So, Throw out the lifeline across the dark way. There is a brother someone should save. Somebody's brother, oh, who then will dare To throw out the lifeline, his farewell to share? Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is drifting away. Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is sinking today. Roll out the lifeline with hand quick and strong Why do you tear him while he lingers so long? Sing he, sing he, oh who then will dare? Then out with the lightbulb, away then, away. Draw out the lifeline, draw out the lifeline. Someone is drifting away. Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is sinking today. Throw out the lifeline to danger-fought men. Sinking in anguish where you've never been. winds of temptation and billows of foam will soon hurl them out where the dark waters flow. Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is drifting away. Throw out lifeline, throw out lifeline, someone is sinking today. Soon will the season of rescue be o'er Soon will they drift to eternity's shore Instead, my brother, no time for delay But roll out the lifeline and save them today. Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is drifting away. And we'll come back to that, okay? That'll be our hymn at the invitation time. And if you open your Bibles, please, the Book of Romans. And so, just after Acts, as we read in the Book of Acts, we'll go to the Book of Romans. And I appreciate the young'uns staying in church tonight with us. and a lot of kiddos here tonight, so it's good that they're able to be in the shorts tonight. We're excited about the Holiday Bible Club coming up, and the 27th through the 30th, again, 10.30 a.m. that Tuesday, starting on Tuesday, running through that Friday, and excited about that, excited about what God desires to do. You know, God has provided a place where we who can meet, praise God, right? We've got a venue. You wouldn't believe how hard it is right now to find something like that. Very difficult, and so we thank God it's right here where our church meets. The kids are getting excited about coming, and we're working to already start to try to let kiddos know about this, invite them to come. You know, the last HBC, Holy Bible Club, that we had here in Occupy, I think, was either 2018, 2017. Nelson at that time was seven or eight, I think. And we live right across from the play park. Our house is right across the road here, overlooking the play park. And for his team, he got pretty excited about inviting people to come, because they get a lot of points for their team. And so if he saw kids out there at the park, he would come get us. He'd come get a flyer. We'd go over to the park. We'd go invite them to come. So I said to them this past week, as we realized that we're going to do this, that I'll make a deal with my kids. And I'm going to make a deal with all the kids at the church. Jacob, you're the only one who will listen to this, all right? If you get a child to come, if you get a child to come, every child that comes, I'll give you a pound, all right? I made this with my kids. I told my kids this. I know it's not going to break the bank. On my end, it's a good investment, and God rewards those that serve Him. So I don't think it's really a misappropriation of funds to do something like that. I hope it's fun for the kids, and I hope they participate and go, hey, I want to bring some kids. That goes for visitors, too. Tell them, look, you bring a friend, you get a pound. All right? Go ahead and tell them and see if it helps. But as I said that to my kids, and I'm studying for this message, Romans 1, 16. We'll look at what it says in just a second. Matt comes down, and he says, there's three kids at the park. you know, and he wants to go invite you, right? Because we talked about that, and that was great on the part of Matt, but I want you to know something about me that you might not expect, because you might think that as Pastor Ben does evangelism every week, and I do, I get out and I do flyers every week, every week I'm talking to people about the gospel, but I face the same battle, maybe on a different level, that everybody in here faces, thoughts like this again to go through your mind you know what if they say no What if they don't like me? You know, I should go up to them, interrupt their day. What if they don't like me? You know, what will they think of us, but more importantly, me? You know, I'm going with Mac, but what are they gonna think about me? They probably don't wanna come to church. They might even laugh, you know, if I invite them to come. They may be rude and act like I did something I shouldn't have done, but guess what? Mac and I went and invited them, and were they nice? They were super nice, and the parents were super kind, And these kids might come, and they're sweet little boys, pray that they come. I hope they do come because we invited them. You know, you and I are surrounded by opportunities to give the gospel every single day. And you can look at that, you know, every day, every week, every month, every year, we come into contact with people, and they are people that need to hear the gospel. Again, this past week, or past month, I've been doing evangelism. God has given numerous opportunities to share the gospel. And as I've spoken with people, I've spoken, you know, with a man named Tommy this past week in Livingston that I hope is gonna go and visit Pastor Don Dillman's church, but God gave me a great opportunity to sit on a park bench with him and go through the gospel with him. Janice, two weeks before that, on the same park bench, I sat and I shared the gospel with Janice. Her brother had been buried the day before. but I had opportunity to sit there and speak with her. I can name numbers of people in this area that are door-to-door opportunities that God has given. In the last month, we've knocked on their door, spoke with them. Even yesterday, God gave my wife and I a great opportunity, just knocking on a person's door, just engaging in conversation. Several, actually, opportunities yesterday, One to confront a man with the gospel that doesn't believe in God. Another with a man that was more open to maybe visiting our church sometime. And so we have these opportunities. There's opportunities like God gave me with the boys this past week as we went cycling, and a man helped us get back to the path. We were doing the Heart Trail over in Volkirk. It's 16 miles. It's unmarked trails, almost. It's not very good. You got kind of a cleared map and bad signage. And this man helped us get back to where we were going. And I told him, I didn't have a track on me, I said, Our church is freebaptistchurch.org. I said, check it out. I said, there's something on there called The Journey. I just want you to check that out if you get a chance. And I said, Journey like this, you know? And I just said that to him, and the man went, he got on The Journey, he messaged me from the webpage that we've got on the YouTube channel, The Journey. Moray is his name, pray for him. You know, I pass people regularly when I'm out walking, and this past week as I walked past a man that I see frequently, he works nights, but he's walking back, I'm walking out. You know, this time I invited him to visit the church. All I'm saying is there are people about us kind of everywhere. There are opportunities continually to give people the gospel, and I just want to ask us tonight, why do we pass those by? Why are we missing those opportunities? You know, we can think about it tonight and think, well, you know, we're too busy, maybe. Too unconcerned, probably. Too preoccupied. Too unprepared. And those should be valid things that we think about. We probably have a lot of reasons tonight to say, this is why I'm missing these opportunities. But I wanna suggest to us tonight that perhaps the reason that we're not taking these gospel opportunities is that we are ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I understand tonight that's a strong statement. That's like saying to an unbeliever the truth about their condition before God. They say they love God, but in reality, they despise God because they're living contrary to God. It's a statement like that that is jarring to the way that we think, because we'd say tonight, with awe, we'd hope to say, what we're gonna say in a second is, I am not ashamed of the gospel, but let me just, again, say to us tonight that perhaps the main reason we don't share the gospel is because we are ashamed of the gospel and if we stop and think about it because you might say I don't think so well let me just ask this why do I If I'm not ashamed of it, why do I hesitate to say something? If I'm not involved regularly in evangelism, because, you know, you just have to think about it, you know, we've got different opportunities as a church to give out the gospel. Nobody has to be a part of our organized evangelism here at church, though they can be if they want to be, but everybody can do evangelism in their own area with the time that they have. But if they're not doing that, again, the question would be, why not? And I would say this. if it has anything to do with the fear of man, then the reason I'm not giving the gospel is because I'm ashamed of the gospel. Because that's what the fear of man is. I care about what they think about what? The gospel? Why would I be ashamed of the gospel? Jesus said in Luke 9, 26, for whosoever shall be ashamed of me, And of my words, of him shall the son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his full glory, and in his fathers, and of the holy angels. And so if I'm ashamed of the gospel, if I'm ashamed of Jesus and the word of God, if that shames me before man, and I don't get victory over that, the Bible says that when Jesus Christ returns, that he's gonna be ashamed of me. Tonight, I don't want that. And again, I've already admitted to that, right? Speaking about the battle that takes place in my heart as I think about taking an evangelistic opportunity. And so we wanna say tonight, by God's grace, I don't wanna be ashamed of the gospel. Satan wants me to be ashamed. He's gonna seek to make me ashamed. So by God's grace, I wanna be somebody that's proud of the gospel. I wanna be somebody that is unashamed, like our text says. And so it says here tonight in our text, there's just one verse that I'm preaching on tonight, Romans 1 verse 16. And so if you find that in the Bibles there, look down at verse 16, it says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that will believe it, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. And so I wanna preach this tonight, listen, I'm gonna preach, and challenging myself not to be ashamed, because I understand tonight I struggle with this, and I want victory in this area over this, but can you say with all tonight, can you say it from your heart, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. By God's grace, that's what we need to have, and let's pray for that tonight, and that's gotta help us through this study of this verse. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the word of God, and I thank you that the word of God is light. Father, I thank you that it's confrontational. And Father, truth divides. Truth either repulses or truth attracts. And Father, we ask tonight that we be attracted to the truth and that we really examine our heart and say, you know what? If I were to be honest, I'd have to say I'm ashamed of the gospel. And Father, we shouldn't be. We should be able to say with Paul, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Father, each one tonight that's listening to the Word of God can't listen as they ought without the enablement of the Holy Spirit. Father, I ask for the Spirit of God to minister the truth of the Word of God. We pray what Paul asked to be prayed for his preaching, that the Word of God would have free course, that it be unhindered. Father, that there be a holy hush in our hearts as we listen. Father, I can't preach without your name in it, but I pray, please, that the Spirit of God will give me liberty tonight as I express the truth of the Word of God. Give me a deep love of my heart for my congregation tonight, each one that's here, and Lord, we're thankful for each one that's here, and I wanna encourage each one. by God's grace to really grab hold of this truth. And so I pray for liberty tonight as a preacher, pray for the power of the Spirit of God to minister the truth to our hearts. Lord, I pray for any that would hear this message that are not saved. Father, I pray that they'd understand why the gospel is so vital, so important, so life-changing. And Father, I pray that even tonight, or when they hear this message online, the Spirit of God would speak to their hearts Thank you for the grace, help, guidance, and wisdom you give us. In Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, so do not be ashamed to tell the gospel, is what I'm preaching. I do not be ashamed to tell the gospel. And so do not be ashamed to say, I have good news for you. All right, don't be ashamed to say, I've got good news for you. Notice what it says, for I'm not ashamed of the, Now, you probably know this, but the gospel is good news. It means a good message. Have you ever had good news that you just couldn't wait to share? You're just excited about it? And when you think about that, probably think about what I think about, and that's baby news, right? That phone call. The stork has come. Baby is coming. And then that phone call that comes about nine months later or eight months later, saying the baby The baby is eating solid foods. The baby is walking. The baby is talking. The baby is playing basketball, playing football. The baby is graduating from high school. The baby just got married. The baby just wrote a book. I mean, it just gets better and better. It's always exciting to get on the phone and to pick that up. And I would say this, generally, when it's good news, I mean, so much more so that, you know, we'll pull out the portfolio, you know, and take an exorbitant amount of time just to go through those pictures, you know, that are so important to us or tell a story very long, you know, because it is something that we're proud of, something that is very good news that we desire to share with others. Again, tonight, as we go to these people, we're going to share the gospel. We've got great news. We've got news that is amazing news, and the news is this, your debt has been paid. That's a great thing to go to somebody and say, you know what, tonight, or today, I just wanna let you know that your debt has been paid. Some of you know the story about our son, Logan, the tall guy up here. You know, Logan had a major surgery as a baby, And the result of that surgery, it was a great surgery, God provided, God blessed, but our insurance company in the States claimed something that was wrong. And because they claimed that, they refused to pay on the surgery. The cost of the surgery, we thought, was $30,000. We had a $30,000 bill. But as we looked at it, we actually realized it was two different bills. They were within a matter of a few hundred dollars, one of the other. And so we had two bills for $30,000. So we had a $60,000 medical bill back in 2006. Well, the story, again, has been prayed about for two years. God graciously provided through a foundation, the Posada Foundation, and they negotiated with the hospital. The hospital allowed them to pay a reduced rate. They paid the debt off. It was paid in full. You know, I wasn't trying to let people know that. They've been praying for quite some time. We were relieved to get that phone call saying to us, the debt has been paid. It was a great thing. You know, it's a great thing tonight to say to somebody that is in sin debt, the wages of your sin is debt. There's a great debt, and that's why the Bible speaks about sin as a debt. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, because it's speaking about I transgress, I sin, I owe, I'm in judgment to God, I must pay, but Christ paid it all. Praise God on the cross when Jesus said those words, it is finished. What's it mean? Paid in full. Now, again, that's the news that we have. We go to an unbeliever, we knock on their door, we don't know who they are, but we know this, they have a sin debt before God, and the price is incredible, it's eternity in hell, and we can stand there at their door and say, look, the debt is gonna pay. Again, we've got good news, praise God, just share it with them. But then we can tell them as well the good news that God loves you, and God desires you. It's an amazing thing when love can stand against sin, or something transgression, or something like that. In a marriage that, sadly, adultery is committed, it's a horrible sin, really hurts that relationship. But at times, there's a beauty that you can see of love, and that is love that is faithful, love that is strong for the children, for the parents, for the other spouse that transgressed and says, I still love you. And that's the way it is with God tonight. We can tell somebody, look, you have transgressed against God, you have sinned against God, and yet praise God tonight. We can tell them God loves you. The psalm says it's just like his great love. It says a friend I have called Jesus, whose love is strong and true. and never fails, howe'er it is tried, no matter what I do. I've sinned against this love of His, but when I knelt to pray, confessing all my guilt to Him, the sin clouds rolled away. It's just like Jesus, to roll the clouds away, it's just like His great love. Now, that's a great thing, to stand at somebody's door and save them. You probably know this without me saying this, but I and my wife, emails. I guess so, right? Pre-emails, pre-texting. And so what we've got in our day was a piece of paper and a pen and we would write love letters. Maxim, pay attention. Love letters to one another, letting us know of the affection that we have towards one another. No praise God's got a love letter written with the blood of his son found in John 3, 16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You know, it's a precious thing for us tonight to be able to go to somebody and say, I just want you to know, your sin debt has been paid. There's a God in heaven tonight that loves you. that cares about you. And so praise God for that. Don't be ashamed to say to somebody, I have good news for you. Secondly, do not be ashamed to say that the Messiah, the Christ, has come. Margaret, if you need to switch seats because of the sun, you're welcome to, all right? I just noticed the sun's coming out here. Okay, do not be ashamed to say that the Messiah, the Christ, has come. It says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The word Christ in the New Testament means Messiah, okay? It's the one that the Bible spoke about, that he would come, that deliver the anointed one. And the Bible speaks about him in Isaiah 53, the Christ. him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. You know, our family enjoys watching some mysteries in the old black and white Sherlock Holmes and the deductive reasoning. And if you were to be a person like that, studying this mystery back in the day, you'd read that testimony of that person and you'd be like the Ethiopian eunuch that looks at that and says, who is this man speaking of, this prophet? Is he speaking of himself? Or if some other man, Philip would have to come or somebody else would have to come and explain the mystery. say it's Jesus. It's the Christ that had to suffer. It's the Christ that had to die. It's what Paul preached in Acts 17. It says, now when they had passed through Amphipolis, Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue of the Jews. And Paul says, and it was, went in unto them in three Sabbath days, reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ, the Messiah, must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus Paul came as the explainer, the preacher of the gospel, saying, this is the Christ. The Christ had to die. The Christ had to be reborn. The Christ had to rise from the dead. And this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is the Christ. You notice, again, as we look at the gospel, the gospel means the good message. Well, if I were to go back to Isaiah 53 and say, this is a good message, think about these words, despised, rejected, men of sorrows, acquainted with grief, despised, esteemed not, burying our griefs, curing our sorrows, stricken, spit, and afflicted of God. We look at that and say, that doesn't sound like it is good news. It sounds like very sad news. It sounds like something very tragic. But the good news is this, that Jesus Christ died. The good news is to us that because of what Christ did, man can be forgiven. It's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, in verse 1. He said, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in me. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scripture, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. Okay, so what is the good news? The good news is this, by which he are saved, Christ died for our sins. It's like in the Old Testament, we've been studying the book of Hebrews on Thursday nights, and in that study, we've looked at the great high priest. We've looked back at the day of atonement, the earthly high priest would go in and offer that sacrifice, and that sacrifice would appease the wrath of God, and that sacrifice would take the sin of those people away, and on that day of atonement, they would be rejoicing, why? But what we rejoice in today is so much better. That is that the great high priest, Jesus Christ, paid our sacrifice in full, and that through him, all people have opportunity to have their sin completely forgiven. It's the gospel of Christ. You know, again, tonight, why would I be ashamed? You know, am I ashamed tonight of what Jesus Christ did on the cross as He died for me? Am I ashamed of what He did as He died on the cross for the sin to that person? Why would I hesitate tonight to sing to somebody the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ? So we ought to vocally declare and say, hey, I've got good news. Let me tell you about Jesus Christ. Messiah. And then third tonight, do not be ashamed to say you must follow God's way. You must follow God's way. It says again, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is. It is. For it is. It is. I mean that is it. That is God's way. That is God's getting a bit of a medical education, you know, during the pandemic, haven't we, about how drugs work and treating things. And, you know, if they had a breakthrough drug that would help with COVID, and there have been times where they've come across something that really helps either deal with the symptoms or deal specifically with the illness and has saved a lot of lives, but they find that out through trials. And so they take somebody that has COVID, somebody else that has COVID, they give a person a drug, they give another person a placebo. The placebo is fake, it's not real, it's just a pill that does nothing, but they give both so that they can see what truly works. And when they find something, then they begin the process of educating people and saying, this works, this helps. Telling the doctors, telling the nurses, so that they can administer that drug that might help. And with drugs, there might be multiple things that would help. But we know tonight, when it comes to man's need tonight, that there is only one way to treat man's sin, and that is with the blood of Jesus Christ. It's the only way. Okay, it's not an option. It is the option. It's not suggested. It's commanded. They obey none of the counsel. Why? Because it is the way for man to be saved. Acts 4 verse 11 says, this is the stone which is set at nought of you builders, which has become the head of the quarter. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. You know, you and I know tonight that people are dying and going to hell. We know tonight that Jesus Christ is the only way and that salvation is in nothing else. Just like this verse says, for it is. We ought to be tonight unashamed to declare. We ought to be unashamed tonight to say to somebody that we meet, some stranger, some buddy that helps us, to be able to say to them, look, you need to follow God's way. Why should I be unashamed to say that? because it's the only way. But tonight you might be like me and you think, you know, Pastor Ben, I get that, I'm burdened about that. I understand it's the only way. I wanna say it, but I'm just scared to say it. Well, let's do what the apostles did. And that is they spent time with Jesus and they spent time in their knees and they asked God to help them to share the gospel. If you wanna turn there in your Bibles, Acts chapter four and verse 13, There's a testimony given about the apostles being bold. And there might be times you look at somebody and you think, that person is bold. But what you don't understand is as you look at their boldness, what you see is the boldness of Jesus Christ. That that person of himself, Paul, Paul didn't say of himself, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. He said by the grace of God, by the power of God, by the enabling of the spirit, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, just like in Acts chapter 4 it says in verse 13 now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus now these guys are being persecuted for preaching the gospel And these unsaved men look at that, and they see boldness in that, and they took knowledge of that, that they had been with Jesus. They identified the source of their boldness, and it was Christ. Verse 23, they get back to their brethren. They've been commanded not to preach in Jesus' name. They've been beaten for preaching in Jesus' name. They report to them what has happened. In verse 23, Being let go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God. With one accord, they prayed. And they said, Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that in them is, who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and for of a truth against thy foet child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, the people of Israel, were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before it to be done. and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word." What did the disciples do? Were they just SC, super Christians? No. They were DC, dependent Christians. They were people that got on their knees before God and said, God, we need boldness because we've got to And the Bible goes on to say, verse 31, when they had prayed, the place was shaken, where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And again, tonight, you might think, Pastor, I wanna say, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, but I struggle in my evangelism. I just wanna take a pause and say, remind us of the source of our confidence. the source of our strength. That is to say, we do need to pray. We do need to ask God. We can't pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and say, I'm gonna be a bold witness for Jesus Christ. We gotta say, God, by grace, I am dependent upon you to give me the boldness that I need. I understand what we looked at tonight. I've gotta get the gospel. of the only way that men can be saved. And then for tonight, do not be ashamed to say your life can be changed. Do not be ashamed tonight to say your life can be changed. You know, I've met people this past month that their life represents some of the truth that we sung tonight, I think it was the third hymn that we have sung about, and that is there are people in situations of desperateness, situations of sin, situations of their life being consumed by sin that you and I have never experienced. that we've not faced that level of temptation, that bondage that they're in in their life. In this past month, I met a man that had an abusive father, so abusive to that extent that his mom died as a brain hemorrhage that was from the beatings that his dad gave to his mom. I've met a man that was an addict for 25 years. and had that sin bondage that was in his life. Another man that is bitter against his siblings because they fought over the inheritance that they've had and it's embittered their lives. There's a lot of things in people's lives, things that are hard things, things that are difficult things, but by the grace of God, the power of God is such that God has the ability to set them free from those things. The gospel is transformative. It says in 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9, it says, No, ye not the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God, be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves, nor in kind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. There's no way that somebody that's in that lifestyle is on their way to heaven. And these are tough things, idolaters, fornicators, adulterers. And yet the Bible says this, and such were some of the people. you. Praise God, what's that mean? Tonight means that that was their life before Christ, but by the grace of God, they were set free. It's what the newspaper in Edinburgh reported about Charlotte Street Chapel back in 1904 to 1906 when revival took place there. They said a religion that would change drunkards and white beaters into godly husbands and good parents is a religion worth having. because it's powerful. We have something tonight that would absolutely change men's lives through the glory of God. There's this story I've shared before about George Minsik. He was in Al Capone's gang in Chicago. But George Minsik got saved. George Minsik went from being probably a hitman in Al Capone's gang to being a man that was a preacher of the gospel that would go into the prisons and declare Christ Tonight supports a man, Leighton Kelly, in Ireland. Leighton Kelly was for years a hero in the end. But now he's a preacher of the gospel. But now he's the leader of a men's home. He's a missionary. He's faithfully serving God. He's a good dad. He's a good husband. He's got a great family. The power of God broke into that man's life and set that man free. And tonight, are we ashamed of the gospel that has the power to go into that person's life, a person that we don't know, that we care about and desire to see saved? Are we ashamed tonight of the gospel? That's the key, that will set them free from the bondage that they're in. Praise God tonight, we get to look somebody in the face and say, look, your life can be changed. I know it's tough, I know it's hard, I know you're in bondage, I know you wanna be set free. in the gospel of Kena. We ought to be unashamed to give them that message tonight of hope. And so do not be ashamed to say your life can be changed. And the fifth tonight, do not be ashamed to say you don't have to perish. You don't have to perish. It says again in our text, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto If somebody needs to be saved, we understand tonight that it's because they're perishing. We've heard recently about Katie's sister Kelly, about a man that's younger than us, and his mom is very concerned because he's been admitted to a hospital with COVID and the doctors have given him very little hope. We're praying for him, asking that God, as a person, would raise him up in spirit, you know, and there's things there, and you just thank God, please, would you give hope? You know, tonight, if somebody has not received the gospel, there is no hope. That the position that they're in is one of complete hopelessness. There's no chance. They have not one chance in the world of going to court. Not one chance in the world of sinning God. Not one chance in the world of escaping the fires of hell. It is a certainty tonight, if they have not received the gospel, they will err. Again, tonight, we're ashamed to give them that truth that they need. The Bible says, Revelation 20, verse 12, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works, and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, And they were judged, every man, according to their words. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And true surrender was not found written in the book of life. It was cast into the lake of fire. And so we look at that tonight and we say, you know what? Religion won't save them. They can be sincere, they can be faithful, they can be practicing, but religion doesn't save. Their unbelief won't save them. They might think, well, I don't believe in God, so it doesn't matter. I get this all the time when I do evangelism. It doesn't matter to me, because I don't believe in God, and they think God disappears, heaven disappears, hell disappears, and it doesn't. So their unbelief tonight doesn't help them. Science won't save them. Their family might be believers, but their family can't save them. And so tonight, if you're on that, we've purchased a ticket on a one-way ship to hell, and the ship is sinking. And it's what the song says tonight that I've sung with work, sharing the word of God this evening by Ella Fitzgerald, Draw the Lifeline. It says, draw the lifeline across the dark way. There is a brother whom someone should save. Somebody's brother, oh, who then will dare to throw out the lifeline, his peril to share? Throw out the lifeline, throw out the lifeline. Someone is drifting away. Throw out the lifeline, throw out the lifeline. Someone is sinking today. And then it says, why throw out the lifeline with hand quick and strong? Why do you tarry? Why linger so long? See, he is sinking. Oh, hasten today. a way, a leg. You know, the thing is, tonight, you know, we can, as a church, we can say, we're just not gonna do door to door. We can say tonight that, you know, we're just not gonna give tracks out anymore. But the thing is, if we do that, we're literally not giving any assistance to somebody that is gonna perish for eternity in the lake of fire. We gotta stop and say, why am I ashamed of the gospel? Why am I ashamed to give them tonight what they need? They're slipping further and further towards hell. My God's grace, I wanna give them something that will seek to rescue them from hell. And then tonight, do not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ because anybody can be saved. Do not be ashamed tonight because anybody can be saved. It says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone. Then it goes on to say to the Jew first and also the Greek, right? For everyone. It's the answer for anybody. It's the answer for everybody. The gospel is available. Praise God tonight for the love that God has given to us, that he has provided a way. In 1904, 1905, there was the Welsh Revival that took place. And as that awakening took place, they had a theme song that the Spirit of God gave to the Welsh Revival, and it's called, Here is Love. I just want to sing some of the words to us tonight. ♪ Here is love, as fast as an ocean ♪ Nest as a flood, with the Prince of life our ransom, Shed for us His precious blood. Who His love will not remember, Who can cease to sing His praise, He can never be forgotten, ♪ Throughout heaven's eternal days ♪ ♪ On the mount of crucifixion ♪ ♪ Fountains open deep and wide ♪ ♪ Through the floodgates of God's mercy ♪ ♪ Flow the vast and gracious tide ♪ ♪ Grace and love like mighty rivers ♪ Lord, in sense and from above, and have peace and perfect justice, kiss the guilty world in love. Let me all Thy love accepting, love Thee ever all my days. Let me see thy kingdom only and my life be to thy praise. Thou alone shalt be my glory, nothing in the world I see. Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me. In thy truth thou dost direct me, by thy Spirit, through thy Word. And thy praise my need is meeting, as I trust in thee, my Lord. Of thy fullness thou art pouring, thy great love and power on me. without measure, full and boundless, drawing out my heart to Thee. Now praise God tonight. We can say to anybody that the Spirit of God begins to stir their heart with the love of Christ. We can say to them, is your heart being drawn out to God? And if they say yes, we can say that proves Love of God for you and the fact that the gospel is for you. The gospel is for you so that they can sing this song with us. Thou thyself has set us free. Why or how? Through the power of the gospel. That's what we need to tell them. That is for them. That is for our neighbor. That is for our family. That is for the stranger. That is for Africa. That is for Canada. That is for everybody. That is the power of the gospel. Then lastly tonight, do not be ashamed to say you must believe on Jesus. Don't be ashamed to say that. I mean, that's a powerful truth, isn't it? You must believe on Jesus. Notice what it says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. And the thing is this tonight, Paul said this, the gospel did not profit them being not mixed with faith. The gospel is powerless tonight. I spoke to a man this week. I shared the gospel with him. He's 20 years old. I said to him, look, you went to church. What makes the difference between those for whom Christ died on their way on their way to hell, and he thought about it, and I said, it's this, some have believed it and received it, others have not. And see, tonight, if somebody doesn't have faith, they don't trust in the gospel, they don't believe in Jesus Christ, it's kinda like this, me throwing a life ring to them, saying, you're gonna go over the dam, you're gonna go over the dam, here's a life ring, and they're kinda like, I can swim, and they don't reach out. and they don't grow up full of the life for it, and they perish. It's the power of God to those that believe. It's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preach unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preach unto you, unless ye have believed. That's where it's at. It is there. It's ready for anybody. I praise God today. Some people might be watching online. But anybody that by faith would just go, you know what? My life's a mess. Christ is the answer. He died for me. He paid the price for my sins. Angels rejoice in heaven, and we ought to rejoice on earth, and praise God, we participated in their salvation. How? By not being ashamed of the gospel. You know, tonight, in conclusion, I think about a poem, if you could call it that, that I wrote back when we were traveling, raising support to come to Scotland. There are souls to be won. Did you yell to warn them of eternal doom? Did you go out of your way to aid? What if Christ had not gone out of his way? What if he in heaven had chosen to stay? There would be hell to pay at the sinner's cost. But Christ paid the debt on Calvary's cross. their souls to be one. Will you yell toward them an eternal doom? Will you go out of your way today? And it's kind of like this, we're like so focused on our life, so focused on our things, we're just in and out, in and out, that we're too consumed to park our car, get out of our car, go over to somebody and say, look, I just want to give you something that tells you about everything. We ought to stop and look at it tonight and say, God, that may be me last week, that may be me last month, that may be me last year, but by the grace of God, I will not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. And then maybe tonight that somebody looks at their heart and says, I'm ashamed of the gospel of Christ because I don't have the gospel in my heart. I just say to that person, please get saved tonight. it off this opportunity to have Jesus. Let's pray. As you bow your heads just now, and just please keep your eyes closed and your heads bowed, I just want to ask this tonight. You know, to be honest, this message helped me. I shared in my witnessing opportunity with that young man. I said to him, listen, this is what I'm preaching on I'm being very straightforward with you about the gospel. You know what, he appreciated it and he told me thank you. I just want to ask you, is the spirit of God speaking to your heart about not being ashamed of the gospel? What do you have to say to God tonight? God, I'm sorry. I've been ashamed of the gospel. I don't want to be, I want to be like Paul. I want to be able to say, for I am not ashamed of the gospel. And I just want to confess that tonight, and that God helped me to have boldness. I want to be better at giving the gospel. I am going to give the gospel. Is there anybody like that? Spirit of God, speak to your heart about evangelism and sharing Christ. Anybody like that tonight? Praise God, it's the only one. Anybody else tonight? I'm not ashamed. Praise God for that. My hand's up tonight. I wanna be better at being a machine of Christ. Let me ask this as well. Anybody tonight that's saying, you know, tonight I'd like to accept Christ as my Savior. I've never asked Jesus to come into my heart and save me, but tonight, I wanna get saved. I see what Jesus did. He made a way for me to get saved. And I'm just gonna raise my hand as a testimony that I am gonna accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. Anybody like that tonight? I'd like to pray for you. All right, let's pray. Father, we just praise you for the grace that you give. Father, I pray for all of us. We all need it tonight. Father, there's so many people that need to hear about Jesus Christ. Father, as I examine my heart and the greatest battle I face in evangelism is what Paul's speaking about. being ashamed of the gospel. Father, I pray for boldness tonight. I pray that it fills with your spirit. And I pray this week, Lord, when we're ashamed and we don't speak to somebody for Jesus Christ, I pray that you remind us. And Father, I pray that you prompt us as well. Help us have tracts in our pocket. Help us be ready to give the gospel. But I pray, Father, for gospel boldness. is unsaved, yet the Spirit of God's resting with their heart to obey the gospel. Father, I pray that they yield. And Father, we long to see people get saved. I pray that we can see fruit from our labors. Father, it's not our responsibility to save people, it's our responsibility to tell them. Help us speak to people. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen. Let's stand and we'll sing that hymn here by way of imitation tonight. Throughout the lifeline, okay? Throughout the lifeline. We'll sing the same four verses that I have sung this evening. Let's stand please as we sing. Throughout the lifeline, across the dirt.