In Romans 1:16, we find a powerful statement made by Paul that we all should be able to make.

Romans 1:16 (ESV)
¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Let us look at the first part of this verse for a few minutes tonight.  When it comes to the gospel, there is nothing about it that should cause us to be ashamed.  The gospel is a glorious message about salvation, revealing to us why it is possible for man to be saved and how to attain such salvation.  The gospel story begins with the willingness of Jesus, the Son of God, to take on human form, only to die on the cross for our salvation.

Philippians 2:6–8 (ESV)
⁶ Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus became our Savior by dying on a tree.  However, that would have never been possible unless He was willing to humble Himself by coming to this world in the flesh and becoming submissive to the Father.  The incarnation of Christ is an integral part of God’s scheme of redemption and one of the central themes of the gospel.  We love movies that set forth the “riches to rags and back to riches” scenario.  That is the story of Jesus.  He was rich but was willing to become poor for us.

2 Corinthians 8:9 (ESV)
⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Jesus ultimately regained His riches in heaven when He ascended back to the Father and retrieved His glory (John 17:3-5), but this does not lessen the fact that He was willing to sacrifice and become the Lamb of God so that we could be redeemed.  What a story!  What is there to be ashamed about if you are a Christian?  The only shame we should feel when we think about the gospel is for ourselves, realizing that it is only because of our sins that our Savior had to sacrifice so much.

The gospel is a message of grace.  It teaches us that we are saved by faith rather than works.  This is such a wonderful truth that it does not need the embellishment given by the false doctrine of faith only.

Saved by faith as opposed to works simply means that we do not have to live up to the perfection demanded by the old law to be saved.  The first covenant made with Israel, that is, the law of Moses, demanded perfection because it had no adequate provision for sin.  The animal sacrifices made for sin were insufficient (Hebrews 10:1-4).  Because of this, to be saved under that law demanded a life free from sin.

The gospel is different.  It gives us access to the blood of Christ which has the power to completely remove our sins (Romans 5:9; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5, etc.).  This is the power that Paul was referring to in Romans 1:16.

Thank God for the gospel.  It is not just the story of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, but of everything He did to secure for us the hope of eternal life, beginning with leaving heaven and taking on the form of a servant.  It is unbelievable that an eternal, all-powerful being would be willing to do such a thing for us, but that’s the gospel.  How could we ever be ashamed of it?  

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.