From His Heart

Speaker 1

If Jesus is the only way, what happens to those who have never heard the name Jesus? That's a good and important question. Here's Pastor Jeff shereve.

Speaker 2

There are 6.8 billion people in the world. There are billions of those 6.8 who have never heard the name of Jesus.

So how does God deal with someone like that who's never heard the name of Jesus? Does God have a different program and a different plan for them?

The person who has never heard has treasure and hope that you always dream of. He can heal every scar.

Speaker 1

Is there any hope for those who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, or do they come to God some other way, as many today suggest? This is from his heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today as he answers one of the tough questions that Christians often dread to consider.

The question is the title to today's message: What about those who have never heard the message? This is from Pastor Jeff's seven-lesson series, "Now That's a Tough One," answering the difficult questions of life.

Pastor, you know there are many tough questions we could ask. In this series, how did you decide on the topics to study and include?

Speaker 2

That's a good question, Larry. I just kind of looked through the scripture and just in my own mind, what are the things that caused me to really question and what if people asked me before concerning, well, how could this be true or how could that be true?

For instance, you know, for those who have never heard the gospel, how could they be condemned if they've never heard about Jesus? You know, those are basic questions that people have and deep questions.

And what does the Bible say concerning those questions? In this series, we just try and pinpoint those areas where people have an itch and scratch where they're itching and say this is what the Bible says concerning this key question.

Speaker 1

Well, thank you, Pastor. And we invite you to open your Bible now to Romans chapter one and join Pastor Jeff for the lesson. What about those who have never heard?

Speaker 2

We're in a series on tough questions, and tonight we want to ask this tough question: What about those who never heard? I mean, there are 6.8 billion people in the world, and there are billions of those 6.8 who have never heard. Can you imagine how many people—just 1 billion people—and they've never heard the name of Jesus? So how does God deal with someone like that who's never heard the name of Jesus? Does God have a different program and a different plan for them? We want to ask some questions tonight that all revolve around the main question: What about those who have never heard?

But I want us to think through some questions as we answer that main question. First question: What do we know to be true? Let's just lay the foundation and the groundwork here. What do we know that we know that we know is true? Number one: There is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ. We know that this is true. Acts, chapter 4, verse 12, Peter was preaching to the Jewish religious leaders, and he said this: "There is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." No other name? You're not coming through any other name. There's only one name that God recognizes that gets you into heaven, and that's the name of Jesus.

Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." No one comes to the Father. What about the pagan in Africa? No one comes to the Father but through me. There is no other way. And God is completely fair and just. Look what the Scripture says in Genesis 18:25. This is what Abraham asked God when he was talking about God destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. He thought about his nephew Lot and said, "Far be it from you, God, to do such a thing. To slay the righteous with the wicked so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from you. Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly?"

I mean, what kind of a world would we have if God, the judge of all the earth, weren't a just God? We'd be in a world of hurt if you couldn't count on God being just. How would you like to go to court and know that the judge was crooked, that the judge could be bought off, that the judge wasn't going to judge fairly? What kind of a judge would that be? Sometimes we get the idea in our mind that God might not be a fair God. We think about the person who never heard, and we immediately say, "Well, you can't judge a person, God, who has never heard." We kind of slam God in our own hearts and minds. We think, "Well, if God does this, then God's not just, so God can't do that."

We forget that God is a righteous judge. Psalm chapter 7, verse 11 says, "God is a righteous judge." Acts chapter 17, verse 31 says that he will judge the world in righteousness. God is righteous. I love what the Scripture says in Ezekiel, chapter 18. God was speaking to his disobedient, rebellious people, and they were saying that the way of the Lord wasn't right. God said, "Yet you say the way of the Lord is not right. Hear now, O Israel. Is my way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right? Hey, I'm the righteous judge of the universe. I'm the thrice holy God of the universe; my ways are right. You're the ones who are not right. You're the ones who are not just. You're the ones who are corrupt. You're the ones who are unholy. It's not me."

So we know there's no salvation apart from Jesus Christ, and God is completely fair, completely just, and altogether holy. One other thing I didn't put in your notes: God loves everyone. God loves everyone—from the pagan in Africa to the president of America. God loves everybody, and he desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus Christ died for everyone. First John, chapter 2, verse 2 tells us that he himself is the propitiation, the satisfaction, the covering for our sins. And not for ours only, John said, but also for those of the whole world. In the deepest, darkest, remotest jungle, the blood of Jesus Christ was shed for those people that live there, for those people who have never heard.

So we know God is just, we know that there is no salvation apart from Christ, and we know that God loves every person.

Now, question number two: What about those who have never heard? We've built the foundation. Now let's ask and answer the key question. What about those who have never heard? Well, look at Romans chapter 1, and I'll begin reading in verse 18. The Scripture says this: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress and hold back and hold down the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

God has communicated with all people everywhere. The verses we just read tell us that God has communicated. We talk about those who have never heard—that's in our minds, that's what we think. Well, they've never heard the gospel, but that's not what Romans 1 says. Romans 1 says, "Hey, God's communicated with those people." And the Bible says in Titus chapter 2, verse 11, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to some men." It doesn't say some men; it says all men. "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men." God has communicated with every single person everywhere.

First of all, the Lord has spoken through the voice of conscience. Look at verse 19 again. It says, "Because that which is known about God is evident within them." Evident means to bring to light, to make clear. God has brought to light; he has made clear the knowledge of him. It's evident within people. Anytime God makes someone, he makes someone in his image, and he puts within that person a conscience. It's the inner voice, the moral compass that God puts in there. Inside that conscience, God builds people with the knowledge of God. Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 11 says, "The Lord has put eternity in men's hearts," and people know just based on creation, just innate knowledge, the way God created them, that God is real.

Now, they may not know everything about Jesus Christ, but they know about God. That doesn't make them a Christian, but it gives them knowledge and understanding in a rudimentary sense about God. It's evident within them. Now, it's normal and natural for people to believe in God because it's within their conscience. A man has to kick his conscience to death to not believe in God.

Speaker 1

God is evident even within our very conscience. But that's not enough to gain salvation. Pastor Jeff returns in just a moment with another way that God reveals himself to everyone. Stay with us. Today's lesson on From His Heart is called "What About Those Who Have Never Heard?" from Pastor Jeff's seven-lesson series. Now that's a tough one, answering the difficult questions of life. You can get a copy of this series when you go to fromhisheart.org. Click the listen link there too. You can also listen to any messages that we've already aired and also get Pastor Jeff's sermon notes. Again, that's fromhisheart.org, click the listen link.

Well, if you're breathing, you're struggling with life in relationships, jobs, finances, illnesses, family, and much more. But for those who know the peace that passes understanding when Christ is at the center of your life, you know that prayer is a haven from the troubles of this world. We need prayer. God wants us to pray, and we can rest and find peace in the midst of the storm through prayer.

If you'd like for people to pray for you, people from around the world, we invite you to go to fromhisheart.org and click the prayer tab. There you can leave a prayer request for all to see from around the world, and you can also pray for others too. When someone sees and prays for you, they'll click a button that says "I prayed for you," and you will be notified by email that someone is praying for you. It's completely anonymous, but you will be comforted to know that you are being lifted up by others around the world. You can do the same for many requests that come through to us. Praying for others? Again, click the prayer tab on our homepage at fromhisheart.org. You'll be blessed, and you'll be a blessing to others.

Now let's continue with today's message called "What About Those Who Have Never Heard?" Here again is Pastor Jeff.

Speaker 2

Has God spoken through the voice of conscience? God has spoken through the voice of creation. Verse 19 states that that which is known about God is evident within them. That's the inner voice, the voice of conscience. For God made it evident to them. That's the outer voice, the voice of creation. Verse 20 explains that since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes—God is the invisible God—His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen. You and I can see the invisible attributes of God through nature, through what has been made, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse. The voice of creation tells us that there is a God, tells us that God exists.

The Bible says in Psalm 19, verses 1 and 2, "The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display His craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak. Night after night they make Him known." Abraham Lincoln said this: "I can see how it might be possible for a man to look upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look upon heaven and say there is no God." Well, you just look at the stars, you look at the sun, you look at the moon, you look at the things that are around us and you ask this question: where did all that come from? You don’t have to be some scientific mathematical whiz to know that nobody times nothing can't equal everything, right? Zero times zero equals zero.

In the movie *Expelled*, Ben Stein humorously talks to prominent scientific figures, these atheists who espouse evolution and are so convinced of it. He asks them, "Where did it all start?" They respond, "Oh, we don't know that." He then asks, "How did life begin?" Richard Dawkins, the author of *The God Delusion*, suggested that it could have been an intelligent alien that began life. He won't say it's God because he doesn't believe in God; he has suppressed his conscience and claims there is no God. But it's ridiculous. If there's a creation, there has to be a creator, right? Because nobody times nothing can't equal everything.

Consider this watch I have. Suppose you were to say to me, "Jeff, I like your watch. It's really a nice watch. Who made that watch? What's the manufacturer of that watch?" If I said, "Nobody made this watch," you would respond, "Nobody made the watch?" I would say, "No, the parts just commingled together. This watch is the product of evolution. It used to be a button, then it became a compass, then it was a pressure gauge, and then it became a speedometer, and ipso facto, it's a watch. Who knows what it's going to be a million years from now?" How stupid is that? That's really stupid. We know that if there's a watch, there had to be someone who made it. You don't just throw a bunch of junk parts in the washing machine, put it on spin cycle for a million years, and out comes a watch. That just doesn’t work.

God has spoken through creation. I love what Adrian Rogers says about that. He said it takes ten times more faith to believe the monkey story than it does to believe the word of God. Ten times more faith, he said. You know, everybody's talking about the missing link. He said the whole chain is missing. There is just no evidence that we have evolved from apes. God says in His word that there is evolution within the species, but not outside of the species. Scientists like to test fruit flies because they reproduce a lot, allowing for quicker observation of changes. You’re not going to do that with whales because it takes a long time to see changes in a big mammal like that. But with fruit flies, they mess with their genes, and you know what they find out? No matter how much you mess with the fruit fly, and no matter how weird you can make him, he’s still a fruit fly. He doesn’t become a June bug. There is no evolution between species; it’s within the species. Things can change and adapt, but they’re always the same thing because God has set that up: that things beget things according to their kind. You and I beget children after our kind. They might be taller, they might be stronger, they might be this, they might be that, but they’re still human beings.

Creation tells us that there is a God. The heavens proclaim the glory of God. God has spoken through the voice of creation. He’s spoken through the voice of conscience. He’s spoken to people everywhere, no matter where they live. And so He’s left all men without excuse. No excuse. That’s what verse 20 says: that the divine nature of God, His eternal power, and His invisible attributes have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. The pagan in the deepest, darkest jungle can go outside and see what God has made. God said that because of the conscience He’s given them, and because of the voice of creation they’ve seen, they are without excuse.

Nobody’s ever going to come before the judgment seat of God and say, "I am innocent because of ignorance." God says, "Oh no, you’re not ignorant. You’ve heard from conscience; you’ve heard from creation. You’ve got general revelation of Me." So you can’t say you were innocent because of ignorance. God says, "You’re guilty as charged." It’s a misnomer to really talk about those who’ve never heard. They may have never heard Billy Graham, but that doesn’t mean they’ve never heard from God. In Acts 14:17, it says that God did not leave Himself without witness. God witnesses of Himself to people. But what happens? People reject the knowledge of God. They reject the voice of conscience. They reject the voice of creation.

That’s what the scripture goes on to say in verse 21: "For even though they knew God," they didn’t know Him in terms of a personal relationship, but they knew about Him from conscience and from creation. "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools." The Greek word there for fools is where we get the English word "morons." They professed to be wise, but they became morons and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Did you know that in primitive cultures, if you go out into the jungle somewhere in some far-off land to a people group that you only see on National Geographic, those people all believe in a God? They all worship some kind of God. They’re all fearful of making their God or their gods angry. All cultures, all those primitive cultures, are not atheistic; they know there is a God.

But they rejected, as the scripture says in verse 13, they suppressed the truth in unrighteousness and went after their own God, creating a God and ending up worshiping that which, as the scripture says here in verse 23, they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. What did they worship in Egypt? A cow, a calf? A golden calf. That’s what Aaron made: "Behold, O Israel, your God who delivered you from Egypt." It was a golden calf, a four-footed animal.

What about those who’ve never heard? God says they’re without excuse. Well, what happens? Question number three: what happens to those people? What happens to the person who has not heard as we have? Obviously, he just has the voice of conscience and creation, but he doesn’t have the gospel presented to him. What happens to a person like that? I mean, he has limited opportunity. Well, here’s what happens to them: if they respond to the light, they are given more light.

Speaker 1

Well, Pastor Jeff has just begun to explain how men and women go from knowing about God to truly knowing him in an eternal saving way. We hope you can be with us next time as Pastor Jeff brings an answer to this difficult question through the light of God's word. The message: "What about those who have Never Heard Part 2?"

Next time, you can also download a free MP3 of any broadcast when you go to fromisheart.org and listen to it again later or share it with a friend. This month, we want to say thank you for your financial support by sending you Pastor Jeff Shreve's series "Life's Big Questions." Six messages that will answer the most profound questions we can ask. Again, it's our thank you gift for your support this month of any amount. With that gift, we'll also send you Pastor Jeff's booklet, "The ABCs of the Christian Life."

You can make your gift when you call 866-40-BIBLE (866-402-4253) or go online to fromisheart.org. God bless you for your trust and for your investment in our partnership to reach the world with the great news of Jesus.

Well, time's gone for this Wednesday edition of From His Heart. We hope you'll be here tomorrow for part two of this revealing lesson from Pastor Jeff Shreve's series. "Now that's a tough one," as he continues to answer this question: "What about those who have never heard the name of Jesus?" That's on Thursday right here on From His Heart.

Speaker 2

There is love There is hope that you always dream love. He can heal every scar From His Heart.

Speaker 1

From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world.

Remember that no matter what, God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out about that when you go to fromisheart.org.