Are You Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ?
Romans 1:16



Intro:
1. The apostle Paul's imprisonment
2. The early church's suffering in the catacombs
3. Diocletion persecution
4. Foxes' Book of Martyrs
5. Persecution for translating and printing Bible

If you were to study persecution you will find one common denominator
in all eras, all men and women, all political regimes - that is - they
suffered for the Word of God, because they would not shut-up about the
Gospel. They kept the Word before men. Just shut-up and live!

REALITY CHECK:

Are we today ashamed of the Gospel of Christ - the Word of God?

If a communist or humanistic regime came in and took over the
country making it illegal to 
1) Read the Bible in public school, 
2) Pray in public places, 
3) Post the 10 commandments in schools or public places, 
4) and if they confiscated all Bibles, 
5) Threatened with loss of property, jobs, tax breaks, for anyone 
who is caught carrying, reading, teaching, preaching or quoting from 
the Bible, 
6) imprisonment for condemning anyone's lifestyle based on the Bible -


I. Reality Check 1:
REALIZE THAT PAUL'S SUFFERING WAS FOR THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST

"Out of the Salt Shaker and Into the World"

2Th 3:1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may
have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:

Phl 1:12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things
which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of
the gospel;

Eph 6:19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may
open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Eph 6:20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may
speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Eph 3:1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you
Gentiles,

Phl 1:7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I
have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defense
and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

Col 4:3 Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door
of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in
bonds:

2Ti 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the
gospel according to the power of God;

2Ti 1:11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a
teacher of the Gentiles. 12 For the which cause I also suffer these
things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day.

Ephesians 2:20  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; ... 3:1
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,



II. Reality Check 2:
REALIZE THE MEANING OF THE WORD(S) SHAME AND ASHAMED


2617 kataiscunw kat-aischuno kat-ahee-skhoo'-no
(kata= down from, through out)
AV-ashamed 7, confound 3, dishonour 2, shame 1; 13
1) to dishonour, disgrace 
2) to put to shame, make ashamed 2a) to be ashamed, blush with shame  
2b) one is said to be put to shame who suffers a repulse, or whom some
hope has deceived

153 aiscunw aischuno ahee-skhoo'-no (epi=prep, on, in, about)
from aischos (disfigurement, i.e. disgrace); AV-be ashamed 5; 5 
1) to disfigure 2) to dishonour 3) to suffuse with shame, make
ashamed, be ashamed 

818 atimazw atimazo at-im-ad'-zo [suffer shame= Acts 5:41] from 820;
;v AV-dishonour 3, entreat shamefully 1,  despise 1, treated with
contempt 1) to dishonour, insult, treat with contempt 1a) whether in word, deed
or thought


Mark 8:38  Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words
in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of
man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the
holy angels.

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is
the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the
Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Romans 10:11  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him
shall  not be ashamed.

2 Timothy 1:8  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God;


III. Reality Check 3:
REALIZE HOW WE ARE TODAY ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL 
OF CHRIST


HOW DO WE ACT ASHAMED OF GOSPEL TODAY?
 By hiding it from those who need to hear it most. (When do I ever
hide it from them?)
By hiding ourselves from a generation that might ridicule the Word
   of God, or we might get in trouble. (Salt in the saltshaker)
By not speaking the Word when the opportunity and situation arises.
  (When?)
By de-valuing the Word by not making it the centerfold of our
  lives. (How? live by it, love it, read it, speak it,  apply it,
  claim it, use it.)
By not studying it to show to God we know how to rightly interpret
   it
By exempting ourselves from the responsibility of spreading its
   message.


AGAIN I ASK:
If a communist or humanistic regime came in and took over the country
making it illegal to 1) Read the Bible in public school, 2) Pray in
public places, 3) Post the 10 commandments in schools or public
places, 4) and if they confiscated all Bibles, 5) Threatened with loss
of property, jobs, tax breaks, for anyone who is caught carrying,
reading, teaching, preaching or quoting from the Bible, 6)
imprisonment for condemning anyone's lifestyle based on the Bible -
Would that in any way affect your life?


CONCLUSION 

What Did Paul Suffer for the Gospel's Sake?
  -Loss of all things.
  -Rejection, and public humiliation, contradiction, unpopularity
  -Beatings, Arrest, Imprisonment
  -Death

Mark 8:38  Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words
in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of
man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the
holy angels.


Every prophet was persecuted/died did so for the testimony of the Word
of God Jesus suffered and died for the truth of the Word of God - the
Gospel. Paul's imprisonment and death was because he preached the Word
of God - the Gospel. Millions of martyrs suffered and died for the
sake of the Gospel.

There is a cost to discipleship. Discipleship is not just aligning
with Jesus and his message. It is wearing Jesus and his message. 

"Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free, no there's
a cross for everyone, and there's a cross for me."

Every true believer (who puts his life on the line) will suffer
persecution for sake of the Word. "All that live godly in Christ Jesus
WILL SUFFER PERSECUTION."


Accompanying Scriptures:

2 Timothy 2:1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus.2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among
many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be
able to teach others also. 3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a
good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4  No man that warreth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath
chosen him to be a soldier.And if a man also strive for masteries, yet
is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that
laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. what I say; and the
Lord give thee understanding in all things. 8.Remember that Jesus
Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my
gospel: 9Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds;
but the word of God is not bound.


Revelation 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and
judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were
beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which
had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received
his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and
reigned with Christ a thousand years.




Notes from Foxes Book of Martyrs

Nero 67 AD
Nero even refined upon cruelty, and contrived all manner of
punishments for the Christians that the most infernal imagination
could design. In particular, he had some sewed up in skins of wild
beasts, and then worried by dogs until they expired; and others
dressed in shirts made stiff with wax, fixed to axletrees, and set on
fire in his gardens, in order to illuminate them. This persecution was
general throughout the whole Roman Empire; but it rather increased
than diminished the spirit of Christianity. In the course of it, St.
Paul and St. Peter were martyred. To their names may be added,
Erastus, chamberlain of Corinth; Aristarchus, the Macedonian, and
Trophimus, an Ephesians, converted by St. Paul, and fellow-laborer
with him, Joseph, commonly called Barsa bas, and Ananias, bishop of
Damascus; each of the Seventy.

Domitian, A.D. 81
Among the numerous martyrs that suffered during this persecution was
Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem, who was crucified; and St. John, who was
boiled in oil, and afterward banished to Patmos. Flavia, the daughter
of a Roman senator, was likewise banished to Pontus; and a law was
made, "That no Christian, once brought before the tribunal, should be
exempted from punishment without renouncing his religion."

Timothy was the celebrated disciple of St. Paul, and bishop of
Ephesus, where he zealously governed the Church until A.D. 97. At this
period, as the pagans were about to celebrate a feast called
Catagogion, Timothy, meeting the procession, severely reproved them
for their ridiculous idolatry, which so exasperated the people that
they fell upon him with their clubs, and beat him in so dreadful a
manner that he expired of the bruises two days later.

Trajan, A.D. 108
In the third persecution Pliny the Second, a man learned and famous,
seeing the lamentable slaughter of Christians, and moved therewith to
pity, wrote to Trajan, certifying him that there were many thousands
of them daily put to death, of which none did any thing contrary to
the Roman laws worthy of persecution. "The whole account they gave of
their crime or error (whichever it is to be called) amounted only to
this-viz. that they were accustomed on a stated day to meet before
daylight, and to repeat togeth er a set form of prayer to Christ as a
God, and to bind themselves by an obligation-not indeed to commit
wickedness; but, on the contrary-never to commit theft, robbery, or
adultery, never to falsify their word, never to defraud any man: after
which it was their custom to separate, and reassemble to partake in
common of a harmless meal."

Ignacious: Some do say, that he, being sent from Syria to Rome,
because he professed Christ, was given to the wild beasts to be
devoured. "Now I begin to be a disciple. I care for nothing, of
visible or invisible things, so that I may but win Christ. Let fire
and the cross, let the companies of wild beasts, let breaking of bones
and tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body, and all the
malice of the devil, come upon me; be it so, only may I win Christ
Jesus!"   And even when he was sentenced to be thrown to the beasts,
such as the burning desire that he had to suffer, that he spake, what
time he heard the lions roaring, saying: "I am the wheat of Christ: I
am going to be ground with the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be
found pure bread."

In Mount Ararat many were crucified, crowned with thorns, and spears
run into their sides, in imitation of Christ's passion. 

Eustachius, a brave and successful Roman commander, was by the emperor
ordered to join in an idolatrous sacrifice to celebrate some of his
own victories; but his faith (being a Christian in his heart) was so
much greater than his vanity, that he nobly refused it. Enraged at the
denial, the ungrateful emperor forgot the service of this skilful
commander, and ordered him and his whole family to be martyred.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, A.D. 162
Polycarp, the venerable bishop of Smyrna, carried before the
proconsul, condemned, and burnt in the market place. He prayed with
such fervency, that his guards repented that they had been
instrumental in taking him. At the stake to which he was only tied,
but not nailed as usual, as he assured them he should stand immovable,
the flames, on their kindling the fagots, encircled his body, like an
arch, without touching him; and the  executioner, on seeing this, was
ordered to pierce him with a sword, when so g reat a quantity of blood
flowed out as extinguished the fire. But his body, at the instigation
of the enemies of the Gospel, especially Jews, was ordered to be
consumed in the pile, and the request of his friends, who wished to
give it Christian burial, rejected. They nevertheless collected his
bones and as much of his remains as possible, and caused them to be
decently interred.

It has been said that the lives of the early Christians consisted of
"persecution above ground and prayer below ground." Their lives are
expressed by the Coliseum and the catacombs. Beneath Rome are the
excavations which we call the catacombs, whivch were at once temples
and tombs. The early Church of Rome might well be called the Church of
the Catacombs. There are some sixty catacombs near Rome, in which some
six hundred miles of galleries have been traced, and these are not
all. These galleries are about eight feet high and from three to five
feet wide, containing on either side several rows of long, low,
horizontal recesses, one above another like berths in a ship. In these
the dead bodies were placed and the front closed, either by a single
marble slab or several great tiles laid in mortar. On these slabs or
tiles, epitaphs or symbols are graved or painted. Both pagans and
Christians buried their dead in these catacombs. When the Christian
graves have been opened the skeleto ns tell their own terrible tale.
Heads are found severed from the body, ribs and shoulder blades are
broken, bones are often calcined from fire.

And many others...