You will be shamed for the gospel, but you do not have to be ashamed of the gospel.

So what does it mean to be unashamed of the gospel in the face of opposition?

John Piper terms to Romans 116 to tackle that important question in this episode of

light and truth. This sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on June 14, 1998.

Let me just read verse 16 with you. It's a very familiar verse. 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

Greeks. Today, the focus is on the words, for I am not ashamed of the gospel. You noticed the

little word for at the beginning, which links it logically with the preceding eagerness to preach

the gospel to those who are in Rome. And you can see it's very plain. It doesn't take any great

mental ability to see why this verse 16 supports verse 15. I am eager to come and preach to you

who are in Rome, the gospel, because I'm not ashamed of it. That's the link. I'm not

ashamed of it. So I want to begin by asking this question and there are a lot of children in the

room. So I want the children to tune in right now because you may be old enough to ask, when

would you be embarrassed? When would you be ashamed? Under what circumstance would you feel like

you've been made a fool of? Let me give you a few possibilities. Suppose that a boy brags in his

neighborhood that he can outrun the new skinny kid that just showed up in the neighborhood,

and he's bragging all over the place that he can do this. And so they set up a race.

Once around the block, and he and this skinny kid walk the route and they show him where the

turns are and what trees you have to go around. And then all the kids gather from the neighborhood

and somebody says, ready, set, go, and this new skinny kid just takes off like a bolt of lightning,

leaves this braggart in the dust and finishes maybe 40 yards ahead of him. Now believe me,

that last 40 yards of the braggarts is going to be a very embarrassed and shame filled 40 yards.

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