hear unless we open our mouths.
I have a poster in my room from when I was first saved. It is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi: “Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.”
But do you know that words are necessary? St. Francis himself often preached with words. His point was that we should live it. That is true. But later, some people used that phrase to say, “I am preaching the gospel; I am simply not going to use words.” That is not right.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:16:
For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; for woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.
When we are living in the gospel, we will feel that necessity upon us. As we pray for souls—unbelievers and believers—the burden comes upon us. It is not merely a leading; it becomes a necessity.
Jeremiah 20:9 says:
I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name.
Then there was in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones,
And I was weary with forbearing, and I could not contain.
Jeremiah tried not to speak, but the word became a burning fire in his heart. He became tired of holding it in and could not contain it. So he had to open his mouth.
Do not be ashamed of the gospel. Know that it is the power of God unto salvation. If somebody needs deliverance, share Christ. Know that this is the only way.
We cannot merely be sensitive, listen, and comfort someone with a hug. Sometimes the Lord leads us to be quiet, and sometimes we share Christ through simple comfort. But when someone is struggling and we have the good news in our heart, when we have prayed and there is an abundance in us, we need to share Christ.
It is a shame to be ashamed of the gospel.
Soon after I was saved, I felt led by the Lord to share the gospel with my grandmother. She was on her deathbed in the hospital. The Lord told me, “Go and share the gospel with her.”
That night, I struggled. I was afraid of rejection, afraid of man, afraid of everything. Really, what was before my eyes was myself. I did not have the gospel in front of me. I did not have the reality of Christ abiding in me.
I had the Lord’s leading. What I should have done was look up to Him, refresh myself in the Lord, and go. Instead, I made a deal with the Lord. I said, “Tomorrow, I will go. I will be ready tomorrow.”
That night, she passed away. I do not know whether my grandmother was saved or not. But since then, I have hated that I was ashamed of the gospel. I repented.
If the Lord nudges us, let us not be ashamed. We do not know how long souls have on earth. We do not know how long until the Lord returns. We do not know whether someone may go out and die in a car accident.
This has to do with Christians too. If you see a Christian struggling and not seeing Christ, share Christ with that person. Even if you do not have an overwhelming leading, look up to the Lord, refresh yourself in the gospel, and share Christ.
Do not be ashamed of Christ. If someone needs Christ and you have Christ to share, share Christ. They need to be ready to meet the Lord. All the saints need to be ready to meet the Lord.
As we fellowship with one another, our fellowship should bring one another to Christ. That is real gospel preaching. That is real sharing of Christ together.
May the Lord strengthen us, teach us, prepare us, and set us apart as we set ourselves apart. May He embolden us by the reality of the gospel, so that we will not be found ashamed in that day.
May He not have to say, “You were ashamed of Me before men; I am ashamed of you.” That would be the worst thing that could happen: to see Him and not see a smile, but to see shame.
May the Lord encourage us through this faithful gospel preacher, Paul, that all of us may rise up and share Christ with all mankind.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we all appreciate and thank You for the precious blood washing us clean from all our sins, all our mistakes, and all our shame. All of us can rise up and be faithful to You.
Lord, we want to be Your bondservants—not to do our own things, not to walk our own way, not to serve the world, and not to serve man. Lord, we consecrate ourselves anew to You, that You may have Your full way in us.
We pray that if there are any of us in this room not experiencing Christ right now, not living in the reality of Christ, You would touch our hearts and bring us all the way through.
We confess with our mouths that Jesus is our Lord. We know that You have risen from the dead, and we trust in You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.