Do Not Be Ashamed of The Truth

[Sue J Love]

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” (2 Timothy 1:8-12 NASB1995)

So, what is the testimony of our Lord Jesus that we are not to be ashamed of? Well, Jesus said that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God.

He also said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God the Father. For many are going to stand before the Lord on the day of judgment, calling him, “Lord,” proclaiming what they did in his name, and he is going to say, “I never knew you! Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” Why? Because they went their own way and they did not obey the Lord Jesus.

But this is not what is being popularly taught today as the gospel of Christ. Many are teaching a godless gospel message which makes no requirements for death to sin and walks of obedience to his commands, but which is based on lip service only and on Scriptures willfully taught out of context to teach the opposite of what Jesus taught in Luke 9:23-26 and in Matthew 7:21-23. And they confuse the works God has for us to walk in with fleshly works.

But verse 10 of Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” And in Titus 2:11-14 we read that the grace of God is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus. For Jesus Christ “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

So, yes, it is true that Jesus saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our own works, the works of our flesh, but according to his own purpose and grace. But his grace teaches us that we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands. And it teaches us that it is the ones DOING the will of God who will enter the kingdom of heaven. And it teaches us that we must renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and now live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives.

And this is the gospel message that Paul taught, too. For he taught that by faith in Jesus Christ “our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin,” so we should “not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,” and we “are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness” which results in sanctification, and the outcome is eternal life (see Romans 6:1-23).

All of the above is the gospel message that the apostle Paul taught, and of which he was not ashamed. He did not teach that we could make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now be assured heaven when we die regardless of how we live. He taught that if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not walks of obedience to our Lord, that we will not inherit eternal life with God. There will be hell to pay. And this is the gospel that we should be believing and proclaiming and be not ashamed of, too.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

Do Not Be Ashamed of The Truth
An Original Work / February 28, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love