I AM NOT ASHAMED

OF THE GOSPEL
Romans 1:14-17
Romans 1:14-17
I am under obligation both to Greeks
14 

and to barbarians, both to the wise and

to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to
preach the gospel to you also who are
in Rome.
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. 17 For in it
the righteousness of God is revealed
from faith for faith, as it is written, “The
righteous shall live by faith.”
 Under Obligation to Preach the
Gospel
I am under obligation both to Greeks and
14 

to barbarians, both to the wise and to the

foolish.
Romans 1:1
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called
to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel
of God,
1 Corinthians 9:16
For if I preach the gospel, that gives me
16 

no ground for boasting. For necessity is

laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not
preach the gospel!
Eager to Preach the Gospel
So I am eager to preach the gospel to you
15 

also who are in Rome.

Acts 20:22–24
And now, behold, I am going to
22 

Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit,

not knowing what will happen to me
there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit
testifies to me in every city that
imprisonment and afflictions await
me. 
 But I do not account my life of any
24 

value nor as precious to myself, if

only I may finish my course and the
ministry that I received from the Lord
Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the
grace of God.
Philippians 1:21–24
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is
21 

gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that

means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I
shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard
pressed between the two. My desire is to
depart and be with Christ, for that is far
better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is
more necessary on your account.
Not Ashamed of the Gospel
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. 17 For in it the
righteousness of God is revealed from faith
for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall
live by faith.”
1 Corinthians 1:18–31
For the word of the cross is folly to those
18 

who are perishing, but to us who are being

saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will

thwart.”
 Where is the one who is wise? Where is
20 

the scribe? Where is the debater of this

age? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the
wisdom of God, the world did not know
God through wisdom, it pleased God
through the folly of what we preach to
save those who believe. 22 For Jews
demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
 but we preach Christ crucified, a
23 

stumbling block to Jews and folly to

Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power
of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the
foolishness of God is wiser than men,
and the weakness of God is stronger
than men.
 For consider your calling, brothers: not
26 

many of you were wise according to

worldly standards, not many were
powerful, not many were of noble
birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in
the world to shame the wise; God chose
what is weak in the world to shame the
strong;
 God chose what is low and despised in
28 

the world, even things that are not, to

bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that
no human being might boast in the
presence of God. 
 And because of him you are in Christ
30 

Jesus, who became to us wisdom from

God, righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written,
“Let the one who boasts, boast in the
Lord.”
Gentiles who value wisdom cannot
boast that salvation only comes to the
wise or that they have attained it
through wisdom. They are ashamed of
the Gospel.
Jews who claim special status and
seek for a sign can’t make any claim to
Christ based on the fact that they’re
Jewish, they too stand ashamed.
We were all in the perishing
category until God worked.
We come to Christ on His
terms or not at all.
The cross is offensive to the self-righteous.
It is unpopular to a world that is addicted to
climbing the ladder of success. It is a
scourge to the intellectual. The biggest
danger the Church has is not persecution
but it’s in seeking approval from the world;
it’s trying to not be too offensive and
conform to its standards.
It Reveals the Power of God

for it is the power of God for salvation

It is God’s dynamite (dunamis). It is God’s

omnipotent power to break through stony
hearts and bring sinners back from the
dead.
Here’s the offense of the Gospel:

man cannot change himself. The lost

sinner will forever remain lost unless
God does something.
Jeremiah 13:23
23 
   Can the Ethiopian change his skin

or the leopard his spots?

Then also you can do good

who are accustomed to do evil.

It is not within man’s ability to
change himself.
In Romans, Paul declares man’s impotence
and God’s power, saying, “While we were
still helpless, at the right time Christ died for
the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6), and, “What the law
could not do, weak as it was through the
flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for
sin” (8:3)
Peter wrote believers in Asia Minor: “You
have been born again not of seed which is
perishable but imperishable, that is, through
the living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet.
1:23).
The greatest manifestation of God’s
power is seen when He changes, as it
were, the leopard’s spots or more
vividly the sinner’s heart.
everyone who believes, to the
Jew first and also to the Greek
Ephesians 2:8–10
For by grace you have been saved
8 

through faith. And this is not your own

doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result
of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For
we are his workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we should
walk in them.
Salvation is not merely professing to be
a Christian, nor is it baptism, moral
reform, going to church, receiving
sacraments, or living a life of self-
discipline and sacrifice.
Salvation is believing in Jesus Christ as
Lord and Savior. Salvation comes
through giving up on one’s own
goodness, works, knowledge, and
wisdom and trusting in the finished,
perfect work of Christ.
 It Reveals the Righteousness of
God
For in it the righteousness of God is
17 

revealed from faith for faith, as it is

written, “The righteous shall live by
faith.”
It is through the Gospel that God
reveals true righteousness. This is the
righteousness God requires for
salvation and yet, like everything else
in salvation it doesn’t originate within
man but comes from God.
Philippians 3:8–9
Indeed, I count everything as loss
8 

because of the surpassing worth of

knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his
sake I have suffered the loss of all things
and count them as rubbish, in order that I
may gain Christ 
 and be found in him, not having a
9 

righteousness of my own that comes

from the law, but that which comes
through faith in Christ, the righteousness
from God that depends on faith—
This righteousness that comes to us through
faith is first God declaring us righteous
based on faith then as the verse continues is
a righteousness that begins to show itself
through our lives, this too is a result of our
on going continued faith.