How to Live Unashamed for Christ

If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn with me to 2 Timothy.

We are in 2 Timothy today.

We are in week two of our 2 Timothy study.

And this morning we're looking at verses 8 to 14 of chapter 1.

And if you were not with us last week, I want to give you just the backdrop, the context of this letter.

This is much different context-wise than 1 Timothy.

Paul, as he's writing this letter to his protege to Timothy, Paul is suffering.

He is suffering immensely for the sake of the gospel.

He's in prison.

He's in a Roman prison.

And he's lonely.

He has been deserted by a lot of people who he was doing ministry with.

And he finds himself on death row.

He is awaiting execution.

History is going to tell us that Paul would not get out of this one.

That where he is right now, suffering in prison in a cold, dark dungeon, that this is going to be the end of Paul's life on earth.

That he's going to be executed not much long after writing this letter to Timothy.

And yet, amazing is that he is writing this letter to encourage Timothy.

That even here, while he is awaiting execution, his heart is focused on Timothy, whom he loves, but also on the advancement of the gospel long after he's gone.

That's what his heart is focused on.

And this morning we are talking about what does it look like to live unashamed for the gospel?

What does it look like for us to live unashamed of the gospel?

What does that look like for us?

To be ashamed or to be unashamed is to have no embarrassment.

To be unashamed is to not feel bashful or timid, but rather it's to have a courage, a confidence, a boldness in the gospel specifically.

And really, we as Christians, we face a temptation every day to be timid.

We face a temptation to shrink back.

I remember years ago growing up playing football, and I know many of you are stoked that football is back.

I'm happy as well.

But years ago growing up, I remember being on just in grade school, even middle school, high school, um, when you had your first practice and you got to see who all was on your team.

And that was a very, very important day because you get to see pretty much how are we gonna do this year?

Just by who shows up.

And I remember you'd be really excited if you saw a dude.

And you know what a dude is somebody who's strong, 200 pounds, somebody who looks like they know how to handle themselves.

And this would always give you comfort.

But we we had a saying, though, that the truth doesn't come out in the weight room.

The truth came out when you put pads on.

And so it was a very sad thing, very sad, to go from really excited because you're seeing who's on your team just by the eye test, and then you put the pads on, and you realize, oh, that is not a football player, that is a 200-pound marshmallow.

And he was not gonna do us very good.

You know, there is a there's a real temptation for us to be marshmallow Christians, and what I mean by that is there is a temptation for us not to live the way we are capable of by the Spirit of God who lives in us, but rather to shrink back, to be bashful about Christ, not to speak openly and boldly about Christ, but to shrink back, to hesitate, to be timid or to be scared.

And really, this is a real temptation, especially for Timothy in this context.

Because think about it, if Paul, whom you follow, is in a Roman prison awaiting execution for spreading the gospel, what does that mean for you, Timothy, who follow Paul, who preach the same gospel that Paul is preaching?

You can see that this could be a crisis.

What is Timothy gonna do while living in a culture that truly persecutes proclaimers of the gospel?

What's he gonna do?

This is why Paul is writing here to encourage him.

But again, that same temptation facing Timothy faces us.

That temptation to have this bashful, shrinking back fear.

It's that fear that would lead us to be quiet when we should speak.

Or perhaps worse, it's a fear that would lead us to compromise when we ought to stand firm.

And my hope and my prayer for us, my prayer for my own soul, my prayer for us as a church body, is that God, by his grace and by the power of the Holy Spirit, that he would help us to serve Christ with no shame, that we would serve Jesus with no shame, that we would not have any timidity in us as we serve Christ and speak of Christ, and that we would be willing to endure whatever sufferings are to come from doing so.

Because the word promises us those sufferings are sure to come from serving Christ.

I want to answer this question as we walk through this passage, and the question I want to answer is how can we as Christians live unashamed for the gospel?

How do we do that?

Because I know that that timidness lives in all of us, it lives in my heart.

How do we do that?

How do we live unashamed of the gospel, fearless, so to speak, for the sake of the gospel and the cause of Christ in this world?

I want to look at four ways from the text.

I want to look at four truths from this text that we are called to do this.

The first is this that if we're gonna live unashamed for Christ, then we must be willing to suffer.

We must be willing to suffer.

Look at verse 8 in your Bible.

Paul writes, therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.

Now, first and foremost, you notice it says, Therefore, so before he goes on, he first is pointing Timothy back to what he has already said.

Anytime you see therefore in your Bible, you should read what was before it.

What was before it?

Look at verse 7.

Paul just finished telling him, Timothy, God has not given you a spirit of fear.

You don't have a spirit of fear.

And in fact, anytime, even for us as Christians today, when we are walking in unhealthy fear, recognize that is not the Lord.

It's not Him.

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but look at what verse 7 says, but of power and love and self-control or a sound mind, as your translation may say.

That's the spirit he's given us.

And so, in light of the spirit of God that God has given us by his grace, this is what he is telling Timothy.

Do not, therefore, be ashamed.

Don't be embarrassed, don't be timid, don't be shy, don't shrink back from your calling, don't shrink back from the testimony about our Lord, which would be the gospel, nor of me, Paul's saying, nor of me his prisoner.

But in contrast to that, and here we get an understanding of what does he mean by not being ashamed?

The contrast is, but share in suffering for the gospel.

Share in suffering for the gospel.

Literally, what Paul is telling him is this, Timothy, get in the game.

Get in the game of suffering for the gospel.

Don't shrink back.

Don't hide away.

Get in the game of suffering.

There's a lot of types of suffering that we can experience in our life.

I know just in this room, in this room alone, many here have faced immense suffering.

You've gone through different things in your life, different trials in your life.

There's sufferings that come just by living in a fallen world.

There's sufferings that come from sin.

There's sufferings that come from many different things.

Sometimes, I'm sure we would agree with this, you would agree with this, I'm sure I'm not alone.

There's times where I have suffered in my life just for being a dummy.

For doing dumb things, for making bad choices.

That's not the type of suffering, though, he's talking about here.

He's talking specifically about suffering for the gospel.

Specifically suffering because you bear the name of Christ, or specific suffering because you have spoken the truth of Christ, and the world around you is attacking you for that.

They're insulting you for that, or they're mocking you for that, or they're beating you for that, or worse, they put you to death for that.

That is the suffering that he's writing about.

That's the suffering that Paul himself is experiencing right now in this very moment, being in a dungeon, cold, alone, awaiting his execution.

This is where he's at.

And you know, one of the things, perhaps one of the most common ways that we as Christians can live ashamed of the gospel or ashamed of Christ.

We may not say it that way, but one of the ways that we live in timidity, timidity, if that's the word, is by we by editing Christ out of our conversation.

We edit him out.

I remember Pastor Dave Vellone, who is one of our elders, years ago, years ago, he told me about how we as Christians can tend to edit Christ out of our conversations.

Have you ever noticed that the world is not bashful whatsoever in telling you what they love or what they care about or what they do on a daily basis?

Not bashful whatsoever.

They don't mind it, not one bit.

There's no hesitation in it whatsoever.

And so the question then is why would we as Christians shrink back?

Why should we as Christians who know Christ, who know the king of the universe, why should we shrink back?

Why should we edit Christ out of our conversation?

I remember I did this, um, done this many times, but I remember one time specifically, I think I was in high school, and I came to know the Lord around 10th, 11th grade of high school, wanted to follow Christ and was following after him, young and immature as I was.

And I remember a peer asked me, Blake, why why don't you go, why do you why don't you go drink with everybody?

Or why don't you go out and get drunk and do this and this and this?

And the true answer to that question was, I was a follower of Christ.

I wanted to do things his way, and I wanted to serve the Lord.

But that's not what I said.

I remember in that moment, I looked at him and I said, Well, it's not my thing.

That was the answer of a coward.

It's a cowardly answer.

Think about it.

If we're walking by the Spirit, if I in that moment were walking by the Spirit, you know what I would have said?

I would have said, I don't do that because I love Christ and Christ died for me, and I want to serve him.

And you know what?

I find more joy in serving Christ and doing things his way.

That's more enjoyable.

I think about a man who answered rightly.

I think about a man who just displayed amazing courage for the gospel.

Some of you may know about Byron Cross.

Byron Cross was a teacher in Northern Virginia, and in 2021, a rule, a new requirement went out to the teachers there in the school district that they had to affirm the preferred pronoun of a student, uh, the pre the student's preference, regardless of biological sex.

And Byron was a Christian, and so this was a dilemma for him, and he went and ended up going to speak to the school board about it.

And what he said to the school board in that moment, job on the line, were these words.

He said, I love all my students, but I will never lie to them, regardless of the consequences.

I am a teacher, but I serve God first.

He was suspended.

That's being unashamed of Christ.

Unashamed of Christ, regardless of the consequences.

Loving God first and foremost and loving neighbor as ourself.

This is what we're called to.

Now, all of us in this room, I'm sure we would say if we were honest, we have a large list of times we have failed to do that.

A large list of times where it was on the tip of our tongue and yet we shrunk back.

We hesitated and we pulled back.

Praise God for his mercy, amen.

Praise God for his grace.

Praise God that when we are faithless, he really is faithful, that he doesn't abandon us.

But may we as Christians, may we resolve to live unashamed for him, boldly for him, not hesitating to speak of him to our coworkers, to our family members, to our friends.

And that's a tension we face, right?

We have the fear of, well, if I say this to my friend or to my family member, what will happen to the relationship?

These are fears that come into our mind.

These are fears that lead us to shrink back, to pull back.

Fears that lead us to throw a blanket over the light that is in you.

We need to resist it in love.

We need to speak the truth to those around us, no matter the consequences.

Jesus told us that the gospel does cause division.

It does.

And that shouldn't lead us to shrink away.

If we love God and if we're loving our neighbor as ourself, we desperately, above everything else, we want them to know Christ.

We want them to know the hope that is only found in Christ.

The Bible says Jesus is the only way.

There is salvation and no one else.

There's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved, says Acts chapter 4, verse 12.

Acts 4:12

No other name.

It's only through Christ.

And so we should share it boldly, confidently.

Number one, if we're gonna live on a shame for Christ, then we need to be willing to suffer.

Whatever consequences may come from that.

But number two, if we're going to do this, then we need to focus on the promises of God.

We must focus on the promises of God.

Look how, look how Paul goes on.

In verse 8, second part of verse 8, he tells Timothy, share in suffering for the gospel.

Not by your own strength, Timothy, but by the power of God.

And then in verse 9 and on, he goes on to this praising God for the gospel.

He sets before Timothy these glorious promises of God that are true of every Christian in this room.

Look at what he says, verse 9.

Who saved us and called us to a holy calling.

Not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

Paul, even on his deathbed, is meditating on the gospel.

He's meditating on the promises of God through Jesus Christ in the gospel, the gospel which has saved him.

That's what's keeping him anchored in hope, not just for himself, but even as he's awaiting execution, he's thinking about Timothy.

How is that possible?

He is so fixated on the promises of God, and he's not living for this world.

That's how.

You know, Paul, he was smart enough for 10 PhDs.

Brilliant, a genius, trained, thoroughly trained in the Old Testament growing up.

But you know, here he is speaking the gospel.

It just shows us we never graduate the gospel.

Never.

I think about Jack Nicholas.

Some of you may know him, he's one of the greatest golfers of all time.

And Jack Nicholas won hundreds, hundreds of championships, and it's said that every single year, Jack Nicholas would go to his golf instructor.

Mind you, one of the greatest golfers in the world at the time.

And he would go to his golf instructor every single year, and he would look at him and he would say, Please teach me to play golf.

Likewise, as Christians, we cannot set before us too often the foundational promises of God.

We can't set it before us too often.

Look what Paul says.

This is not complex.

Hey, Timothy, sharing suffering by the power of God.

God saved us, Timothy.

You want encouragement?

God saved us.

And not only did he save us, Timothy, he called us to a holy calling.

That is a set apart calling.

This is true of every Christian in this room.

Do you know Christ in here?

God has saved you.

Be encouraged by that?

He called you, Christian, to a holy calling.

A set apart calling?

And you may wonder, you'd be right to ask the question, why me?

Why me?

Why would God save me?

Why would He show so much mercy to me, knowing all that I've done, how I've gone my own way?

Why would He show that mercy to me and save me?

What does the text say?

It's not because of you.

Not because of our works.

That's foundational of the gospel.

That it is not because of our works.

It's not based on us, Christians.

It's not based on our goodness.

Our salvation is not based on our religion.

It's not even based on getting baptized.

That doesn't save.

It's based on his grace.

It's based on his loving kindness to us.

It wasn't because of us.

It's not because of our spiritual resume, our gifts, or our talents, or the resources that we can use for the Lord.

God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

He doesn't need us.

He doesn't even need our stuff.

He owns it all.

He can make rocks into worshipers.

That's the God we serve.

It's by his grace, though.

His own purpose and grace.

Look what he says going on in verse 9.

Which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

Before God breathed the universe into existence.

And it wasn't a baseless plan.

It was a plan to save you for his own purpose and for his own grace, his gracious purpose to save you, which came to fruition when he sent his son, the means of our salvation, the how behind we as sinners can be saved from our sin and enter back into a right relationship with the God of the universe.

Have you ever wondered how is that possible?

How can we as sinners who have gone our own way, who have broken God's law, how can we be reconciled to Him?

How can God look at us and say, not guilty?

Even more than that.

Because if you're a Christian in here, understand, no matter how messy today looks like for you, if you're a Christian in here, understand your state before God today is not guilty.

Not only not guilty, though, even better, righteous in his sight.

How?

How is that?

The answer is the cross.

That's what justification is.

It's where Jesus, the perfect Son of God, in all his ways, never sinned, goes to the cross in all of our mess, all of our sin and rebellion against God, Jesus takes the penalty for it in our stead.

And as a free gift, he offers his perfect score, his righteousness to any who would simply receive it in faith.

To anyone who would repent.

To repent is to turn away from being our own kings and queens, our own rulers, and it's to joyfully submit to Christ.

To believe in the gospel, to believe in the gospel is to put all of our eggs in Jesus' basket.

It's to transfer all of our trust to Jesus alone for the forgiveness of our sins.

Have you done that?

To you who don't follow Christ.

Receive Him today.

Turn to Him today.

This is what Christ came out preaching after he was baptized.

What Jesus preached in Mark chapter 1, we see it was repent and believe in the gospel.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

Turn to him, and you will have life.

And look at the glorious promise here that he talks about.

In verse 10, he says, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus.

What did Jesus do for us?

What did the Messiah do for us?

What did our King do for us?

Who abolished death.

Do you see that?

You want a promise that will put courage in your blood?

He abolished death for you.

He abolished death.

And he brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Through the gospel.

This is what Jesus has done.

This doesn't mean that we as Christians won't face physical death.

What it means is that we as Christians, death doesn't have the final say.

Death doesn't have power over us.

This should cause us to rejoice.

This wonderful promise should lead us to go out today and be willing to take the insults and the mockery, to be willing to take the worst of the worst.

Because Christ abolished death for us.

He doesn't have the last say.

He's given us life.

Christian, he has given you life, abundant life, and immortality to light.

We're going to live forever with the Lord and understand, rejoice in this.

You may not know all that that's going to look like, but understand, you're going to live forever, not in darkness, Christian, but in light.

And that by the grace of God through the gospel.

This is what Paul's anchor is.

This is how Paul is in a cold, dark dungeon right now, and he's not having a mental breakdown and going crazy and abandoning his faith altogether.

But rather, he's encouraging a brother.

How is that?

Anchored to the promises of God, not forsaking the promises of God.

Verse 11 says, For this, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and a teacher.

Paul's a preacher of the gospel.

He's an apostle.

He's the authority of Christ himself behind him as a sent out one from Christ.

That's what it means for him to be an apostle.

And he's a teacher.

Verse 12, which is why I suffer as I do.

This is why he's suffering, he's saying.

And this is true for us.

No matter where you're at, no matter what your nine to five looks like, no matter what Tuesday looks like for you, understand this.

That we as Christians, we are going to face suffering for the gospel specifically in relation to the amount that we are speaking the truth of the gospel to those around us.

It's a direct correlation.

The amount of that we are going to be speaking the truth of the gospel to those around us is the same level that you're going to experience sufferings for the gospel, that you're going to experience insults, that you're going to experience loss of relationships, that you're going to experience mockings or people throwing water at you.

Some of our young adults.

A few weeks back, I remember, went out evangelizing at the ocean front.

Many of them were mocked.

Some of them were cussed out.

For sharing about Christ, for telling people that Jesus is the light of the world, that he's the only way to the Father.

So we have to be willing to suffer.

We'll never be willing to suffer, though, unless we are so focused on the promises of God.

This is how we must endure.

And think about it.

What can Rome take away from Paul?

Can Rome take away the Holy Spirit who lives in him?

No, he's sealed.

Can Rome steal away his inheritance?

No.

Can Rome separate him from the love of God?

No.

It can't touch him if you think of it.

Likewise, for us as Christians, the world can't touch us.

What can they take from us?

Our bodies are gonna die anyway.

What can they really take from us?

You know what Jesus said?

Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

Don't fear those who kill the body but can't kill the soul.

They can't touch your soul.

It's secure in Christ.

This is what Paul is anchored in.

Verse 12, he says, but I am not ashamed.

I'm not ashamed.

I'm not shrinking back.

I'm not gonna live timidly.

He says, For I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced.

Look at his hope in God right here.

I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

Paul is convinced that he is looking, he is going to persevere to the end, faithful to the end.

He's convinced of that.

Now you say that may sound like pride or even arrogance.

No, it's not pride, it's not arrogance, because he's not looking at himself for that.

His confidence in his own perseverance is rooted in God's grip on him.

You see, it's not our amazing strong grip on the Lord, which is why we should be confident that we're gonna follow him.

No, it's his grip on us.

No one, what did Jesus say?

No one can snatch us out of his hand.

No one.

This is Paul's hope.

This is why he's suffering here faithfully, focusing himself on the promises of God.

And this is where we got to ask the question: how often are we as Christians today, how often are we going back just to the foundational promises of God?

Setting them before us.

The promises, number one, of what he's already done for us in Christ.

You're justified.

Don't get up tomorrow morning.

Don't get up tomorrow morning in shame.

Don't get up tomorrow morning Christian with this massive weight of guilt upon you.

No, he has declared you by his grace not guilty.

He has given you as a free gift his righteousness.

Remind yourself of the beauty of justification, that you are justified before the Lord all by his mercy and grace.

Remind yourself of that.

Remind yourself of the promises still to come.

Are you terrified of death?

Remind yourself of the glorious promise of God.

You know what Paul said in Romans 8.18?

He said, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

I don't want to make light of suffering.

There's things that we're gonna go through or you are going through even today, and you are really suffering.

And I don't want to make light of that at all.

But I do want you to know the truth.

What is the truth?

The worst of the worst of the worst that you're gonna go through in this life.

Here's the truth for you, Christian.

It's not even worth comparing with the glory you're gonna experience.

It's not even close.

In fact, the glory of the gospel, the glory of seeing Christ face to face and living with him for all eternity, it will not even make it compare.

Persevere.

Press on, focus on the promises of God with no shame and with no fear of suffering by the power of God, by his strength, not by our strength.

Number three, if we're going to live unashamed for the gospel, then we need to live out the gospel.

We need to live it out.

Look at verse 13.

Paul now in 13 and 14, he's going to give Timothy some exhortation.

He's going to command him now.

He's just set before him these amazing promises of God to hold on to, to latch on to.

But now, now he's going to command him.

In light of this, in light of the gospel, Timothy, in light of the promises of God, in light of the spirit that is in you, which is not a spirit of fear.

Look at verse 13.

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, and the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

He says, follow the pattern of the sound words.

Follow the truth of the gospel.

Live it out.

You know what he doesn't say?

He doesn't just say, hey, believe in the word, Timothy.

He doesn't just say, admire the word, Timothy.

Follow.

Follow.

Live it out.

Put it into your life.

Live it out into our life.

This is the Christian life.

The Christian life, friends, is not merely a set of beliefs.

It's not just about a bunch of things to believe in.

No, the Christian life is a road to walk.

This is how Jesus described it in Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

It's a road to walk.

And specifically, Jesus describes it as a narrow road.

What does that mean?

It means right here on Sunday morning is the only time you're going to be in the majority.

As soon as you leave, most likely the case is you're not in the majority.

This path of following after Christ, it's a narrow path.

It's the harder path.

But he encourages, follow it.

Follow it.

Live for him.

Follow it.

No matter the temptation, no matter the fear you may be experiencing from what may come from following it, follow Christ.

It will be worth it.

It will be worth it, he says.

Jesus in Luke 9, 23, he said it as well.

Jesus said, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Verse 24, for whoever would save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

I think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo.

I don't know when the last time was that you read through Daniel, but I love the book of Daniel.

And you see in there three believers, three men who know God and who want to follow God.

But King Nebuchadnezzar comes out and he builds this statue, and right as the every time the horns, the music blows, that everyone is to stop what they're doing and they are to bow down to this statue.

Well, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they loved God and they wanted to follow him.

They didn't want to just believe the truth of God, but they followed him in their life.

And so when they're confronted, really, about their rebellion against the king of the day, their answer is, we won't bow down.

We won't bow down.

And you remember what they say?

God will deliver us.

But even if he does not, we still will not bow down.

I think we need to hear that piece of that puzzle today.

Even if he does not, we still are gonna follow him.

We still are gonna live for him.

We still are not gonna abandon the Christ who died for us.

But we're gonna do it his way, trusting that he is with us right there, just as he was with them, just as he was with Stephen, who was martyred for his faith.

God was with Stephen just as much as he was with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo.

Do you know that?

Stephen went straight to glory.

He went straight to paradise with the Lord, even now, rejoicing with the Lord.

Christians, what does this look like for us?

To live out the gospel.

It means that when we open the word in our morning time, that we don't just seek to know more.

We should seek to know more and know who He is and rejoice in that time, but we should seek to live it out.

We should seek to live it out in our day-to-day life.

For the ladies in this room, this may look like you walking out of a conversation that has turned into gossip.

For the men in this room, this may look like you being the weirdo who doesn't even crack a smile at a perverted joke.

For the students in this room, this may look like you not fitting in with the crowd.

But it's worth it.

It's worth it because we have Christ.

We get to enjoy Christ, enjoy a close relationship with him every day of our life.

Paul gives his last command, number four, and verse 14, to guard the gospel, to guard it.

He writes, by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Notice what he doesn't say.

He doesn't say, hey Timothy, because you're super strong, Timothy, and courageous, Timothy, guard the gospel.

No.

By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

Do y'all see this trend throughout this passage?

Every aspect of this is in reliance on God.

It's in reliance on his strength.

It's in reliance on his power in us, not by the person in the mirror.

But it's in reliance upon him.

What to do?

Guard the gospel.

If there's anything we are to protect, it is the gospel.

We protect things.

We have insurance for our insurances, don't we?

Some of us have a thousand square foot home with 15 ring cameras.

If there's anything we are to protect, it is the gospel.

How do we do that?

We have to know it.

We have to know it well.

Be a master of the gospel.

No matter what your trade is, be a master of the gospel.

Every Christian should be a master of the gospel, know it, feed on it, know the word, live in the word daily and defend it when you see it being twisted.

Think about what the devil does.

The devil seeks to twist the truth of the gospel.

He twisted.

This is what he twisted when Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness.

The devil even quoted scripture, do you remember?

But he twisted it.

He didn't give it rightly, he twisted it.

So we have to know the word.

Contend for the faith.

Salvation is not of works, it's by grace, through faith.

When we hear otherwise, we need to say it.

No, no, no, that's not right.

It's only because of Christ.

It's not by trying to be a good person, it's because of Christ.

And it's through faith in Christ.

Contend for the faith.

I think about Martin Luther.

Martin Luther in the early part of the 16th century, he was the man that God used in a major way to bring about a reformation in the church.

And during that time, the Catholic Church was selling indulgences, which was essentially: hey, if you pay enough money, we can get your loved one who's in purgatory out of purgatory.

So it had become very corrupt.

Martin Luther spoke out based on the Word of God, saying we need to return to the Word of God.

And one of the things he said from the Word of God is that salvation is not by works, but it's by grace through faith.

He contended for the gospel.

He sought to guard the gospel and protect it.

Well, he suffered because of that.

He was persecuted for teaching the Bible.

He was interrogated.

He was excommunicated.

He was declared to be an outlaw.

He was forced into hiding for fear of his life.

And in 1521, he was brought before an emperor and ordered by an emperor to recant, to take back what he had said to be true.

And these are his words.

In that moment, before an emperor, with his life on the line, he said, My conscience is captive to the word of God.

I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.

Here I stand, I can do no other.

God help me.

Amen.

Unashamed, contending for the faith.

As we go out of here, I pray that we would see that it's not based on our strength, but it's by the Spirit who lives in you.

By the same Spirit who rose Jesus from the dead.

That spirit lives in you.

And it's through his strength, it's through his power, it's through depending on his promises that we can go and live unashamed for Christ.

Would y'all pray with me?

Father, I pray that you would give us a holy boldness.

Lord, your word says that the wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

God help us to be bold as a lion.

In Jesus' name, amen.

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