Please turn again in the Bible to the book of Romans at chapter 10. You'll find Romans chapter 10 on page 946 there in the Pew Bible. Book of Romans, chapter 10. I'm going to read from verse 9 as far as the end of the chapter. Please give your attention to the Word of God. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. but they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. But I ask, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation. With a foolish nation, I will make you angry. Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me. I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. But of Israel, he says, all day long, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. Last week we talked about how, at this point in Romans, it breaks from really complex argumentation to a simple message. The simple message is, if you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, and confess with your mouth, I think I have it backwards, that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Switch that up when you have it right. It's a simple message. And it had been complex, because he's answering questions, particularly from a Jewish audience, saying, we've read the Old Testament, and we don't think that Jesus is the way the story ends. And so he's showing that, yes, Jesus is the way the story ends. Or rather, the church is how the story ends. Or rather, the message about Jesus is to go out to all the world before the end will come. And so you have this simple message there in verse 9. And one reason that it's simple is so that it will be suitable to people from every nation. It takes a long time to learn how to be a proper Orthodox Jew. But the Christian message is a simple message because it is for every person. When it says there's no distinction between Jew and Greek, You're not to think, oh, but there probably is a distinction between Greeks and Spaniards. No. The point there is between people. There is no distinction. No matter what country or continent you are from, no matter what language you speak, the same Lord is Lord of all. So it says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. We have to ask, however, what does it take for people to call on the name of the Lord? And so he turns in this next paragraph to say, OK, how is this going to work for people? What do we need to do? And what does the Old Testament have to say about it? So we're going to cover that today, what we need to do, what the Old Testament says about it, and also deal with a major objection that you may hear in this day and age. So what do we need to do? No one responds to a message that is never sent. Perhaps some of you occasionally think about someone that you're really fond of. Maybe you even put pen to paper. Maybe you write something eloquent. If it doesn't get to her, it does you no good. No one responds to a love message that is never sent. And in the same way, no one can believe in Jesus who has never heard anything of the Lord. And so the early church knew to go, even when they were scattered. The first church, scattered out of Jerusalem by persecution, it says, and those who were scattered went everywhere speaking the Word. And those were not the apostles, because it specifically says the apostles were not scattered. Everyone else was scattered and went everywhere preaching the Word. But you know, it's very easy once you're converted and you are busy with families and with your life and it's settled, no longer to speak of Jesus really at all. This is not good. But what is worse is if people use the previous chapter, Romans 9, to justify not saying anything about Jesus to others. That's worse. If people say, well, you know, God has his chosen people. And so if he wants my neighbor to believe, God will zap him. Nobody would say zap, but we can think that way. We can say, well, God has his chosen ones. That's the teaching of the previous chapter. And so it's God's business to make sure that that happens. I don't know if anybody puts it quite so crudely. But listen to the title that someone wrote. Here's the title of William Carey's famous book, An Inquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. Now, first of all, don't be bothered by the word heathens. He's an Englishman in the 1790s. It's how they talked. But listen to that title. And of course, being an older book, it has a longer title. an inquiry into the obligations of Christians to use means for the conversion of the heathens. That is, he wrote his book to explore whether we need to actually use methods to see people believe in Jesus. That's what the word means there, as in, you hear the end justifies the means, right? Means is the way you get there. And he was saying, let's inquire into whether we have any obligations to use means, which basically means, do we have to actually try? And that book was the beginning of the modern missionary movement. Notice the objection he has to overcome. He has to overcome the objection that we don't have to try. And he's saying, no, no, we do have to try. We have an obligation to use means, that is, to actually try to make it happen, that is, to actually go and to preach. And so he shouldn't have had to work that hard. Romans 9 is followed by Romans 10. And here we have in Romans 10 Paul laying out the obvious chain that we see here. How are they to call on a God in whom they have not believed? Now, occasionally you hear stories of someone trying everything and calling on every god in a moment of desperation just to see if something will work. But by and large, you don't call unless you believe. You have to already believe something about God in order to pray to him in your time of need. And to believe in God, you have to have first heard. to believe in Jesus, he says, well, you need to have heard of Jesus. And to hear of Jesus, well, someone will have had to set the air in motion for you to hear. Someone will have had to put the message out there for anyone to receive it. Someone might say, well, you can read. Well, that is true, but then someone has to write. And even there, You know, our catechism says the spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching, of the word an effective means of convincing and converting sinners. A couple of days ago, I was sitting around a campfire with my in-laws. They're celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year. And so we got them to tell stories. And so we got them each to tell the story of when they came to faith. And both of them had read their Bibles. And both of them had been in various churches or school settings hearing the gospel for some time. But both of them could remember a particular time when the word was preached to them, maybe by somebody new to them. And then they were particularly convinced and converted on that occasion. Even the Ethiopian eunuch, as he reads his Bible, this is in Acts chapter 8. the first Gentile to be baptized. As he's reading his Bible, this is an educated, intelligent man, because he's got a chariot and he manages Ethiopia's treasure. So this is an educated guy. But even he, as he's reading his Bible, has to say to Philip, how will I understand unless someone interprets for me? So Philip is sent there by the Spirit of God to interpret for this man. If someone has to speak and to speak, well, you have to get there. He says, you must be sent. The word apostle, if you break it down, means the sent ones, the messengers. And so he speaks here not only of the apostles, but of all those who go out to speak. You know, it takes money to travel. And if you're out there preaching, you're not directly doing something that earns money. And so William Carey, after he published his book and after he argued with his fellow Baptists in London, he then spent a couple of years raising support before they could go out as missionaries. Notice each step is necessary. It's hard to argue with it. How are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? How are they going to hear unless somebody speaks? How are they going to speak unless they get there to speak? And so these are the means that are needed for nations to believe in Jesus. And Paul is saying, if God wills the ends, then he wills the means. William Carey is saying, yes, if God wills the ends and he tells us to do it, then he wants us to actually try, that is, to figure out how to do it. So we have here what we must do to be a part of the process. And as a further proof, he says, you know, God has already spoken about these means. As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. That's Isaiah 52.7 that we read. Now, I must tell you, I know that some women spend a lot of time on pedicures, but I have never yet heard a guy rave about a girl's feet. Plenty of other parts of the body, yes, but not the feet. And yet this scripture famously says, how beautiful are the feet. And none of you believe that. None of you thinks the feet are actually beautiful. And Isaiah is one of the greatest writers ever, so he knows that. He's making a point. What is the point when you talk about these beautiful feet, particularly the feet that he's talking about, which would be feet that ran nearly barefoot or in sandals for miles over sandy, rocky trails? Just in case you want to hold out because maybe you work in a pedicure shop? No, that wouldn't even apply to these feet. So what is he after with these beautiful feet? Well, how did you get news before the Pony Express? And you know who invented the Pony Express? The Persians. You have it in the Book of Ephraim. Now, if you weren't the Persians, how did you get news? Well, if you weren't the Persians, you were not wealthy enough and organized enough to have the horses lined up in the stables and the mailmen lined up to ride on the horses. So you would have somebody run. We get our modern marathon race from the Greek messenger who ran from marathon to Athens with the news that the Greeks had beaten the Persians. That's where we get the race from, from the man who ran his race, not his race. He ran to deliver his message. He gave the good news of victory, and he died. And that's where you get the word marathon from. And you see this in the Bible. In one case, it's really drawn out rather dramatically. When King David had to fight a civil war against his own son, the rebel Absalom. And his men say to him, you're too old to go fight. You have to stay back in the city. But what's hard for David is not only that now he can't do his own fighting, he doesn't even know what's happening until someone runs to tell him. And so it's a fairly dramatic scene of him sitting at the gate waiting. for the messengers to come. And first the one is coming, and then a second one is coming. And you get the discussion between David and the watchman on the wall, talking about, I see a man running, and I see a second man running, and I know who he is. He's Jonathan. And the news is delivered. It's not the only time that David or someone runs. Somebody runs to tell David when Saul and Jonathan are killed. Somebody runs to tell Eli that his sons are dead and the ark is captured. Which reminds you that not always do you get good news when somebody runs. Sometimes the news is bad, as it was for Eli. And so, that's the background for the Bible saying, in multiple places, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Thank you to everyone who brings any news. But how wonderful it is when the news is good. So you have that in Nahum. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring us good news that the enemy is destroyed. Or in Isaiah, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news that your God reigns. And so what Paul is saying here is that what Isaiah had been prophesying about has now occurred. God has come. And now God has begun to reign in a new way. And so it is time for the news to go out. As they have been talking about how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, now is the real time for this to be applied and carried out in time for people to run out with this good news to all the world. And you'll notice how it speaks of the right reaction to this good news. We're to respond with joy. You know, and we have it so differently now with the internet and news and so on. It used to be, if you would get the news that the nation had won a great battle, you might have all the church bells ring in the town. The whole town would be alerted as soon as possible. We have won the war. Let us rejoice. Let us prepare a parade for the soldiers as they come back. Let us ring the bells and rejoice in it. That's one culture's way of doing it. But you know, there's a lot of ways of doing it. You have that in the Bible again. The ladies are a mighty host, singing with joy when they come back from the battle. And so it speaks about the proper reaction, that we ought to rejoice, that we ought to be so filled with rejoicing that we're ready to praise the feasts. of those who ran with the message. Objection. When a war is won, everybody in the winning country is happy. But not everybody is happy about the news of a crucified and resurrected Messiah. You're misapplying it. Answer. Yeah, they've not all obeyed the gospel, because Isaiah already said, Lord, who has believed our message? He promptly quotes. Having quoted Isaiah 52.7, he quotes six verses later to quote Isaiah 53.1 to say, yes, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news. Although this is a paradoxical good news, some do not believe the message. For the message is so surprising that the Lord's servants suffered and had no beauty, and all of our wounds were laid on him. So there's no objection if some do not respond with joy to this message. Isaiah already predicted it. And so he says, faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes from the word of Christ. It is time now for a modern objection to the modern missionary movement. I address this particularly to those who are going to be or were in universities. Objection. Missionaries destroy native cultures. Missionaries are among the worst people in the world. Missionaries should never be sent, should never be listened to, should never be supported, because they destroy native cultures. It is imperialist, if not racist, to go and export one religion over against another. How many of you have ever heard an objection along these lines? Please raise your hands. Oh, plenty of people. Well, good. That means you're not living under a rock. That's good. One thing is true in this objection, and that is, as the sociologists and anthropologists say, the center of every culture is its cult, meaning its religion. Center of a culture is its religion. So if you change the religion, you have, in fact, changed the culture. Now, some change it more or less than others, as I'll say later. But one thing is true, yes. Change the religion of a people, and you have changed something significant. Second thing to admit, and that is that some missionaries, indeed, have had trouble distinguishing the message of Jesus Christ with their own civilizations. This has certainly happened. Some of the reading in, say, New England Puritan missionaries, of whom there were too few, by the way. But the ones who were missionaries, not all of them were particularly clear sighted. So you read about some of the New England Puritan missionaries who said, OK, when you become a Christian, you have to cut your hair, and you have to live in towns, and you have to start to farm. And this is, of course, nonsense. In order to be English, you have to cut your hair and live in towns and farm, but not to be Christian. Of course, not all the missionaries thought that. The French Jesuits actually were better on that point, which is too bad, because the message wasn't as good. But they understood that, yeah, you can travel around with the game and still be a Christian. You can have long hair and still be a Christian. Yes, you don't have to live in towns to be a Christian. That's absurd. But of course, it is sometimes rather difficult. My parents went as young adults to be missionaries, and they're teaching in the mission school in Cyprus. And they're wondering, why are we celebrating Thanksgiving with turkeys on the walls in Cyprus? Yes. Now, you have to be careful, because jaundiced historians will sometimes say, missionary A made them cut their hair, And Missionary B made them live in towns, and Missionary C said they had to farm. Therefore, all missionaries always make all converts cut their hair, live in towns, and farm. And actually, it's possible that no missionary ever did all the things. You're cherry picking, getting what one person did wrong, what the next person did wrong, and what the third person did wrong. And some missionaries, of course, have been extremely sophisticated and clear thinking about what is and is not part of the Christian message. But so far conceding various points, let's come back to the objection. Objections destroy native cultures, so this is bad, and no one should go. Let me answer with three replies, starting with the weakest. Do you know of all the world's religions, Christianity is the least tied to culture? Here's what I mean. The center of Christianity has moved, unlike other religions. The center of Islam in the beginning was Arabia, and it still is. The center of Hinduism in the beginning was India, and it still is. Buddhism has made one move. It starts in India, and now its center is farther east than that. The Christianity center is continually moving. It begins in Judea and Galilee. And then between Gentile conversions and wars, it becomes, say, Egypt, Antioch, and Turkey. And then due to conversions and wars, it becomes, you might say, Greece and Italy. And then due to conversions and apostasy, it becomes, say, northern and central Europe. And then due to travel and apostasy, it becomes, say, America. And now, I wouldn't venture to say where the center of Christianity is. It's all over the world. I don't know if it's America, or the Far East, or if it's Africa. Christianity's center has kept moving, because Christianity is the least tied to any one culture. No other religion can say this. This is the first preliminary answer. Here's a second, stronger answer. And why make an idol of culture? In the American South, White people used to enslave black people. It was part of the culture. Does that make it good? No. Does that make it above reproach? No. Does that mean it shouldn't be changed? No. In Eastern Europe, the serfs used to be tied to the land. Weren't exactly slaves, but couldn't move. That was part of the culture. Did that make it good? No. In India, a widow used to be expected to throw herself on her husband's funeral pyre. What's a funeral pyre? Well, that's what they were burning him, burning his dead body on. And she was supposed to throw herself into the flames and die with him. That was part of the culture. Did that make it good? In China, upper class families upper class families, to show that they were upper class, used to break the feet of their young girls and then put the broken foot in a box. The girl would grow. The box wouldn't. Why? So that the feet wouldn't. Why? So that when she was grown up, she'd have these little tiny feet and could barely walk. Why? Well, to say we're so wealthy, we don't need to make our girls work hard. So here's our status symbol. Our status symbol is the tiny feet of our women. This is part of the culture. Did that make it good? Judge for yourself. So why make an idol of culture? I'll tell you that Americans want to be able to criticize our own culture. And Americans want to be able to pick up what we like from other cultures. We want to eat Indian food and learn karate. So why would we want to deny this freedom to native peoples? Let them hear whatever they can hear and choose what they want. But the third answer is this. If God Almighty requires repentance for something, then you won't flourish until you repent. That's the final answer. The final answer is not a human-on-human comparison, but simply saying, when God requires repentance, it's for us to repent. And to say it's part of our culture to oppress people is no defense at all. Almost, I dare say, every culture gets some things wrong. What we need is something that guides our sinful cultures. And what we have is God's word. So missionaries destroy cultures? Well, when listened to, they certainly do change them. But the wise ones are not doing so to impose some other culture. but to guide people in hearing the Word of God. You can think of Paul. Paul said, to the Greeks, I become like a Greek. To the Jews, I become like a Jew. I'm not trying to impose a culture. Let everybody eat what they want. Let them have their burial customs, and their wedding customs, and many things. But there's a message from God to every person. And this is what we need. So, university people. Some will try to make you ashamed of the gospel and ashamed of wanting to share it as part of the devil's ploy to keep people from hearing and believing. Remember these answers. Why make an idol of culture? Why put shackles on people from other countries? And why not listen to God, who made us all? Now, the apostle here deals with some different objections. And one basic objection that Paul keeps dealing with is, is that what the Old Testament really said? And so he says here, yes, indeed. Look at how the Old Testament prepared the way. Have they not heard? Indeed, they have. For Psalm 19 says, their voice has gone out into all the world. Now, what that means at first is that everyone can see the stars and the sun and the moon. And everyone should perceive the glory and majesty of the God who made them. But it goes on to say, And now that hunger that should be aroused by the stars is now being answered as the gospel goes out to all nations. God's general revelation has foreshadowed and signaled a coming special revelation that will go as widely as the general. I can think of someone I knew in this congregation searching for meaning as a young person, despairing of meaning, looking out at the sky, resolving to kill herself in a year if she couldn't find meaning. And then feeling as if someone was looking back at her from the stars, and being so struck by this as to say, I don't believe you. How about? And then realizing, well, that was a strange response. And she met the Lord in that following year. Next objection. Well, Israel doesn't know this. If this is the right way to read the Old Testament, why don't Jews know it? He says, well, Israel should understand. First, Moses says in what we read, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation. That is, as Israel has made God jealous by worshiping other gods, God said back in Deuteronomy, and I will make you jealous by bringing other nations to believe in me. That was right in the song you were supposed to learn from Moses. Israel should understand. And then the greatest of the prophets wrote. I have been found by those who did not seek me, Gentiles. I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. I think Israel should have known the word would go out to all the world. It was right in the Torah and in the prophets. Why did they not understand? Well, Isaiah goes on to say, all day long, I, God, have held up my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. We see there that the divine sovereignty, that God shows this, that God shows that the word would go out to all the world. We also see the human responsibility in Israel not understanding, did not want to understand that part of it, being contrary and disobedient. And so the point of today's passage is this. We must be part of sending the gospel to all so that all can believe in Jesus. Now, I met a guy. The same college as me, he now has a position of some importance in a local Christian institution. And he had grown up in a particular brand of Protestantism that aimed to always serve and speak as little as possible. I think it came from Francis. Always love and serve, and if necessary, use words. So he grew up in this sort of branch of the church. And he went to college, and he's hanging out with evangelicals. And he's realizing that there's a fair amount about talking in the Bible. But actually, there is a message that must be believed, and it needs to be spoken if one is to believe it. And so while it's always a good reminder to remember that we are to love one another and to serve one another, there's also that place for speaking. And so we are all to be involved in sending. And in some respects, we all are. When you put money in the plate, some of that money goes to the denomination called RPM&M. And some of the money for RPM&M goes to support missionaries. So that is one way in which we are all part of sending, when we put money into the plate. Here's another way we can be part of sending. when missionaries come back and they speak at this church on a Sunday evening we can come and hear them even if we don't usually come on Sunday evenings we can come and we can hear when the missionaries return and they say this is what God has done and this is what the needs are and this is how to pray and this is what we need and you know when we read a passage like this we see that some people are to go How will they hear unless somebody speaks? And how will they speak unless they are sent? It speaks of some going. Now recently, someone that my wife knew when she was young, did a second stint in Japan as an old man. And he said, you know, I baptized a lot more people as an old man than I did when I was a young man. He said, in Japan, they respect old people. So if you're old, maybe you should go to Japan. Of course, when you are young, when you are young, you can get the language down better. And you can be there for a long time when you are young. And so William Carey, it's amazing how many languages he learned and how much translation work he got going, having gone there as a younger man. You know, our mission board right now has been asking for a second family to go to South Sudan. There's one family lined up. Wait like a second. Family to go to South Sudan. So we are all involved in sending. We can be more involved. We should all consider whether we are being sent. And we should all be ready to speak. You don't know when someone will suddenly turn on you and say, Emma, why are you Christian? You don't know when that will happen. I know when I was 17 years old, I was flown down to Miami because I did well in the contest, and I got to know the other 17, 18-year-olds there at the contest. And on the last night, somebody knocked on my door at 2 a.m. and wanted to talk. Wanted to say, why are you different? There's a lot of ways to answer that question. You could turn it to Jesus if someone wants to ask you why you are different. I did not go to bed anticipating that I would be awoken in an hour and a half by someone asking me such a question. So we should be all involved in this. As it says in 1 Peter, always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and respect. So calling requires faith. And faith requires hearing. Hearing requires speaking. Speaking involves being sent. Find your place in that chain, for we all are to have a hand in it. She doesn't know I'm going to do this, but this congregation has been involved in some of this before. I'm holding here a postcard sent to the Elkins Park Reformed Presbyterian Church from the home of W.J. Starrett in 1987. And this is a thank you note from somebody in that household. Dear friends, thank you very much for, with childlike bluntness, the money. We're going on furlough this summer. We might be able to see you. Love, Evniki Ivani Christina Sterrett. They couldn't decide which one of them had written this 32 years ago. You see, the congregation has been a part of encouraging missionaries before. Yes, I want to encourage you to begin to pray. that for two friends, two friends that you see regularly, that you want to pray for, that you will be able to share the gospel with them. Make it friends that are close enough that you see them. We've done this before, and someone said, I've got a friend 1,000 miles away. That's good. Pray for her. But also pray for a friend that you will be able to speak to. One more story from the stairs. when they moved back to Cyprus. It was very clear what Bill was to do. Bill was to go to this school and teach Bible, and he was to be the pastor in the church. But what was Callie to do? Her kids were grown. They were in America. What was she particularly to do? And so she prayed, Lord, show me what to do. And then one day, she felt like she had to go to the school at which her husband taught. And she said, why should I go to the American Academy? I have no business being there in the morning. But she felt like she needed to go to the American Academy. So she went. When she went, being a Greek Cypriot, a trilingual Greek Cypriot, she went in and there was this Japanese lady struggling to communicate to enroll her three sons in the school. Japanese lady only spoke Japanese and maybe Romanian. And behind the desk, they only spoke English and Greek. But Kallisterit spoke three of those languages and provided translation services and became friends with the family. And the lady defeated her alcoholism and came to the Lord. Probably not in that order. Came to the Lord and defeated her alcoholism. Her sons came to the Lord. They moved back to Romania. And the lady has been quite an evangelist for Jesus, speaking in the Japanese expatriate community there in Romania. Notice the beginning point. was someone praying, God, why am I in this country? Would you show me why you want me here? And then she followed mysterious promptings and followed up with a great deal of prayer and concern. Yes, the gospel must go to all so that all can call on Jesus. So pray and find your role in this team. One will have one role. Another will have another. But we all have our place in it. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have sent, and some have spoken to us. Lord, we thank you, whether they were initially sent to us, or our parents, or our ancestors, we thank you that some were sent. Sent, whether to Italy, or to Scotland, or to Pakistan, or to Cameroon. We thank You, Lord, that some were sent. And we thank You that they spoke. And so, Lord, we thank You that we have believed. We believe that Jesus is Lord, and that You have raised Him from the dead. So help us, Lord, to persevere in calling on Your name when we are in trouble. And help us also, Lord, to be a part of speaking this word to others. Help us, Lord, to find our place as individuals and as families and as a congregation, so that those who have not heard may hear, and those who have not believed may believe. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.