For I Am Not Ashamed Of The Gospel Of Jesus Christ.
When Peter the Apostle stood before the crowd after being filled with the Holy Spirit, how did he preach? Did he not declare that they had crucified the Christ? And were they not cut to the heart when they heard it?
And what of Stephen? When he addressed the religious leaders, did he soften his words, or did he call them stiff-necked, resisting the Holy Spirit? We know how it ended for him and for Paul the Apostle as well.
Paul himself said he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because it is the power of God unto salvation. So the real question is this: what is the Gospel? The whole Gospel, not just the parts that carry no offense.
The cross is an offense to those who are perishing. The Gospel confronts those who remain in their sins. When truth is spoken, it pierces the heart. If it does not, then perhaps what is being preached has been stripped of the weight and guilt of Calvary.
It may be that part of the weakness we see in the church today, particularly in places like Britain, comes from generations raised to avoid offense at all costs. A faith that fears offending anyone, even when truth is at stake, becomes hollow.
At the very center of the Gospel are the words of Jesus:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
There is no way to present that truth without it offending a world set against it.
Now, if a man speaks simply to offend, his heart is wrong. But if there is a fire within him, lit by God Himself, then he must speak. And if that truth unsettles, if it troubles the comfortable, then so be it.
A Call To The Remnant 