Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans. Tonight is study 30 of Romans, chapter 1, and we are going to read 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.

This is a statement that the Apostle Paul, who is a pattern of believers, makes concerning the Gospel of Christ, and we know the Gospel is really the whole Bible. It is the Word of God. And he is saying that he is not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, of the doctrine of Christ, or of the Scriptures. That means he is not ashamed of the things the Bible teaches, like its doctrines and the various instructions the Lord gives His people on the pages of the Bible, such as that when we marry, we are to stay married to that one person, and we are not to marry someone that has been married to someone else and divorced in the eyes of the world, but not in the eyes of God; or, the fact that there is not to be sexual relations outside of the marriage institution, and so forth. The Bible instructs the elect children of God regarding how we are to live in just about every situation with every person: we are to love our neighbors, to be kind to the unthankful and the evil, and to love our enemies, and so forth. God’s Word tells us, “These are the things my people – those created in my image – are to do, in thought, word and deed. These are the things that I command and declare ought to be done.” These are the commandments of the Lord, and Paul, as well as all the people of God, are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.

You know, it is really an amazing and incredible thing that this even needs to be said or written in God’s Word to let us know and to make us aware that we are not to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Why do I say this? We are very much aware that the people of the world look down upon the Gospel of Christ. They look down upon the Bible and those who would read it and believe it and obey it. Over the history of the world, we have been the “lowest of the low” and people that are pitied by the people of the world. In a sense, shame has been heaped upon us because we identify with Christ and the Word of God, the Bible. And that is what is shocking, stunning and amazing when we consider the people of the world who would cast such shame upon those that truly identify with the Bible. And we see what the Bible tells us about them or what the Bible tells us about “shame” itself.

And I think that is the first thing we need to start with and talk about what the Bible has to say regarding being “ashamed,” and why it is, as much as we can understand it. In the world today, we still hear that kind of language, like when someone says, “You should be ashamed!” Or, someone feeling ashamed says, “I am ashamed of what I did or said.” It is a horrible feeling. What do they mean? They mean they have done something wrong or bad, and something totally unacceptable, even by worldly standards. It is something that is degrading or disgraceful or dishonoring. They are embarrassed because they have done this thing or said this thing.

If truth be told, one of the reasons why they are ashamed is because the thing has become known or public, and it can now be seen by the eyes of their fellow man. And that is what is shameful to them. They may have been doing this thing for a long time in secret, without anyone knowing it, and they felt uneasy about it, but they continued on with their life, and they did not feel that horrible, disgusting feeling of shame until it was discovered. And, of course, this gets into the area of the world “not seeing” God, as the elect people of God “see” God and know that God sees us, as we are told in the book of Hebrews: “…all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

As far as feeling ashamed, the world has a very good sense of what it is – they know what it is. And we all know what it is like to be ashamed of something we have said or done in or words or action. And this really goes back all the way to the Garden of Eden. If we turn back to Genesis 2, after God had created everything good and there was no sin in the world, it says in Genesis 2:25:

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Of course they were not ashamed. They had nothing to be ashamed of, because all was good. You know, no one is ashamed of “doing good,” or are they? (Maybe that is something we will have to talk about a little later.) But, typically, in the world…well, maybe with the world being so wicked and corrupt, maybe we cannot make the statement that no one is ashamed of doing good today, but, historically, over the course of the world people have not been ashamed for “doing good,” but they were ashamed when they did evil or did something wrong and sinned.

As far as God is concerned and the Bible is concerned, there was no shame in the world while mankind obeyed God and kept His commandment. Adam and Eve were naked, and without shame. What was there to cause shame? There was no lust. There was no perversion of sexual desire. Every look that Adam gave his wife and every thought he had toward her (as well as her response to him) was pure and holy, and perfect and good. But we find (in the next chapter) that once Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin entered the world, it says in Genesis 3:6-11:

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of JEHOVAH God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of JEHOVAH God amongst the trees of the garden. And JEHOVAH God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

Sin had come, and the very first thing that Adam and Eve seemed to realize is their nakedness, and they quickly sewed some fig leaves together to cover themselves. Notice, also, that when they heard God, they did not go running toward Him. Instead, it says, “…they heard the voice of JEHOVAH God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of JEHOVAH God amongst the trees of the garden.” There was guilt and shame regarding their nakedness. They tried to cover it the best they could with fig leaves, but they still felt naked, even with the covering over their private parts. So, from this point forward, “physical nakedness” would become a picture of “spiritual nakedness,” or having one’s sins open and exposed to the eyes of God. Also, from this point forward, mankind would run away from God – he would go from the presence of JEHOVAH. That is why Jonah got on the ship to Tarshish to go with them from the presence of JEHOVAH, because it was a picture of the Lord Jesus entering into the human race, as all mankind was going away from the presence of JEHOVAH down through the centuries. And what we are seeing today is the “end scene.” It is the finality of man running away and going as far away from God as he possibly can to escape the eyes of the all-seeing and all-knowing God. But, you see, it all relates to sin, even though the word “shame” is not used in Genesis 3, it has everything to do with it.

Now let us go to Revelation 3 where the Lord addresses the church in Laodicea. It says in Revelation 3:17-18:

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

It refers to “the shame of thy nakedness,” the first thing Adam and Eve recognized: “We are naked. We have to cover ourselves.” Then here comes God, the voice of JEHOVAH. They had to run and hide themselves and flee from the presence of JEHOVAH because of shame. “Nakedness” and “shame” go hand-in-hand in the Bible. It says in Isaiah 20:4-5:

So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.

Their nakedness is to their shame. By the way, that is one of the things God is actively doing now in the Day of Judgment by exposing the world’s sins. We hear about the “Me Too Movement,” and it seems like almost every day we hear, “Well, someone said this a long time ago.” Or, this person had his or her photo taken doing something (shameful), and it comes to the attention of the world. It is put out everywhere, to their shame. N0 – it may not be physical nakedness, although in some cases, it could be. But, more often, it is a dirty rotten deed or something (awful) they said that has been exposed, and now the world labels them a certain way. It is like “nakedness.” It is the exposure of one’s sinful condition, and that is one of the characteristics of Judgment Day wherein “every idle word” is coming into judgment. That is what the Bible says, so we should not be surprised that this is happening so often. No – not every human being will experience this, but the renowned or famous and the rich and powerful are representatives of this world, and it is as though God is shaming the world. He is shaming “Babylon” and exposing her sins to all. And that is the very picture we see in Isaiah 47:1-3:

Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

This is language of God’s judgment upon Babylon. Babylon’s nakedness will be uncovered. Babylon’s sin will be seen, and Babylon is a figure that represents the world as a whole, the kingdom of Satan. And that is exactly what we are seeing because we are living in the time of the exposure of the sins of the world.

Remember when God’s judgment was on the corporate church as He was judging the “house of God” for twenty-three years, and the sins of the churches kept coming to the surface – this pastor, that priest, and so forth. It still happens now because they are still a province of Babylon as they were annexed and taken over by Satan, but during that intense 23-year Great Tribulation period, it (the exposure of their sins) was constant. And the world was laughing and mocking. There would be yet another story the news media would report regarding some shameful thing that was done by a pastor or elder or church, or there would be someone stealing money or pastors flying around in private jets, and so on. There were shameful things, and the world would report it and they would judge and mock because the judgment of God was upon the churches. And Satan and his kingdom (as represented by the king of Babylon and the Babylonians) were the instruments of His judgment.

But now it has turned. Now Babylon is the object of the wrath of God, and the news media that had reported on the shameful activities of the churches over the course of the Great Tribulation was itself being reported on and publicly humiliated, because the news media was like the “mouthpiece” of the world. So we are seeing something remarkable. We are seeing God take vengeance for His temple, and we are witnessing it every day.

But, again, as we think of “shame,” the Bible links it to sin. It links it in Genesis 2 and 3, and it tells us in Revelation 3:18 that to be clothed (through salvation), a sinner is spiritually clothed with the righteousness of Christ. And that is the “fine white linen” that could cover his nakedness, and it is a pure gown. Now there is no more sin and, therefore, no more shame. There is no more need to be ashamed.

Of course, even after we are saved in this world, we might still sin in the body, but we pray and confess it: “Oh, Lord, I did this horrible thing. I thought this or I did this.” Then we are reminded by the Word of God that there is now no more condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. At this point, as the day of salvation is completed and the righteous will be righteous still and the filthy will be filthy still, the totality of our sins are covered, from the time we were in our mother’s womb until the day we die or until Christ should come. Either that is true, or else no sin we have ever committed has been paid for, and that cesspool of iniquity that we are guilty of is still upon us. And do not think it is just that “last sin” that you are feeling badly about now. No – it is not limited to that. It is either true that all your sins are upon you, or none of your sins are upon you. If the latter is true, then we can say, “Yes, thank you, God, for your mercy. Thank you for your grace that has paid for all my sins, and by that grace I have the clean, white, fine linen, the righteousness of saints. It is by the obedience of One, the Lord Jesus Christ, that I have been made righteous. It is not of me. It is not my righteousness, which is as filthy rags, but it is His righteousness.” Then, being reminded, we realize that He first loved us and, therefore, we are to love Him, and we display that love by keeping His commandments: “O, Lord, strengthen me. Grant me strength and power to turn from this sin and not to do it again. O, please, help me, O, Lord, to live to your glory.”

You see, this is what the Bible would teach us about shame. We can Psalm read 25, and these are very helpful verses. It says in Psalm 25:1-3:

Unto thee, O JEHOVAH, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.

Here, we find that God is speaking directly to His people. First, there is the petition: “Let me not be ashamed,” and then it says in verse 3: “Let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.” (And “to transgress” means “to sin.”) Let me not be ashamed because I wait on God. Let me not be ashamed if I live as a Christian. Is that not what it says in 1Peter, chapter 4? It says in 1Peter 4:14-15:

If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.

That is, do not suffer as a sinner. Then it goes on to say in 1Peter 4:14-15:

Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

Let him not be ashamed if he suffers as a Christian. And to be a Christian is to be adopted into the family of God or into the family of Christ. It is to identify completely with the Word of God, the Bible. It is to trust the Word, believe the Word, follow the Word, love the Word, proclaim the Word, and do it with our families, our neighbors, our friends, strangers, and we do it in front of our enemies – before all. The Lord Jesus said in the last verse of Mark 8, in 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.

You see, it does come down to this: “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words…” If we are ashamed to carry the Bible and if we are ashamed to let people know that we believe these truths that the Bible teaches, the Word of Christ, then we are ashamed of Christ. There is no getting around it. He and His Word are inseparable. They are one and the same, so let us not be ashamed.

We are going to come back to this because this is an important topic and an important thing for us to look at. It is so bizarre that people can be ashamed of Christ who is good and perfect, and not be ashamed of sin.

We do not have time now, but we will look at this again in our next Bible study.