America, Don't Be Ashamed of Jesus! (Part 1)
by Walter A. Maier
"I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth."
The Epistle by the Apostle Paul to the Romans Chapter 1 Verse 16
WE HAVE EVERY REASON TO GLORIFY HIS GOSPEL
It took magnificent courage for Saint Paul to write the first Christians in the ghettos and slums of Rome, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ!" and it required marvelous strength of faith for the apostles and those early disciples, surrounded by the pomp and display of imperial Rome, to stand up for Jesus and confess publicly that they were followers of a lowly Nazarene, who in distant, despised Galilee had died on the cross as a criminal. The declaration "I am a Christian" often meant the death sentence, even as Saint Paul paid for his loyalty with his life.
How much easier it is for us to champion the crucified Savior! Thank God, we live in a country, founded by believers, that still grants full religious liberty Thank God, we can read the records of nineteen centuries during which the Gospel has mightily changed men's hearts, just as it has lifted nations from the depths of vice and degradation, transformed cannibals into humble believers, and, in short, enriched the world with its highest, noblest blessings.
Despite all this the very word "gospel" is misunderstood, misapplied, and misinterpreted. A Minnesota architect maintains that, though most people in our country repeatedly use the word "gospel," they actually do not have a personal understanding of its meaning. Glibly men mention "the gospel of Communism," "the gospel of hatred," "the gospel of internationalism," and a hundred other "gospels." Pointedly Saint Paul warned, "Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed!" (Galatians 1:8) Yet false gospels (Mark 13:22) have crept into churches: political gospels, social gospels, ethical gospels all as far from our Lord's saving Gospel as blackest night is from brightest noon. Why do we not stop such misuse? Why do we not restrict this precious word "gospel" to its original, true, and sacred sense? In the same way, we believe, many hear the names "Jesus" and "Christ," the words "redemption," "atonement," "salvation," and fail to grasp their full, deep, true wealth of comfort. ( Isaiah 6:9; Acts 28:26-27;)
So that on the great day of our Lord's reappearing you cannot say, "You preached, but you never showed me the way to life," let me tell you just what His Gospel is! It took six weeks for the bad news of the Solomon Islands naval encounters to reach our people, but in less than six seconds this glorious message can be heard around the world. It is the "good news" (that is the original meaning of "Gospel"), the best news anyone can ever receive, the assurance that Jesus Christ, the Son of the Almighty and the Son of the Virgin, moved by unmeasurable love, came into this sin-saturated world, lived His life among sin-bound men and died on the sin-cursed cross, all to remove your transgressions and grant you pardon, eternal salvation, and heaven itself! (Acts 10:5; Acts 10:39; Galatians 3:13;)Though blinded, willful enemies of the faith try to change or alter, add or detract, question or quibble, (Matthew 15:14;) this is how the Scripture explains the Gospel: "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life!' (John 3:16)
Never since Saint Paul's day has the Gospel been proclaimed with the clarity and conviction shown by that mighty spiritual leader whose work millions commemorate this Sunday Martin Luther, reformer of the Church and restorer of New Testament Christianity. Just four and one quarter centuries ago yesterday he started the titanic task of restoring the Gospel. While time restrictions prevent us from broadcasting his immortal Ninety-five Theses, or religious truths, by which that earth-shaking Reformation began, we can present nine and five theses reemphasizing the glorious truths which Luther rediscovered and courageously restated. Here they are: First, the nine theses, or facts, which explain our redemption:
1. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" that is, lost the holiness with which the Lord created them. This is Bible truth. (Romans 3:23)
2. Unforgiven sin is punished by eternal death in hell Scripture, which has never made a mistake and never will, warns, "The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23)
3. No man can remove his own transgressions, make himself pure and spotless in Heaven's sight. "Can...the leopard" change "his spots?' Holy Writ demands, to show how utterly impossible it is for us to cleanse our stained souls. ( Jeremiah 13:23; Psalm 53:3; Romans 3:12;)
4. Nor can even saints or angels take away our transgressions. Revealed truth assures us that no man can "redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him." (Psalm 49:7; Revelation 19:10; Revelation 22:6-9;)
5. Only the Almighty can remove sin's curse. If there is to be hope for men and women burdened with many and terrifying transgressions, they must find it in the God who cries out to a world of anguish and evil, "In Me is thine help!" ( Hosea 13:9; Psalm 27:9;)
6. God not only can save us; He has saved us. He sent His Son to fulfill the Law we had broken, to assume the punishment of our iniquity, as our Substitute to pay the death penalty of all our guilt, so that, beholding the cross, we know, He "was delivered for our offenses." ( Romans 4:25; 1 Peter 2:24;)
7. Through faith in the Crucified and through faith alone we know that our sins are removed forever. The Bible promises, "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" ( Romans 8:1; Hebrews 2:17;)
8. By accepting the Savior we who were "children of wrath" have become "children of God" who live under divine love, guidance, and protection. (John 5:24; 1 John 3:14;)
9. By believing this glorious Gospel heaven is ours; for if we remain faithful to the end, God has promised us the "crown of life" eternal amid the indescribable radiance of our celestial homeland. ( 1 Corinthians 15:58; Colossians 1:23; James 1:12; Revelation2:10;)
These are nine facts of the Gospel, As I repeat them I am sure some of my Modernist friends are shaking their heads either in protest or in condescending wonder. I can hear them call these Gospel truths "old-fashioned," "out of date," "narrow," "bigoted." Yet the only message which can turn souls from hell to heaven is this old but ever new Gospel, of which proud, self-sufficient men are ashamed, but for which the contrite can never thank God sufficiently.
There is more to Christ's Gospel, however. Here are five additional theses, divine truths, showing its glorious grace:
1. The blood-bought, cross-gained salvation is for you, each one of you individually. Our text offers its blessing "to everyone that believeth." You may be on the lowest rungs of human society, cut off from your fellow men because of your misdeeds. (I am now thinking of the triple murderess in the Ohio penitentiary at St. Mary's, who every Sunday urges the women convicts to hear our radio message. I have in mind a young man in the Jefferson City, Missouri penitentiary, serving his second sentence, who recently wrote me that he had altogether forgotten Jesus until he heard our broadcast, when he pledged himself never to reject his Savior again.) You may be soldiers or civilians, rich or poor, white or black, yellow or red; yet each of you can say, "This is my Gospel, my Christ, my Savior." (Colossians 3:11; Galatians 3:28;)
2. You can approach Christ despite the multiplied misdeeds in your past life. You can come just as you are, unclean, impure, unworthy, to learn, "Though your sins be as scarlet., they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." ( Isaiah 1:18)
3. Your redemption is free. You cannot buy your salvation, for Christ has paid everything. One drop of His precious blood can outbalance all your transgressions, for here is the unbreakable promise: "The Blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7-9; Hebrews 9:12; )
4. To receive the full Gospel blessing you need only believe, only approach God as a poor, miserable sinner who accepts the Savior's grace. Divine truth assures us, "By grace are ye saved, through faith." (Ephesians 2:8)
5. Your forgiveness is unquestioned and positive. Our text calls the Gospel "the power of God" not of man. "Heaven" itself "and earth shall pass away before this supreme pledge is violated. (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33;)
These five theses present to you the most sacred and sublime love which even God Almighty can give. For your souls' salvation I ask you to study their life-and-death certainty. Wherever you are, let me direct to your home one of the thousands of pastors who work together with me for this same glorious Gospel and who can help you declare in the fervor of sincere faith, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ"!
