America, Don't Be Ashamed of Jesus! # 1

America, Don't Be Ashamed of Jesus!

"I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes" (Romans 1:16).

A few months ago Charles Darwin, often called "the Father of Evolution," died, he was visited by Lady Hope. In a signed statement this titled English woman tells how she found the scientist, who had flatly denied Scripture, propped up in his bed, reading the very Book he had attacked, the Bible. Calmly, yet forcefully he spoke on the guidance offered by the sacred Volume. He bemoaned the fact that people had accepted his theories regarding man's origin as assured truth. Then he suddenly asked Lady Hope: "I have a summer house in the garden which holds almost thirty people...Tomorrow afternoon I should like the servants on the place, some tenants, and a few neighbors to gather there. Will you speak to them?"  "What shall I speak about?" Lady Hope inquired. Clearly, emphatically he replied, "Jesus Christ and His salvation," adding in a lower tone, "Is not that the best theme?" Thus, with death approaching, did Charles Darwin, evolutionist and denier of the Bible, acclaim the Lord Jesus.

This same eleventh hour seeking refuge in Christ occurs every day along the far-flung battle lines of the Second World War. Why is it that a sailor from a torpedoed ship, rescued after floating eighteen days off Australia, cries out, "You can't be an atheist on a rubber raft!" Why was it that when the Japanese bombardment began, soldiers on Corregidor, even those otherwise irreligious, fell on their knees before God? Why, during a recent blackout, did New York hotel guests telephone the desk for Bibles? Must we not conclude that, as danger and death approach, men usually banish their boasting ridicule of religion and humble themselves before their Maker?

How tragic, then, that even the disasters of war have not thus shocked all our people into a sense of utter dependence on Christ!  Masses are crowding bars, night clubs, and places of sinful amusement, while across the Pacific American soldiers daily lay down their lives. Millions, with fatter pay envelopes than they have ever received before, are drinking, gambling, and carousing, while the sea daily takes its toll in the  flower of American youth. We dare not permit pleasure to go on as usual. In this critical hour we need serious thought and especially a humble, prayerful return to the Lord. Therefore, though unbelievers reject Christ, skeptics question His Gospel, paganized thinkers ridicule His promises, atheists deride His  holy name, proud sinners spurn His mercy, the cry must be:

Glory in His gospel! Confess Him courageously! That loyalty to the Saviour marked the mightiest of all apostles, Paul, who exclaimed (Romans, chapter one, verse sixteen), "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth" - heroic words which I give you not only as the text but also as the motto for a Christ-centered life.

1. WE HAVE REASON TO GLORIFY HIS GOSPEL

It took magnificent courage for 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 Paul paid his loyalty with his life.

How much easier it is for us to champion the crucified Saviour! 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 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 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!" Yet false gospels 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.

~William Maier~

(continued with # 2)