Romans 10 emphasizes that salvation comes through confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in His resurrection, not through self-righteousness. The chapter highlights that faith comes by hearing the word of God, which necessitates preachers to communicate the gospel. The sermon illustrates this with the example of Marcel Kimarecki, a missionary with limited education but immense dedication, who brought the gospel to the Wallachian tribe and remained with them through famine, demonstrating the profound impact of faithful gospel proclamation. The message concludes by underscoring the beauty of those who preach the gospel and the responsibility believers have to support this mission, whether by going or by providing resources.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 1.96 → restored 4.13
I'd like to look at the tenth chapter of Romans. I hope I'm not screeching too much in the ears of the people over there. I'm not going to read the passage because our time is limited, but comment as we go along. Romans chapter ten. My father, as you heard in the report I gave of our going to the mission field, went to the be a missionary for the first time when he was just turning forty nine and the Lord took him home to glory thirty years after so he had a good time on the mission field I think it's encouraging to us as we get older to realize that there's a lot that can be done in the latter years of our lives and I don't think we've said this but we're going back Betty and I are going back to the mission field God willing in in April in fact Two months from now, we'll be in Zaire.
And from the tail end of the time in this country, we're not going back to live there. Because we've lived out there for many years, and we've been leading the Africans along to take over responsibilities in the work, and we've turned our part of the work over to them. But they need help, and they are anxious for contacts, anxious that we come and give them further help. and minister the word out among the local churches, and also to give help in connection with the publishing work, which is growing and is important, but is completely in the hand of the African Christian. So we're only going to have three months on the field, and then we're coming back as a visit amongst God's people in this country.
This first verse was a verse my father often quoted, but adapted in quoting. He used to read this way. Brethren, my harsh desire and prayer to God for the pygmies is that they might be saved. And so we've had good news in recent years of God's work among the pygmies and Latter-day Lola, as there are two local churches, if we can call them that. They're going to be very simple, of course. local assemblies of believers there amongst the pygmies. And the last news is that they have themselves been baptizing pygmy, baptizing pygmy, which is another first, as current missions magazine calls it.
And I just had a letter from my brother-in-law, Bill Spees, and he says they're seeing a third of the pygmy assemblies in process of formation. We just thank God for the answer to prayer of my father and our prayer regarding God's blessing among the people. What a wonderful chapter, this chapter ten of Romans. How often we can use it in speaking to people about the Lord Jesus. An example in verse four. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Men go about trying to establish their own righteousness, whether they're Jewish or other Each people of other groups, they endeavor to establish their own righteousness, but they cannot establish their own righteousness before God.
But the Lord Jesus was made sin for us, whom you know sin, that we might be the righteousness of God in him. Thank the Lord for his toning work on Calvary's cross, which has brought us into a realization of a righteousness which is not ours, but God's righteousness given to us. Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness is everyone that believes. And this is, in verse six, the righteousness of faith. And then in verse eight, I comment on this expression, the word of faith. Now we have a magazine out there that we started many years ago called Nino La Imani, a Swahili magazine.
And that title means the word of faith. And this is widely known in Central Africa. And its companion magazine is called Retatoli, which means The Witness. There's a fine magazine that's been published in England for many, many years called The Witness. And we were thinking of that when we chose the title. It's well known too in Africa in the Mingala language. And in fact, at the present time, because of desiring to have a larger magazine than the two smaller magazines, they've combined the two languages together into one magazine. and they leave the name Nenola Imani, the Word of Faith, and it's in, it's even coming out in Swahili and Lingala.
The Word of Faith, which we preach. So the Africans know that expression very well, the Word of Faith. And then here it is, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, or Jesus is Lord. The New English Bible gives it, if on your lips is the confession, Jesus is Lord. And so it's not only Jesus as Savior, but Jesus as Lord. If thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Wonderful grace that we can declare to those out in Africa or anywhere in the world, the amazing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And Africans are interested in knowing how they can be saved. They realized the fact that they're sinners. And they want to know how they can be saved. We praise God for a race of people and for a country in which we could go and find people hungry to know how they can be saved. And so it's been that many have come to know the Lord Jesus as Lord and been saved. Verse ten, with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth. confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
As the jailer said, Sir, what must I do to be saved? The answer was, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. As I mentioned earlier this week, in a very simple way, in presenting the atoning work of the Lord Jesus, the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, the sinner, out in darkest Africa we've seen the light of the gospel come into their lives and they've been born from above they've come to know what it is to have the Holy Spirit of God in dwelling their hearts and then we see evidences of spiritual gifts in the lives of those who have come to know the Lord so that they themselves become the teachers of the word later as they develop and mature in the things of God the scripture says whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
And then in verses twelve and thirteen, how good these are, there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord. Overall it is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This of course is a call in a desire to know him, in a desire to know his mercy and his strength in his salvation. Calling for salvation. whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, none disappointed, who entrust themselves to the atoning work of the Lord Jesus, and come to know that finished work as something that is their portion, which they have eternal salvation through trusting in Christ.
Well, then we have these four hows, and this really is, and I wanted to emphasize to you, You have a verse there, the thirteenth verse. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And then the four questions. How then shall they call on him in whom they had not believed? Can't call on the Lord and expect any answer unless you've trusted him. Unless you know the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior. Your prayers are vain, they may cause you to call upon the name of the Lord when you've trusted him. You've believed in him. And you know his salvation. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And then the second one.
How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? This is one that we emphasize. In order to hear, someone must go and tell. Of course, that's the next one. How can they believe unless they hear the gospel? How can they know the gospel without hearing the gospel? The Lord hasn't been trusted. entrusted this temptation of the gospel of angels. He has entrusted the gospel to us. We've been put in trust with the gospel. Even so we speak. It's not a pleasing man, but it's pleasing God, which trieth in the hearts. We are the stewards of the gospel.
He's put it into our hands as a trust in the gospel. And one of these days we're going to give a count before him as to how we have discharged our and how faithful we have been in proclaiming the gospel. Whether it be individually, or whether it be through mass media, using the facilities of nineteen eighty-one in the service of the gospel. That how shall we believe in him when we may not have heard? And then again, how shall we hear without a preacher? I'm not thinking of a preacher as an ecclesiastic or cleric or something like that.
Not at all. A preacher is simply the one who communicates the gospel. And this matter of communication is exceedingly important in missionary work. In fact, the basis of all our missionary work is communication. And that's why we delight to stay out in a country for many years to learn their languages thoroughly, to think with them, to integrate with the people into their languages and into their culture. You know we haven't gone out to Africa to import American or Canadian culture. This is the least in our thinking. We have gone out to preach Christ and Him crucified.
This is our portion. This is our task, our privilege. How shall we believe in Him who we have not heard? And how shall we hear without a preacher? I'd just like to share with you that after traveling about nineteen thousand miles in our little car, including Canada and the various parts of the United States, we mentioned Justin Passenger in connection with a picture of my sister-in-law, Mary Deans, who is working out there in Africa. She's the widow of my brother Bob, who was six years younger than I and was with the Lord for many years now, told how she conducts the school.
whole economics school out there in Africa, in Yilkundi. And she's sixty-five now. She's really wearying in the very hard work she's been doing for many years. And she's been looking for a helper. And I've shown her picture in the slides as you'll see the more in a minute. And I just mentioned that she's looking for helpers and going to work with her. And it gives great joy when, in course of our giving this account, in the Laurel Chapel in San Diego. The Lord laid his hands on the other hand. And I believe God is calling her to go and join us in this particular work. She's had eight years training in home economics, and she lacks one class that she can do later, and she'll be fully qualified to be an instructor in home economics.
But there's a very great possibility that when Betty and I go out two months from now, less than two months from now, she will go along with us and and fill in while Mary goes and has a little furlough and then she could be learning the language and be in the environment and perhaps later come back and do the one more term and then go and work on the feet. And I can say too that in Claremont the other day we had a missionary conference there. The king, the Lord, has called a young couple to go and serve him on the mission either. How can they believe him who they've not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher. And in the fifties, how shall we preach, except we be sent, because as we look at the thirteenth chapter of the Book of the Acts, we see that the Holy Spirit is the one that separates our people, to go forth with the gospel.
And the local assembly of believers, the local church, recognizes that the callers of God, and extends to those who God has called, right hands of fellowship, and commends them to God for the work to which he's called. And so we on the home end here, I can, for a time at least myself in this category, we have the privilege of extending our right hands of fellowship and laying our hands upon those who are going forth as being called of God, separated by the Holy Spirit of God. And the Holy Spirit of God is saying, loose them and let them go. casting the Lord. They go forth looking to the Lord for the supply of their needs.
And the believers who feel that this is God's fellowship with them, and consider they're going to a distant field as an extension of their own local testimony reaching out for God. Now before we read about the fifteen verse, I'd like to go back to Isaiah fifty-two, because this in its original form concerns an individual. Isaiah fifty-two, verse seven. How beautiful, Isaiah fifty-two, seven. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that set unto Zion's thy God's reigneth.
The feet of him that bringeth good tidings. And Handel, in his Messiah, has rightly attributed this verse to Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one, and here it's in the singular, the feet of him that bringeth good tidies. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men. The Lord Jesus is the good Samaritan who came where we were in our lost disfaith and brought salvation to us. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation.
This fits the Lord Jesus Christ, who brought salvation. Beautiful, how the feet. And the peace pierces me, indeed. There in heaven, the man in the glory is there, with the marks of redemption upon him, in his hands and in his side, and in his How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of Him that preach of good tidings. Notice in verse fifteen of this chapter, the tenth chapter. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.
It's in the plural now. The Lord has committed unto us the word of reconciliation, that we should in Christ's stead be a speech meant to be reconciled to God. To me this is an important verse. In Christ's stead. He has done all that's necessary for our eternal salvation when he gave himself on Calvary's cross, and could say it is finished. We can add nothing to that perfect, fully complete work. And then... God has made us accept it in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of His grace. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good faith.
With our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, we go forth to distant places of the world with tidings of peace, the gospel of peace. tidings of good things. The Lord has committed this ministry to each one of us, and we should be zealous about it, because these are tidings of salvation. I want to tell you about one, because I thought of mentioning each morning some who come to know the Lord out there in Africa and serve Him. There was a man some years ago And this was in the early years of the work too.
By the name of Marcel Kimarecki. I loved it. He never had any education beyond about the third year. That's all we had in those days. But he had enough so he could read the simple scriptures that by that time we had translated and made available to him. I have no question in my mind at all that he was born from above. He had life from God. He learned to read quite well, and he was concerned about those found about him, that they might know the Lord Jesus, as he himself had come to know him. And then there was a burden on the hearts about a distant tribe, a tribe known as the Wallachian tribe.
Marcel Kimureki was a man who was very simple, and in his appearance Some might even have disdained it, because he was not an imposing figure in any sense. He had elephant piouses with the feet. His legs were literally that diameter. And his feet were just massive elephant-like feet. And he walked with great range, in a great laborious way of walking. because of the weight of these tremendous legs. He felt God called him to go and bring the gospel out yonder to the Wallachia.
They had never heard the gospel, and he was going to give them the gospel. And so the local group there, a very simple assembly, and those were the days missionaries, voice was the predominant one, expressed fellowship in his going. And he went out, marched out there in the bars, several days, marched. He gave the gospel to these people. And he preached to them. And he told them how to be saved. And he read the scriptures to them. And they listened. And some of them came to trust the Lord as Savior. And then he would come back every month or so to get more teaching material.
Because he had the vowel charts. And the vowel and consonant combination charts. To teach literacy. There he is. A man with practically no education. Just passing on what he had. passing on what he knew of the scriptures and passing on the ability to read literacy to those people to whom he had gone, who were totally literate. And it was important. This man came to teach them the Word of God and teach them how to read the Word of God. And he was welcome among them. And he stayed there year after year. One year there was a famine in the land. And the people who were not local people, some who had come in to do business with them.
They left and left the tribe in famine. The bananas that they had depended on gave out, had a poor crop, and they just didn't have food. And they were all in a point of starvation. And they said to Marcel Kimarecki, Marcel, why don't you go back to your village? Because if we're going to die, there's no reason for you to stay here and die with us. She said, no. come to tell you about the Lord, Jesus, I'm not going to leave you in this time. And he stayed. I saw him during that period. He came in one time to get more material. And his body was emaciated. He was, as they say, skin and bone, except for those three things.
They were just three today. Well, they got over the famine and he continued on. And he preached the word to them and lived before them as a believer. He had a a little old lady who was his wife. She was somewhat older than he, but they were happy enough together. And he preached the gospel to that tribe. And many came to know the Lord in the tribe. And then at the end of his life, in that particular tribe, they never touched the carcass, the body of anyone who has died from another tribe. They do not do this. But when Marcel Chameriki, died they felt it an honor to lay the servant of the Lord into his into his into his grave and together they came they sang the hymns that he had taught in his day and they buried him he was he was of course he was the Lord if you ask him if you mention his name in the Walecki tribe today they will say he was the apostle to the Walecki he brought us to God When I think of that, when
I think of Marcel Timoretti, how little he had, I don't think he ever had more than a simple pair of shorts, you can call it, Unbreached Muslim, the simplest, cheapest type kind of cloth you can get. Or in Africa, they call it Americani. Chinese cheap American cloth. And that's all he ever had. And just a simple shirt. Sometimes he didn't even have that to wear. Of course, when we were there, we managed to get a few things to him, but his life was very, very simple. But I have often felt that when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, I'd like to be there.
I'm certain that for Marcel Kimarecki is going to be the words, well done, without good and faithful service. He went to a lost tribe, lost, because they were lost in their sins. They... did not know the Lord Jesus, not one of them. And when he came away, they had referred to him as the Apostles of our tribe, the missionaries of your life, and throughout the Gospels of our tribe. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of Peace and bring glad tidings of good things. So it would be a great day when we stand before the judgment of Jesus Christ.
I think another man, some of you who followed our work for years, will recognize the name of Ezio Cali Aguera. A man of a life that was so devoted to the Lord that we've never known anything that was brought against him, any claims that were against him, any accusations against him in his life from the Lord. Went on, served the Lord faithfully through the years, through the years. many, many in his area. He did not leave his own area very far, the adjoining tribe. He has been in the hands of the Lord, the means of leaving many, many to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as he was older, he was an elder in the local group there, but he was not able to walk great distance. His balance and good judgment and knowledge of the Word of God was a tremendous ministry in the latter days of his life. We actually died when we were on fervor in this country. And when he died, there are incidents at the time of his death, sometime after we write them down and remember them, because it seemed that he just had a call from God that he knew he was going. He sat and made himself ready to go and had a final cup of coffee and brought to him because he was going to the Lord.
And when the believers buried him. They did something that was done for no one else. They said his heart was so burdened about the assembly of believers here. This local church at Nionkundi that we're going to put a grave right here. And when I show you the pictures tomorrow night, God willing, you'll see the chapel of Nionkundi and you'll see just a little white, a little white invitation in front of the chapel. This is where he was buried. It's not venerated. They know he's not there. just a point of remembrance that this man gave his whole life for the Lord, and he was removed in a great measure of the salvation of many who are established in the Christians.
And so it is true that those who are privileged to go forth with the word and preach the gospel and souls are saved, their feet are shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Our beautiful feet. in the eyes of the Lord. He's not all obeyed the gospel, but Isaiah saith, Lord, believe our report, so that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And I know that many of you will not be going to the mission field. As the years go along, we're sort of slowed down in our activity. And some of us are going quickly while we can, because we know that the floor days are ahead for us all.
But oh, I remember hearing of Robert Chapman, how he almost complained that the tremendous burden he had when he was up into his nineties, ninety-three or ninety-four, the burden of praying for God's people. It made me sad when I heard that the missionary prayer handbooks are all sold out. I hope that they'll get a lot in stock and everyone will have this every day pray for those that you can know. In that handbook or another books, those missionaries who are out serving the mission to you. Consider them as if it's called of God. How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except to be sent? But when they're sent, oh, in the eyes of the Lord, this is the type of marching.
This is the type of use of the foot that the Lord rejoices going forth to carry the gospel of Jesus. Shall we pray? Father, we're thankful to be that we have such a gospel about this. This transforming gospel. How can they be saved without the gospel? We know there's no salvation apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are in trust with this precious treasure, the gospel. Give us Lord the ability to work together. Those who can to go.
and those who remain behind, to use the resources at our disposal to enable those who do go to carry the word, even to the distant parts of the earth. So we thank you, Lord, for the exercise in the hearts of men. Thank you for men like Marcelo and Erexion who gave their lives for Christ, for as he came glad. He gave his life for the Lord. For those hundreds who are even now engaged in full-time work for God in the spread of the Evangel, receive our thanks. Let us now pray. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.