17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Introduction
Out of all the questions that the preacher is asked, which do you think are the most persistent questions over the years? There are two that probably are asked more than any others. The first has to do with the question of suffering and evil. Why do people suffer? Especially innocent people, so far as we know. Why are they sick? Why do they have troubles and diseases? Why do good people die early in life? The question of suffering and evil is one that has perplexed people down through the years and it continues to plague us even unto this present hour. It is one of the questions that I am asked very often about.
A second question that I suppose is asked as much as any other is the question of the fate of those who have never heard the Gospel. What about those who have never heard the name of Jesus, never read a Bible, and never attended a church service? They’ve never had an opportunity to respond to the good news of Jesus Christ. Are they lost? Are they saved? Are they going to hell? Are they under the judgment of God?
You understand that in the Bible there is no full answer given to this question. If there were, people would stop asking it. God has not chosen to reveal everything that we want to know to us. He has told us everything we need to know, not everything we want to know.
Moses wrote in the book of Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children.” Moses is declaring that God has chosen to reveal some things to us. He has also chosen to keep some things a secret. We will never know the answer to every question. We will never know as much as God does. And we have to continue to walk by faith even though we do not understand all the things that are happening.
In Romans 11:34, Paul asked the question, “Who can know the mind of the Lord?” We cannot comprehend all that God knows and so there are things beyond us, things that we shall forever not know until we get to heaven. But because God has given us inquiring minds and because he has given to us the Bible, we are bound and determined to ask questions and to seek answers to those questions from the word of God. And that’s the way he wants it to be.
What about the heathen? Are they lost? Are they saved? What about those who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are five truths that I have gleaned from the word of God that help us to answer those questions.
First, God has only one plan of salvation. We must understand that at the very beginning so that the fuller picture will be ours as we come to the final question. God has one way of salvation.
The second truth is this, that God wants all men to be saved. He does not desire that any man should perish but that all men should come to him for salvation.
The third truth is that God has made himself known to all men everywhere. There is not anybody anywhere on the face of the earth who does not have knowledge of God. Something about who God is, what he is like, and what he has done. God has seen to it that all men everywhere have knowledge. Though it be limited, though it is not full and complete, they have a certain knowledge of God.
The fourth truth is this, that God will give the Gospel to those people who respond to the light and the knowledge that they have of him. Though their knowledge of God may be limited, if they will respond to that knowledge and seek God with all of their hearts, God is honor-bound to get the Gospel to them. To give them more light, to give them full understanding.
And the fifth truth is this: God has commissioned us to be his messengers, to take that truth to them. There are people out there who are aware of God, who have a knowledge of God, and who want to know him better. They want to know him fully and completely. God expects us to be his messengers, his instruments, to see to it that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the full light and knowledge of God that is available to us, be taken to those people.
I want us to look at those five truths and perhaps in looking at them God will help us to know the answer to that question: “What about the heathen?”
1. God has only one plan of salvation.
From beginning to end, the Bible keeps pointing to Jesus Christ and it says to us that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father without him. Whether it is in Africa or Brazil or America, whether it is in a high-rise apartment in New York City or along the jungle trail by the Amazon in Brazil, it is still true that if a man comes to God he will come to God through faith in Jesus Christ because Jesus is the only way. The apostles declared in chapter four of Acts, “There is no other name given unto heaven whereby men must be saved except the name of Jesus Christ.”
Jesus the Son of God who came and walked among men. Jesus who made the blind to see and the deaf to hear and the lame to walk. Jesus who healed the sick and who raised the dead. Jesus who died on the cross for our sins. Jesus who is buried is Joseph’s tomb. Jesus who was raised on the third day. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the Savior.
And only those who recognize their sin and are willing to turn from it recognize Jesus as Lord and Savior. And those who recognize Jesus as Lord and Savior and are willing to turn to him shall be saved. It matters not where a person may live. It matters not how cultured they may be. It matters not how many languages they may be able to speak. If they do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior, they are not saved. And there is no other way according to the scripture for anybody to ever come to God except through the name of Jesus.
2. God wants all people to be saved.
Willie Sutton decided that he would read the gospels as though he had never read them before. With that fresh approach he would see what new revelation, what new understanding he could gain from the gospels. And so, as best he could he washed his mind of all previous ideas, all preconceived conceptions of the Lord. And he went to the gospels and read them as though he had never read them before. When he was finished his wife asked, “What new insights did you gain?” He said, “I came to the impression that Jesus never met an unimportant person. Every person Jesus met was important to him.”
I’ve got good news for you. So far as God is concerned, there are no unimportant people in the world. Whether they live in the jungles of Brazil or Africa or in the cities of any country on the face of the earth, they are important to God. And he is as concerned about one man as he is another. And no group of people have any special place in the heart of God for God is the God of all men, of all the universe and of all of this earth. Everybody is important to him.
Peter declares to us that he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. God doesn’t want anybody lost. God doesn’t want anybody damned. God doesn’t want anybody to go to hell. He has reached out in love through his Son Jesus Christ to the whole world. And he declares without any hesitancy that he loves all men and he wants all men to be saved.
Paul was urging Timothy to pray for all men. And he said at the end of that admonition that this is good and acceptable in the sight of God who desires that all men should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Jesus is the only way of salvation and it is the will of God that all men everywhere should come to him through Jesus Christ.
3. God has made himself known sufficiently to all people so that they are without excuse.
God has revealed himself to men so that they can know that God is and also understand something about God’s power, something about God’s divinity, something about the majesty and the glory of God.
Paul declares this truth to us in the first chapter of the book of Romans. He begins this chapter by saying, “I’m not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation.” And then he says that in this Gospel two things are revealed to us. In verse 17 he says, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” That word righteousness means the way for men to be right with God. He has revealed unto us the righteousness of God, the way we can be right with the heavenly Father. And he says that way is from faith to faith. That phrase “from faith to faith” means that it is by faith from start to finish. It is by faith all the way—the way to be right with God is the way of faith. Trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior, not by works of righteousness that you can do, not by religious ceremony, not by keeping some code and some law, but by faith in Jesus Christ alone. This is the way that men are made right with God.
But the Gospel not only reveals to us the righteousness of God. Paul says in verse 18 that it also reveals to us the wrath of God. The judgment of God. We come to see in the Gospel the fact that God is going to judge the world, that God holds men accountable for their sins. They are responsible to him for the way they live and what they do.
Paul answers the question of why and how God can hold the world responsible when there are many people in the world who have never heard the Gospel. Paul says in verses 19-20, “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen.” God has made himself clearly known to all men everywhere.
How has God made himself known to all men everywhere? The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly understood by the things that are made. God has revealed himself to all mankind in his creation.
God created the world and the handiwork of God speaks to us of God and makes us aware of what kind of person God is. It is as simple as this: we have a world on our hands. Where did it come from? Either it made itself or God made it. That world is magnificent in all of its structure. Such accuracy, such precision—there is so much intelligence and order and beauty in the universe that it is inconceivable that such order and design and beauty could come out of utter chaos. That something could come from nothing. Even the isolated hunter-gatherer on a jungle trail in the Amazon knows that all of this had to come from somewhere.
You see it is not the uneducated people of the world who question the existence of God. It is those who get too smart for their own good. It is the scientists who begin to say, “I wonder if there is a God.”
I have a watch on my wrist and the beauty of this watch and the fact that it moves and works with accuracy and precision makes me know that somewhere there had to be a maker. So if you say to me, “That is a beautiful watch. Where did you get it? Where did it come from?” I wouldn’t say, “It didn’t come from anywhere. It just happened.” You would say, “Well, the preacher had lost his marbles again.” Have you ever seen a watch that didn’t have a watchmaker? Behind a watch there is a maker. Behind the world there must be a world-maker. And everybody knows that. And what God made tells us something about him.
I can look at this watch and while I don’t know the name of the man who made it, I do know that he had to be a man who had some skill, and he had some eye for beauty. He had to have some intelligence. I know something about the man who made it by what he made. I can look at the world around me and I can know something about the God who made the world by the very handiwork of his creative power. And Paul says that this kind of knowledge is available to all men and sufficient so that men have no excuse for their sins. This knowledge of God is such that he says in verse 20 men are without excuse.
You see if God reveals himself to us, he expects us to live up to that revelation, to respond to that revelation and begin to seek him. And if men do not seek God as he has made himself known, then they are responsible for their actions.
He goes on to say that man’s problem is not ignorance; it is his rebellious nature. He says that in verse 21. He says that man knows that God exists, but rather than glorifying God and responding to God and bowing down to God, he becomes proud, idolatrous, and immoral. His problem is not that he does not know God; his problem is that he will not respond to God. For every man everywhere has enough knowledge to respond to God.
So men are lost. Not for lack of knowledge, but because they will not respond to God as God has revealed himself to them. You see men don’t have to know the Gospel to be lost. They have to know the Gospel to be saved, but they don’t have to know the Gospel to be lost. You don’t have to know the way home to know that you are lost. In fact usually you are lost because you don’t know the way home. And men without the Gospel know enough about God to be lost.
A friend met another friend after many years of not seeing him. And she was surprised to learn how he had left the pulpit to become a medical doctor. When she asked him about this he explained his actions in this way: “I have learned that people will pay more money for the care of their bodies than they will for the care of their souls.” Some time elapsed and she saw the man again. And this time she was even more startled to discover that he had given up medicine to practice law as an attorney. And she asked him why and he explained: “I’ve discovered that men will pay more money to get their own way than they will for either their body or their soul.”
Our problem is that we want to get our own way. In fact we are hell-bent on getting our own way. And that spells rebellion against God. We are more concerned about getting our own way, enjoying our sin, and ruling our own lives than we are about our bodies or our souls. Thus we are responsible and accountable unto God. There is no man anywhere who can ever look God in the face and say, “I didn’t know enough to know that you existed and that I was responsible to you.” Men are lost because they will not respond to the God who has made himself known to them.
4. God will see to it that the Gospel is given to those who live up to the light that they have.
If a man responds to the knowledge of God that has been given to him, God is honor-bound to give that person more knowledge. God will see to it that the Gospel is taken to that person who responds to the knowledge that he has. If there is someone in an impoverished country or even on the city streets of America who is aware of God and who will respond in faith by seeking after God and acknowledging God and sensing his responsibility in God, if there is a person who responds to the light, God is honor-bound to see to it that the full knowledge of Jesus Christ is given to that person.
A case in point is Cornelius. In the 10th chapter of the book of Acts, Cornelius is depicted for us as a God-fearing man. A man who sought after God. But Cornelius did not know the Gospel. He didn’t know about Jesus. He didn’t know about his miracles. He didn’t know about his crucifixion. He didn’t even know about the resurrection. He didn’t know all these things about Jesus. But he did fear God. He knew that God was and he was seeking after God.
You think God is going to let a man like that go on in his ignorance, in his limited knowledge? No, sir. God is going to see to it that somehow, some way, this Roman soldier gets the full knowledge of who God is.
The soldier wants God. He seeks God. He longs for God. God is going to come to him. So God begins to work in the heart and life of Cornelius at the same time that he begins to work in the life and hearts of his missionary the apostle Peter. In the providence of God he brings these two together—the man who is seeking God and the man who has the knowledge of God. Peter declares to him the Gospel and Cornelius responds and receives Jesus as Savior.
I want you to know that that same thing is reenacted again and again. I believe that wherever there is a man who earnestly seeks after God, God somehow someway gets the truth to him.
I’ll say it again—a man does not have to have the Gospel to be lost. He does have to have it to be saved. And if there is a man out there who wants to be right with God and wants to know God, God is going to see to it that he finds out how.
5. God has commanded us to take the Gospel all men.
The last point is that he uses you and me to get that Gospel to that man who needs it. Got has commissioned us in the Bible to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.
Why? I’ll tell you why. People out there are lost. They can’t be saved without the Gospel. They can be lost without it, but they can’t be saved without it. And it is our responsibility to take it to them. And he didn’t ask our permission. He commissioned us to go.
In the book of Romans, chapter 10, there is a beautiful picture of the way of salvation. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Anybody can understand that. The smallest child can understand that. A person in the bush country can understand that.
But then Paul poses some rhetorical question about the issue of salvation. Men can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved, but how shall they call on him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how can somebody preach unless they be sent? And it comes back again to lay responsibility at our feet. Men must call upon Jesus to be saved, but they can’t call upon him unless they have believed in him. And they can’t believe in him unless they’ve heard of him. They can’t hear of him unless somebody preaches. And there won’t be a preacher unless somebody sends them.
It comes back to us—you and me. It is our job to see to it that the Gospel is carried out there to the ends of the earth. Ultimately, the question is not, “Are the heathen lost without the Gospel?” but “Are we saved if we’ve got it and don’t take it to them?”
I think it is high time that some people either get to practicing New Testament Christianity or take their sign down. Friend, God didn’t give you all the money you’ve got to squander it on the life of luxury. Just living in big houses and buying new clothes and big automobiles all the time. He gave you what you have so that you could invest a large part of it in carrying the Gospel to people who don’t know about Jesus. If you don’t understand that, you never have read the New Testament on your knees.
Be open and receptive to God. We are going to stand in judgment before God because we have had the good news and we haven’t taken it. I’m here to tell you that there is just one way to be saved. And God wants everybody in on his great plan of redemption. They already know enough to be lost. What they need now is the Gospel so that they can know enough to be saved. And they won’t have the Gospel unless we take it to them.
If we are going to take it to them, when are we going to start? We are way behind. We are losing ground all the time. And it is just because people like us won’t give like we ought to.
Maybe the real question is not “What about the heathen?” but “What about us?” We not only know God, we not only know Jesus, we not only know salvation, but we know that we are supposed to go. And if we do not respond to the light and knowledge God has given, he will hold us accountable for that.
Several months ago Kara Chambers, a teenage girl, died of cancer. And in the back of her Bible she had scribbled a lot of notes—sermons, Sunday school lessons. One of the things she wrote has lodged in my mind. It said that the way of the cross is not easy, but it is the way home. And for you today and me today, the way of the cross is the way to salvation. It’s the way home. But when we get there, then we must become concerned about others who aren’t there. And we want to reach out in the spirit of Jesus to bring them.
What about the man who lives up to the light that he has, and is faithful to what he knows, but has never heard of Jesus Christ? What happens to him? The story of Cornelius shows us what happens to a man like that. When he is obedient to the light he has, God will take it upon himself to give him more light and to lead him to the place where he can come to know Jesus Christ. This is in line with what we read in Hebrews: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Paul goes on to say that whoever draws near to God "must believe that he exists" and that he rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6). He must believe that God will meet his quest by giving him more light along the way.
Other verses that might point to this are Jeremiah 29:13 (“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart”) and Matthew 7:7 (“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”). In conclusion, God has commanded us to take the Gospel to all men.