September 25, 2024 • 45 mins
What happens to people who never hear the name of Jesus? Would a good and just God really send them to hell? In this message from David Platt from Romans 1–3, we’re reminded that all people, without exception, stand condemned in their sin and deserving of God’s just and eternal wrath. That’s why it’s so crucial that we understand the urgency of getting the gospel to them. Better yet, we need to ask the question, “How might God use me to help spread the gospel to those who have never heard?” As followers of Jesus, we should want people from all nations to hear and believe the same good news that saved us.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a
weekly podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author and
teacher David Platt.
As you're turning there, let meencourage you.
If you've got your celebrationguide, there's some notes that
will help you follow along inour time with God's Word that
are included in there.
Go ahead and pull that out andturn with me to Romans, chapter
(00:21):
15.
And turning me to Romans,chapter 15.
As you're turning there, I wantto tell you a story that I
think will help set the stagefor what I want us to talk about
together this morning duringour time in God's Word and I
know I think I've said thisbefore I know preachers have a
tendency to exaggerate, and forthat I apologize, but I need to
let you know from the verybeginning of the story that
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there is no exaggeration.
You're going to think I'mexaggerating, but there's no
exaggeration whatsoever in thestory I'm about to tell you.
There's a church that I've hadthe opportunity to preach at a
couple of times before and thatGod has given me the opportunity
to develop a relationship with.
It's a church a little fartherwest than here.
We'll just kind of leave it atthat, but this is a church
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that's small church, not a bigchurch, but I had the
opportunity to preach at aconference where some of these
members had been there and theyinvited me to come and preach
there a couple times.
They have a small group ofpeople that prays for me on a
continual basis and actually Inever asked for anything along
these lines, never have but theysend me a check pretty
regularly to just support whatGod's doing in the ministry that
he's given to me.
And so one particular Sunday Iwas scheduled to preach there.
On a Sunday morning my wifeHeather and I had driven over
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there on Saturday and I wasplanning on preaching on the
Great Commission, on makingdisciples of all nations.
And Saturday night when we gotthere we went over to a house
where the pastor and his wifeand two deacons and their wives
were hanging out and had dinnertogether and then we just kind
of sat around talking afterwardsand I was sitting there in
their company just kind oftelling them about some of the
things that God was doing in myown life and in the ministry
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that God had given me theopportunity to be a part of,
whether it was doing inner citystuff with homeless folks in New
Orleans or with internationalsin New Orleans and then I began
to share with them about some ofthe opportunities God had
opened up overseas to go intosome pretty difficult places but
to make the gospel known amongpeople that are very anti-Christ
in many ways.
And I'll never forget whathappened as I had shared that
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one of the deacons sat up in hischair and he looked at me in
the eye and he said, david, wewant you to know how excited we
are about all that's going onthere.
He said you know, if you ask me, all those people that you're
talking about that are soanti-Christianity?
I just assume God annihilatedall those people and sent them
to hell.
He didn't know.
You asked me what I said.
(02:38):
In response to that, I didn'tsay anything.
I didn't know what to say.
I was stunned into silence.
I just assumed God annihilatedall those people and sent them
to hell.
And conversation went on andprogressed and I began to think
okay, I'm supposed to preach onthe Great Commission in the
morning.
This is going to be veryinteresting.
And so I got up the nextmorning, went to the church
service and during the welcomethe pastor was welcoming all
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those who were there.
And before I got up to preach.
The pastor began to go intothis side note about how
thankful he was to be living inthe United States of America and
he began to talk about howgreat it was to live in the US
of A and how much he would neverwant to live in any other
country outside of the UnitedStates because of all that we
have here.
It was a real patriotic speech.
I thought Lee Greenwood wasabout to pipe in from the
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background.
We were having a moment thereand I began to think okay, you
know, the pastor has justproclaimed to the church that he
would never live anywhereoutside the United States.
I'm about to preach on makingdisciples of all nations, so
this is really going to beinteresting.
So I got up and I preached thesermon and gave the invitation
to the end.
Not a lot of response thatparticular day.
And I remember when I wasstanding on the front row before
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the service closed out, thepastor got up and he said now,
before we dismiss, there's justsomething, a couple other things
I need to say.
I thought, oh great, here we goand he begins to share.
He says David, like we told youlast night, he said I want you
to know that we are reallyexcited about the things God is
doing in and through your life.
And he looked at me in front ofthe whole church and he said
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and we promise you we willcontinue to send a check to you
so that you can do those things,so that we do not have to go
there and do them ourselves.
I could feel at this point mywife, who's standing behind me,
her hand, comes on my shoulder.
She could tell that I'm aboutto lose it.
And then he continues.
He said I remember my lastchurch where I was serving.
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We had a missionary come fromJapan and he shared about all
that God was doing.
And he said I told my churchthat day that if they didn't
give to help this missionary inJapan, that I would pray that
God would send their kids to goover to Japan to work with him.
Like it was a threat.
And he said we gave that guy alaptop, listed all kinds of
things that they supported himwith, and the service closed
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down.
Heather and I got into the carand began to drive away saying
nothing.
We couldn't believe what hadjust happened and I began to be
angry.
And then it was one of thosemoments where God kind of turns
the tables, and I began to thinkyou know, those deacons and
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that pastor have said what mostof the people who are sitting in
a pew this morning believe, butare just not bold enough to say
now, before you say that's toobrash, dave, that's a little too
bold, don't you think you'rebeing a little Artemis?
Let me ask you a question howmany of us are living like
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people in the inner city areokay without Jesus Christ?
And how many of us are livinglike it's okay to give a check,
just as so long as we don't haveto go there and do it ourselves
?
How many of us are reallypraying, how many of you with
children are really praying thatGod would raise up your son,
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your daughter, to go into theMiddle East and give their life
to make the gospel of JesusChrist now?
And how many of our churchesare operating like the hundreds
of millions of people who havenever heard the name of Jesus
are okay without him?
And so this morning I want usto dive into a question that I
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believe is one of the mostimportant questions facing the
church of Jesus Christ inAmerica today, and I want us to
take an honest look at the heartof God and what it means for
our lives and specifically forthe church at Brook Hills.
You've got your notes there.
One of the most importantquestions facing the church
today here's the question whathappens to people who never hear
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about Jesus?
What happens to people whonever hear about Jesus?
Now?
This, I believe, is anextremely important question in
light of the video that we justsaw.
Over a billion people who havenever even heard his name, never
even heard the name of Jesus.
I've met some of them in Indiaand other places in Asia haven't
even heard his name.
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You say Jesus.
That's the first time.
Who is that?
Over a billion people whohaven't even heard his name?
So I think it's an extremelyimportant question and I know
from the very beginning this isa pretty emotionally charged
question.
It's pretty thick because whenwe think about a billion and a
half people who haven't evenheard his name, we begin to
think about well, if God isloving and if God is gracious,
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then those people certainlywouldn't go to hell, would they?
What happens to people whonever hear about Jesus?
And I believe that, at the core, this is a very emotionally
charged question and I know it'snot an easy question to answer.
Unfortunately, there's not aplace I can take you in
scripture this morning whereJesus says to his disciples some
of you have wondered what'sgonna happen to people who never
even hear about me.
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Here's the answer.
We don't have that in thegospels anywhere.
The answer we don't have thatin the Gospels anywhere.
But what I want to do is takeyou to a passage of Scripture,
or some passage of Scripturethat, I think, help us answer
this question.
In Romans.
Look with me at Romans, chapter15.
I want you to see thebackground of this book Romans,
chapter 15, verse 23.
We're going to read this, andthen I want you to think about
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why this guy named Paul wrotethis letter that we had the
opportunity to spend some timetogether in last week.
Look at chapter 15, verse 23.
Why did Paul write this letter?
Look at what it says.
Now that there is no more placefor me to work in these regions,
and since I have been longingfor many years to see you, I
plan to do so when I go to Spain.
I hope to visit you whilepassing through and to have you
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assist me on my journey there,after I have enjoyed your
company for a while Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in
the service of the saints there, for Macedonia and Achaia were
pleased to make a contributionfor the poor among the saints in
Jerusalem.
They were pleased to do it andindeed they owed it to them, for
if the Gentiles have shared inthe Jews' spiritual blessings,
they owe it to the Jews to sharewith them their material
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blessings.
So after I have completed thistask and have made sure that
they have received this fruit, Iwill go to Spain and visit you
on the way.
I know that when I come to you,I will come in the full measure
of the blessing of Christ.
Okay, a little New Testamenthistory here to help us get a
grasp on what's going on righthere.
I'm going to show you a map uphere on the screen.
It's going on right here.
I'm going to show you a map uphere on the screen.
It's going to show you Paul'smissionary journeys.
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This is Paul's first missionaryjourney and I know it's kind of
difficult to see, but I wantyou to look.
On the far right of these mapsYou'll see a blue arrow going
out.
You can't read what the cityname is, but that city is called
Antioch.
On the far right where the redand blue come together, that's a
city called Antioch.
In Acts, chapter 13, paul, hisbuddy Barnabas, gets sent out by
the church in Antioch.
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The church in Antioch was thefirst church to really send
people out to go and share thegospel in places that had never
heard the gospel.
And so the blue arrows showPaul leaving.
They go down to Cyprus and theygo north and head into some
different areas, and the redarrows show them coming back.
And you'll notice that theycame back after they had left to
Antioch.
That was kind of home base forthem.
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Let me show you Paul's secondmissionary journey.
Look at the next map Again.
The middle on the right isAntioch.
Once again, paul leaves fromthere.
He heads north.
God says I want you to go tosome places you've never been
before.
And so they go even farthernorth.
They go up into Thessalonicaand into Athens and into Corinth
and they come down to the farsoutheast, in Jerusalem.
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And then where do they go backto?
They go back to Antioch.
That was home base for them,home base for the church sending
out.
Okay, third missionary journeyYou'll never guess where Paul
leaves from Antioch.
This is the home base, and so heheads out from Antioch this is
the home base.
And so he heads out fromAntioch north, goes in a lot of
the places he he'd been beforeand he comes to Corinth.
Corinth is about the middleleft on middle and the top left
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on that map, and that's where hewrites this book, letter to the
Romans, the people in Rome.
He writes this book and he sayswe just read it.
I'm going to go down toJerusalem, down in the far
southeast.
But you'll notice, guess wherePaul doesn't plan on going back
to this time Antioch.
He's not heading back to homebase.
Why is he not going back there?
(10:50):
Well, look at this next map.
It'll help you get a grasp onit.
Right in the middle of this mapis the city of Rome.
If you look on the far right,you'll see Jerusalem and Antioch
Sidon in the middle.
You'll notice that Paul saidI'm going to go from Corinth
down to Jerusalem, and then hesaid I'm going to come to you at
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Rome.
But what did we just read?
Was Rome Paul's finaldestination?
No, he said when I come to you,I need you to assist me on my
way to where Spain exactly,which is the very far west of
this map.
On the left you see that bigblock that we know as Spain
today.
That's where Paul wanted to get.
The people there had neverheard the name of Jesus.
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And Paul writes to them at Romeand says I need you to help me
get there.
You see, antioch had beenPaul's home base for missions,
but if he wants to get all theway over to Spain, is Antioch
the most logical place to helphim get there?
No, obviously you don't headeast in order to get west.
He says I need Rome, I need youguys to help me get to the
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people who haven't even heardthe name of Jesus.
I believe that is why Paulwrote this book.
Paul did not write this bookjust to give us a good,
systematic theology of what thegospel is about.
He wrote this book because hewanted these people to know how
great the gospel was, so theywould be compelled to help him,
assist him on his way to Spain.
Almost kind of like today.
I don't know if you've receivedone of these before, but
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sometimes when people go onmission trips, they send out
missionary support letters andthey'll write a letter and say
hey, this is an opportunity Godhas given to me to go overseas
and I want to write you and tellyou about it and ask you to
pray for me and, if the Lordleads for you, to help me out
financially in order to go onthis trip.
I think that's what Paul'swriting here.
It's a missionary supportletter.
Now, I've never seen amissionary support letter that
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looks like this in our culturetoday, but I think that's what
Paul is doing.
So, in light of that, the wholepurpose of me showing you that
is to show you that Paul iswriting this book to convince
people of the need to take thisgospel to people who'd never
heard it before in Spain and, asa result, when it comes to the
question of what happens topeople who never hear about
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Jesus, I think the ramificationsof this book are huge.
Now, again, there's not a pointin this book where I can show
you what happens to people whonever hear about Jesus.
Here's the answer.
But instead, what I want to dois I want to give you seven
affirmations this morning, seventruths that I think will help
inform the answer to thisquestion, seven truths that I
want you to see in the book ofRomans.
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So start with me and turn allthe way back to Romans, chapter
1.
Romans, chapter 1, and we'llstart in verse 18, which is
where Paul really begins hisdiscussion of why these people
need to hear the gospel.
Romans, chapter one, verse 18.
Look at what the Bible saysthere and begin to think about
what happens to people who neverhear about Jesus.
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Now we're going to read somedifferent passages.
Some will kind of fly through,some we'll spend some more time
on, and you've got these notesthat are in front of you.
I want to encourage you toreally follow along, pay close
attention, because there's somepoints where, if you
misunderstand me, you might welllabel me a heretic and kick me
off the stage, and I reallydon't want that to happen.
So I really want you to followalong close here.
Okay, all right, and hopefullywe won't be heretics.
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Okay, romans, chapter 1, verse18.
The wrath of God, paul says, isbeing revealed from heaven
against all the godlessness andwickedness of men who suppress
the truth of God by theirwickedness, since what may be
known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain,
for since the creation of theworld, god's invisible qualities
, his eternal power and divinenature have been clearly seen,
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being understood from what hasbeen made so that men are
without excuse.
Affirmation number one allpeople know God the Father.
All people in all history knowGod the Father.
All people, whether those of uswho are sitting in here, the
guy in the jungle in Africa,person in the village in Asia,
anywhere in between all peoplehave knowledge of God.
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Person in the village in Asia,anywhere in between All people
have knowledge of God.
Bible says it is being revealedcontinually.
The wrath of God, the characterof God is being revealed from
heaven against all the godnessesand wickedness of men.
He says the whole creation.
This thing is revealed bycreation.
We know that God exists becausewe see his handiwork around us.
When we look at creation, wecan see that this didn't just
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happen by chance.
There's a God who is behindthis.
He reveals his characterthrough creation continually.
I want you to see that.
Paul says it is clear, clearlyseen, there's no question.
People know continual revealedby creation.
It is clear and it issufficient so that men are
without excuse.
So for every single one of usin this room, god is continually
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revealing his character to us,as well as to the people in the
middle of the jungle in Africa,by his creation, continually, in
a clear way so that none of usare without excuse.
We all have the opportunity toknow God the Father.
All people know God the Father.
Sound good, we on the same page?
Okay, here we go.
Affirmation number two Allpeople reject true knowledge of
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God.
All people reject trueknowledge of God.
Look at what verse 21 through23 says.
Although they knew God.
Now, that makes reference towhat we just talked about.
All people knew God.
They neither glorified him asGod nor did they give thanks to
him, but their thinking becamefutile.
Their foolish hearts weredarkened.
They claimed to be wise, butthey became fools and exchanged
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the glory of the immortal Godfor images made to look like
mortal man and birds and animalsand reptiles.
In other words, they rejectedtrue knowledge of God and began
to worship idols and images thatthey created.
And this is not just talkingabout people in Paul's day.
It's talking about people inall our day.
Every single one of us hasrejected true knowledge of God.
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Now, this is a fundamentalpoint here, but it's a point
that oftentimes we misunderstand.
When it comes to this questionof what happens to people who
never hear about Jesus, Iremember having a conversation
with some college students at aconference and we were talking
about this very issue.
I remember having aconversation with some college
students at a conference and wewere talking about this very
issue and there was a girl whowas sitting across the table and
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she said to me she said, well,what about people, she said, who
are doing the best with theknowledge that they have?
She said, for example, theIndians who came over to this
land, maybe the Aztec Indians.
They came over, they didn'thave a Bible, they hadn't heard
about Jesus and they worshipedthe sun, god, right, don't you
think?
I mean, they were doing thebest they could with the
knowledge they had.
Don't you think God is honoredin that?
Aren't those people religious?
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I want you to think about that,based on what we just read from
Paul's word.
Aren't they religious?
No, they are idolaters.
They are idolaters, we areidolaters.
We cannot make images of Godand worship those and expect a
holy God who deserves all ourpraise to be honored in that or
to be pleased with that.
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This is the essence of idolatry, and all of us are guilty,
whether it's ourselves, our jobs, our careers, our houses, our
possessions, our whatever in ourlives.
We put on a pedestal and webegin to worship those things.
That's idolatry.
It's taking the rightfulworship that is due to God away
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from him and putting it onsomething else.
And whether it's worshiping thesun, god, or worshiping your
investment plan, either way itis idolatry.
All people, including everysingle one of us in this room,
as well as all the people inAfrica and Asia, have rejected
true knowledge of God.
Affirmation number two.
Affirmation number two.
Affirmation number three Basedon that, we can say there are no
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innocent people in the world.
There are no innocent people inthe world.
You see, what Paul does here isfrom Romans, chapter 1, verse
18, all the way to chapter 2,verse 16,.
Paul talks about a group ofpeople called the Gentiles,
which were the non-Jewish people, the nations, and you can
almost picture as Paul talksabout how evil they are.
You can picture the Jewishreaders of this letter giving
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hearty amens to every paragraph.
Yeah, those guys are terrible.
Look at them.
Look at them and then younotice it's very interesting.
In chapter 2, verse 17, there'sa major shift.
Paul says to these Jewishpeople who are reading the book
and are amening, how evil theGentiles and the nations are.
He says now you, if you rely onthe law, brag about your
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relationship to God.
He begins to talk to peoplethat are Jewish, if you know his
will to prove what is superiorbecause you've been instructed
by the law, and he begins to saythat, even though the Gentiles
are disobedient to God, you'rein the same boat.
There are no innocent people inthe world, and that's why, when
it comes to the middle ofchapter three, paul says there
are no innocent people in theworld.
There is no one who doesrighteous not even one.
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No one who understands, no one.
No one who seeks God, no onewho does good not even one.
There are no innocent people inthe world.
Now, it's at this point that ifyou were to ask me this morning,
david, be honest what happensto the innocent guy in Africa
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who's never heard the gospelbefore, I would look at you and
I'd say, beyond the shadow of adoubt I believe the answer is
that that person would go toheaven.
What happens to the innocentkind of villain in Genesia who's
never heard the gospel before?
I believe with all my heartthat person would go to heaven.
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Now, before you label me aheretic and begin to think what
is this guy talking about, letme remind you that if there is
an innocent guy in africa orasia who's never heard the
gospel before, if he is innocent, if she is innocent, then he or
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she has no need for a savior.
He's not done anything wrong,so why would he be separated
from God?
He's not separated from God.
He has a relationship with Godand he doesn't need to be saved
by the blood of Christ.
The only problem is he justdoesn't exist.
Please hear me on that.
This is how this question ismost often phrased, preacher.
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What happens to the innocentguy in Africa who's never heard
the gospel before?
We bias the question from thevery beginning in favor of this
person who's never done anythingwrong, who's in the middle of a
jungle.
And it's just not true.
Whether it's a guy in Africa orAsia or any one of us sitting
in here in this auditorium thismorning, every single one of us
has rejected true knowledge ofGod and we are not innocent.
Let me remind you this morningthat we get this idea,
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particularly in our culturetoday.
We get this idea that thedefault is heaven, and it's just
not biblical.
The default is not heaven, thedefault is hell.
We have sinned against God andwe deserve separation from him
forever.
So, yes, an innocent personwould not need a savior.
The problem is there are noinnocent people in the world,
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whether in this room, not oneinnocent person nowhere else in
the world.
Make sense, we're on the samepage.
Okay, affirmation number four.
Okay, we got that.
You followed along with that.
Okay, affirmation number fourAll people are condemned for
rejecting God.
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All people are condemned forrejecting God.
What I want you to see is atthe end of Paul's argument, when
you really come to Romans 3,verse 19 and 20, he says some
very important words.
I want you to look at them withme.
He says we know that whateverthe law says, it says to those
who are under the law, so thatevery mouth may be silenced and
the whole world held accountableto God.
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No one will be declaredrighteous in God's sight by
observing the law.
Rather, through the law, webecome conscious of sin.
What this is saying is is thatbecause all of us stand before
God with sin in our lives, allof us have disobeyed God.
We stand before him accountablefor our sin and we stand before
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him deserving separation fromhim.
All people are condemned forrejecting God.
Now, this is a very importantpoint right here, and I want you
to think about it with me for asecond.
Some people would say and Ithink it's a valid question well
, what about?
What about, okay, somebody inanother place that's never heard
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the gospel before, never heardthe name of Jesus?
Would God, a loving andgracious God, really send that
person to hell for rejectingJesus, even though they never
had the opportunity to hearabout Jesus?
Think about it.
Do you think it would be loving, do you think it would even be
just of God to send someone tohell for rejecting a Christ that
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they never even heard about?
I don't think it would be.
I don't think people would besent to hell for rejecting a
Christ that they never even hadthe opportunity to hear about.
But don't miss the point ofthis passage All people are
still condemned for rejectingwho?
For rejecting God.
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We begin to get this idea,surely.
Surely, if they haven't heardof Jesus, that they get a pass
somehow on this thing?
Surely, if they haven't heardof Jesus, that they're not held
accountable to the same thing weare held accountable to?
And obviously, yes, they have adifferent level of knowledge.
They haven't heard the name ofJesus.
But I want you to think aboutit with me what about the
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ramifications If somebody gets apass simply because they have
not heard of Jesus?
I want you to think about howthis would completely deter the
missionary enterprise of thechurch.
Think about it with me.
If the people in the middle ofthe jungle in Africa are okay
and are headed to heaven simplyprecisely because they have
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never heard the name of Jesus,then the worst thing we could do
is go and tell them about Jesus.
Right, because when we do, wewould increase their chance of
condemnation, because when we do, we would increase their chance
of condemnation.
Think about how this lookspractically If you believe that
people are okay, they get a passbecause they haven't heard the
name of Jesus.
Think about how this lookspractically, even here in
Birmingham.
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Imagine going onto a collegecampus here in Birmingham and
there are people on collegecampuses all across the United
States who have still neverheard the name of Jesus
Internationals, for example.
I want you to imagine going upto an international student on
the UAB campus over here.
I want you to imagine going upto them and saying have you
heard about Jesus?
And them look at you and say,no, I've never heard of Jesus.
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Now if that person gets a freepass simply because they have
not heard about Jesus, then whatwould you do in that situation?
You would pull them aside andsay, okay, if anybody tries to
tell you about him, thenimmediately put your fingers in
your ears and begin yellingreally loudly and run away,
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because that would only increasetheir chances of going to hell.
Now, we know that is notbiblical.
We know that's not biblical.
We know that all over scripture, we are seen to take this
salvation and to take thisgospel to the ends of the earth.
All people are condemned forrejecting God and, as a result,
we need to take the gospel tothem.
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Let's move on to affirmationnumber five.
I'm Doing good here, followingwith me, all right.
Affirmation number five it'spretty bleak at this point.
It's pretty bleak.
All people, no innocent peoplein the world, all people
condemned for rejecting God.
I am thankful that therebecomes a turn in this book that
we're reading, called Romans.
Affirmation number five God hasmade a way of salvation for the
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lost.
This is one of my favoritepoints in the whole book of
Romans.
Hopefully those of you who werehere last week saw this come
alive, maybe, but when you seePaul get to the end and he says
we know that whatever the lawsays, it says to those who are
under the law in every mouth ofhis silence, the whole world
held accountable to God.
I can almost picture Paul,whether he's writing or
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dictating this, just tearsfilling his eyes.
No one declared righteous inhis sight by observing the law.
Then he picks the pen back up,wipes the tears away and he says
but now?
But now a righteousness fromGod, apart from law, has been
made known, to which the law andthe prophets testify, and this
righteousness from God comesthrough faith in Jesus Christ to
(26:48):
all who believe.
You see, all people, includingall of us in this room, are
condemned for rejecting God, butthankfully God does not leave
us there.
He has made a way of salvationfor you and me.
He has made a way of salvationfor every single person in all
of history, every single personthat is living on the face of
this planet today, for the sixbillion people in the world
today.
God has said I've made a way ofsalvation for the lost, and it
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goes right against this mountaintheory of religions that says
we have to find our own pathwayto God.
We have to make our way up toGod, god at the top of the
mountain, us at the bottommaking our way up.
No, against all that God says,I have come down the mountain to
you.
I have made a way of salvationfor you, and the question in our
culture today is definitely not.
Why is there not more than oneway?
Why is there only one way?
(27:31):
The question is, when yourealize the context of the book
of Romans, the question is whyis there any way at all?
We don't deserve the privilegeof grace and mercy that God has
poured out in his son Christ.
But he has done it.
He has done it for you in thisroom, he has done it for me, he
has done it for the people inAfrica and Asia and everywhere
in between.
He has made a way of salvationfor the lost.
This is the good news.
(27:53):
Romans, chapter 3, verse 21through 26.
Memorize that passage, let itsoak into your being.
God has presented Jesus as asacrifice of atonement.
He has shed his blood so thatyou could not be condemned, so
that you could say later inRomans 8, there is now no
condemnation.
God has made a way of salvationfor the lost.
Affirmation number six.
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Affirmation number six Based onthis and what Paul says after
this people cannot come to Godapart from Christ.
People cannot come to God apartfrom Christ.
I'll let that soak in for asecond.
If you'll look in Romans,chapter 3, verse 27 through 31,
(28:38):
you'll see Paul begin to talkabout boasting.
And he said boasting is excluded.
On what principle?
That of observing the law?
No, but on that of faith.
Now listen to this verse, verse28.
For we maintain that a man isjustified by faith, apart from
observing the law.
So we are not justified beforeGod, we are not saved from our
(28:58):
sins before God by what we do byobserving the law.
No, we are saved by faith.
Faith in what?
Faith always has to have anobject.
You can't just make up faithand have faith.
You have to have faith insomething.
That's what he had just saidand what he builds on after this
.
It's faith in Christ.
It's faith in what Christ didon the cross and his
resurrection from the grave.
When you trust in Christ, whenyou place your faith in him, you
(29:22):
can come to a relationship withGod.
But apart from that kind offaith, no matter how good you
are, no matter how memorable ofa person you are, no matter how
many things you do.
You cannot come to God onlythrough faith.
People cannot come to God apartfrom faith in Christ.
And as we think about whathappens to people who never hear
about Jesus, this is a very,very big question Because and
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I'll be honest, I'm right hereand what I'm about to say when
we hear this question, we beginto think maybe God would make
another way.
If there's over a billionpeople who haven't even heard
the name of Jesus, then maybesomehow, maybe God has made
(30:09):
another way for them to come tohim apart from Christ.
If God is gracious, if God isloving, then certainly he would
make another way.
Right, and that's a realquestion.
It's a question worthstruggling with.
But I want you to think aboutit as you struggle with that
question.
As soon as we come to the pointand this is happening all over
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the church today as soon as wecome to the point where we say
maybe God would make another way, then we say to Jesus on the
cross thank you for what you did, but it wasn't necessary, we
could have found another way,and that is a dangerous place to
(30:52):
be.
I want you to see that ouranswer to this question may just
throw the whole necessity ofthe cross in the air.
Because here's the deal If theycould come to God apart from
Christ, then why did Christ haveto die?
For anyone of us in this roomwho walks out of here and says,
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well, people who haven't heardthe name of Jesus can get to God
another way, then we are sayingChrist, your death was not all
we needed.
Christ, thanks for what you did, but we could have found
another way ourselves.
This question is so packedtheologically and it's so
(31:40):
important that we realize theramifications of what we believe
.
So we had some good news for asecond there, but things have
gotten pretty dismal, prettybleak again.
Because if people cannot cometo God apart from faith in
Christ, then you've still gotover a billion people who
haven't heard the name of Jesus.
And that's where we come to ourfinal affirmation.
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Affirmation number seven Christcommands the church Doesn't call
.
Christ commands the church tomake the gospel known to all
peoples.
Christ commands the church tomake the gospel known to all
peoples.
I want you to see this with meover in Romans, chapter 10.
(32:24):
Turn with me over there.
We won't read all of theseverses, verses five to 15.
Maybe, basically, let me justkind of give you the context
here.
Paul is talking about how faithin Christ, faith in Jesus, has
come to replace faith in God,that when you place your faith
in Christ, that is placing yourfaith in God and that's how we
are saved.
Speaking particularly to theseJewish people, now I want you to
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come with me to verse 12, and Iwant you to look at what Paul
says.
Remember Christ commands thechurch to make the gospel known
to all peoples.
Verse 12,.
Romans, chapter 10, for thereis no difference between Jew and
Gentile.
The same Lord is Lord of alland richly blessed is all who
call on him For.
So verse 4, underlining,memorizing everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will besaved.
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How, then, can they call on theone they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in theone of whom they have not heard
?
And how can they hear withoutsomeone preaching to them?
And how can they preach unlessthey are sent as it is written?
How beautiful are the feet ofthose who bring good news.
Now, paul asks a series ofquestions here.
How can they, how can theybelieve?
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Call on the one they haven'tbelieved in?
Believe and they haven't heard?
And how can they hear withoutsomeone preaching?
How can they believe, call onthe one they haven't believed in
, believe and they haven't heard?
And how can they hear withoutsomeone preaching?
How can they preach unlessthey're sent these questions?
And what Paul is doing is he isdescribing the plan of God to
make the gospel known to allpeoples.
This is the mission.
This is the mission that Ibelieve is unstoppable, from
cover to cover in Scripture Godmaking his gospel, his goodness,
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his greatness known among allpeoples.
The question I want to ask thismorning, though, is where is
the breakdown in this mission?
Where is the breakdown in thismission?
And in order to ask thatquestion, what I want you to do
is I want you to kind of take ajourney from the back to the
front of this passage we justread, and I want you to think
about God's plan.
It's not written here, andyou've got some space there at
(34:09):
the bottom of that page in yournotes if you want to write this
down.
But I want you to think about,let's follow the verbs from the
back of what we just read to thefront, and I think we'll get a
picture of what God's plan isfor making the gospel known
among all peoples.
What does it say there?
At the very end, verse 15.
How can they preach unless theyare sent?
So this is where it starts.
Christ sends his servants.
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That's where the plan begins.
Christ is sending people,servants you and me to make the
gospel known.
So Christ sends his servants,and what it says there is how
can they preach unless they aresent?
So when Christ sends servants,what do the servants do?
They preach.
Now, this isn't just for theguys who stand behind the podium
or stand in front of the wholegroup.
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This is a word in the NewTestament that means proclaim
the gospel.
It's a word that applies to allof us in this room who have a
relationship with Christ, notjust for the vocational
preachers.
This is for all of us.
Christ sends his servants andthe servants do what?
Live good lives, be nice people?
Well, yes, certainly thosethings.
But they preach, they share thegospel, verbally, proclaim the
(35:12):
gospel.
What happens when his servantspreach?
What does it say?
How can they hear withoutsomeone preaching to them?
So, obviously, when Christsends servants, the servants
preach.
People hear, people begin tohear the gospel, many of them
for the first time.
And what does the Bible saybefore that?
How can they believe in the onewhom they have not heard.
Don't miss it.
When Christ's servants and thoseservants preach and people hear
(35:34):
, many who hear will believe.
Now, obviously, not all whohear, but I believe this is a
promise from scripture.
You go to the Han, you go tothe people that are listed up
here, the Bengali that you sawin this video.
I guarantee you, I believe,based on the authority of
scripture, that when we sharethe word of Christ with them and
share the gospel, there will bepeople who, when they hear,
they will believe and they willembrace this message because
(35:56):
it's unstoppable, because weknow that all of eternity is
headed to a day when every kneewill bow and every tongue will
confess, from every nation andevery tribe and every people,
and they will sing praises toChrist.
Men and women have theconfidence.
You, women, have the confidence.
You go to people and you sharethe gospel.
There will be many who, whenthey hear, they will believe.
Now, what happens when theybelieve?
What do they do?
How can they call on the onethey have not believed in?
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So, when they believe, theycall.
So here's the progressionChrist and servants preach when
they preach.
People hear when they hear,they believe.
When they believe, they call.
Those people who believe willcall on the name of the Lord and
the guarantee is, for everysingle person in all the world
who calls the name of the Lord,what will happen?
He will be saved.
He will be saved.
Christ sends servants.
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They preach the gospel.
When they preach, people hear.
When they hear, they believe.
When those who believe call,they will be saved, guaranteed.
That is the outline.
That is God's plan for makingthe gospel known to all peoples.
Now the question is where isthe outline?
That is God's plan for makingthe gospel known to all peoples?
Now the question is where isthe breakdown in this mission?
Think about it with me.
Is the breakdown here?
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When they believe, when theycall, will they be saved?
Yes, no doubt.
That's a guarantee.
When they believe, no doubtthey will call when they hear,
no doubt many of them willbelieve in Christ.
When we preach unless we'repreaching in a room by ourself,
which really doesn't make a lotof sense people are going to
(37:22):
hear.
When we preach, they'll hear,and undoubtedly, christ is
sending servants.
So where's the breakdown?
And the servants who have beenentrusted with the gospel of
Jesus Christ fail to preach thisgospel to all nations.
Please hear me loud and clear.
(37:44):
This is God's plan.
It is plan A for taking thegospel to all nations and there
is no plan B.
There's not a plan B.
You don't see it anywhere inScripture.
Sure, people might say well,doesn't God have the power to
make this gospel known to themin other ways?
Undoubtedly God could write itin the sky and clouds.
(38:06):
He could write out the gospelJesus loves you.
He could go through the wholeRoman road in the clouds.
No question he could go throughthe whole Roman road in the
clouds.
No question he could do that.
He has the power to do that.
He has the power to revealhimself in dreams and visions,
which he is in many,particularly Muslim areas in our
world today.
There's testimonies about Godrevealing himself in dreams and
visions.
But can I remind you that whenyou read the book of Acts, you
will not find one verse, not oneverse, where the gospel goes to
(38:29):
the nations, apart from thetestimony of servants of Christ.
What about Cornelius?
He sees a vision, right?
What does God do?
He calls Peter.
He says get up and go and tellhim what this means, tell him
about the gospel Throughout thebook of Acts.
There is only one way thegospel goes to the nations, and
it's through men and women, boysand girls who are proclaiming
the truth of Jesus Christ, whoare taking this responsibility
(38:51):
to preach and really givingthemselves to it.
That is God's plan A and thereis no plan B.
And so I say to you thismorning, the biblical truth that
I pray God will bring home inour hearts is this God's desire
for the church at Brook Hills isnot to sit around on a Sunday
morning to answer this question.
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God's desire for the church atBrookhills is not to sit around
on a Sunday morning to answerthis question.
God's desire for this church isto alleviate the question all
together.
My interest this morning is inno way to have debates over what
happens to people who neverhear about Jesus.
That is not my purpose.
My purpose is not just for usto have a good theological
discussion on a Sunday morning.
(39:32):
My purpose is for you, underthe inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, to see, to see thisquestion and to feel its weight
and to feel its gravity and tobegin to think in your life.
How can we at this church be apart of alleviating this
question all together, so thatwe don't have to sit around and
(39:53):
think about what happens topeople who never hear about
Jesus, because we know thatthose billion people have heard
his name.
And I know what you're thinking, dave.
Once again you're getting alittle idealistic on us.
How can we at the Church ofBrook Hills really impact
hundreds and hundreds ofmillions of people with the
(40:13):
gospel?
And it's a good question.
I want you to look at a map uphere with me on the screen.
It's a map that you saw earlierand I want you to notice.
You might it's faint, but rightin the middle, for example,
around Rome, you see a littlebit of yellow around that red
dot, and over there on the rightin the east, you see a little
(40:34):
bit of yellow.
Around Jerusalem and Sidon, yousee a little bit of yellow.
That yellow represents theregions that were known to
contain Christians at thebeginning of Paul's ministry.
That's, the regions that wereknown to contain the gospel.
People had heard the gospel,received the gospel, believed in
the gospel at the beginning ofPaul's ministry.
Now what I want to do is I wantto show you a map that shows
(40:58):
you the regions that were knownto contain Christians by the end
of Paul's ministry.
That's pretty significant,isn't it?
Now, obviously, I'm not sayingthat Paul was the only one who
was sharing the gospel duringthat time there were a lot of
people doing but I believe withall my heart, paul had a huge
impact on this map.
The gospel began to go forth.
This was the end of Paul'sministry before he died.
What I want you to notice onthis map is the far west, spain,
(41:22):
and there's no yellow there.
You see, paul's desire was toget to Spain, but he never made
it there.
In fact, he was arrested inJerusalem.
He was taken to Rome, but notquite the way he'd planned.
He was in chains and he nevermade it to Spain, and the end of
his life, spain had never heardthe gospel.
So what does this mean?
(41:43):
Paul?
You're a failure, paul.
You were too idealistic, paul.
You were too idealistic, paul,you.
You gave your life to thispurpose, but there was a lot of
areas you never got to cover.
Why did you even give yourselfto that mission?
(42:04):
Before we say Paul's a failure,though, I want to show you, in
just a second, a map that showsyou the regions that were known
to contain Christians within twocenturies of Paul's death.
Look at this with me.
Within two centuries after hehad died, the gospel had not
(42:25):
only infiltrated Spain, but thatentire part of the world.
And I want to remind you, therewas no TV and there was was no
radio and there was no internet.
It was just men and women whohad the gospel in their hearts
and they proclaimed it withtheir mouths.
They gave their lives to it.
And so the question I have forthe church at Brook Hills this
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morning is what kind of impactare you going to have on this
next map?
Ladies and gentlemen, do notunderestimate the power of the
Holy Spirit of God in your lifeand in the life of this church.
When you look at this map, youwill see many blue areas.
(43:10):
Those blue areas, every bluearea, represents at least 100
people, groups who still have noaccess to the gospel.
And I am standing before youthis morning to say I believe
with all my heart that God wantsto use the church at Brook
Hills to infiltrate this map ofthe gospel and he wants to
change the face of this map.
(43:30):
He has commanded us to make thegospel known to all nations.
God, help us to see the need.
They haven't even heard hisname.
There's nothing more important.
This is more important.
God, help us to see that thisis more important than building
(43:50):
a 401k.
This is more important thanbuilding a 401k.
This is more important thanhaving a nice house and driving
a nice car.
It's more important than livinga nice, comfortable life.
I haven't even heard his name,and the question I want to ask
(44:13):
you this morning is are you in?
Students, teenagers, you've gotyour life sitting before you,
your plans, your dreams, yourambitions.
Are you in?
Are you willing to say myentire life is going to be
directed at one passion makingthe gospel known among all
peoples.
Are you in?
Those of you who are sittingwondering, sometimes with your
(44:33):
arms folded, what does thechurch really have for me?
What really can I do a part ofthis church?
Are you going to rise up andsay I want in on this mission?
Wives, husbands, homemakers,businessmen, businesswomen are
you in?
Are you willing to sacrificethe pleasures of this world in
order to say I'm going to makethe gospel known in all nations,
(44:55):
no matter what it costs me andno matter what it costs my
family, grandparents?
Are you in?
Grandparents, are you willingto set up and be a model for us
of what it means to use the lastyears of your life to make the
gospel known in all nations.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's episode of radical with
david platt.
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a
weekly podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author and
teacher David Platt.
As you're turning there, let meencourage you.
If you've got your celebrationguide, there's some notes that
will help you follow along inour time with God's Word that
are included in there.
Go ahead and pull that out andturn with me to Romans, chapter
(00:21):
15.
And turning me to Romans,chapter 15.
As you're turning there, I wantto tell you a story that I
think will help set the stagefor what I want us to talk about
together this morning duringour time in God's Word and I
know I think I've said thisbefore I know preachers have a
tendency to exaggerate, and forthat I apologize, but I need to
let you know from the verybeginning of the story that
(00:42):
there is no exaggeration.
You're going to think I'mexaggerating, but there's no
exaggeration whatsoever in thestory I'm about to tell you.
There's a church that I've hadthe opportunity to preach at a
couple of times before and thatGod has given me the opportunity
to develop a relationship with.
It's a church a little fartherwest than here.
We'll just kind of leave it atthat, but this is a church
(01:09):
that's small church, not a bigchurch, but I had the
opportunity to preach at aconference where some of these
members had been there and theyinvited me to come and preach
there a couple times.
They have a small group ofpeople that prays for me on a
continual basis and actually Inever asked for anything along
these lines, never have but theysend me a check pretty
regularly to just support whatGod's doing in the ministry that
he's given to me.
And so one particular Sunday Iwas scheduled to preach there.
On a Sunday morning my wifeHeather and I had driven over
(01:31):
there on Saturday and I wasplanning on preaching on the
Great Commission, on makingdisciples of all nations.
And Saturday night when we gotthere we went over to a house
where the pastor and his wifeand two deacons and their wives
were hanging out and had dinnertogether and then we just kind
of sat around talking afterwardsand I was sitting there in
their company just kind oftelling them about some of the
things that God was doing in myown life and in the ministry
(01:53):
that God had given me theopportunity to be a part of,
whether it was doing inner citystuff with homeless folks in New
Orleans or with internationalsin New Orleans and then I began
to share with them about some ofthe opportunities God had
opened up overseas to go intosome pretty difficult places but
to make the gospel known amongpeople that are very anti-Christ
in many ways.
And I'll never forget whathappened as I had shared that
(02:15):
one of the deacons sat up in hischair and he looked at me in
the eye and he said, david, wewant you to know how excited we
are about all that's going onthere.
He said you know, if you ask me, all those people that you're
talking about that are soanti-Christianity?
I just assume God annihilatedall those people and sent them
to hell.
He didn't know.
You asked me what I said.
(02:38):
In response to that, I didn'tsay anything.
I didn't know what to say.
I was stunned into silence.
I just assumed God annihilatedall those people and sent them
to hell.
And conversation went on andprogressed and I began to think
okay, I'm supposed to preach onthe Great Commission in the
morning.
This is going to be veryinteresting.
And so I got up the nextmorning, went to the church
service and during the welcomethe pastor was welcoming all
(02:59):
those who were there.
And before I got up to preach.
The pastor began to go intothis side note about how
thankful he was to be living inthe United States of America and
he began to talk about howgreat it was to live in the US
of A and how much he would neverwant to live in any other
country outside of the UnitedStates because of all that we
have here.
It was a real patriotic speech.
I thought Lee Greenwood wasabout to pipe in from the
(03:21):
background.
We were having a moment thereand I began to think okay, you
know, the pastor has justproclaimed to the church that he
would never live anywhereoutside the United States.
I'm about to preach on makingdisciples of all nations, so
this is really going to beinteresting.
So I got up and I preached thesermon and gave the invitation
to the end.
Not a lot of response thatparticular day.
And I remember when I wasstanding on the front row before
(03:44):
the service closed out, thepastor got up and he said now,
before we dismiss, there's justsomething, a couple other things
I need to say.
I thought, oh great, here we goand he begins to share.
He says David, like we told youlast night, he said I want you
to know that we are reallyexcited about the things God is
doing in and through your life.
And he looked at me in front ofthe whole church and he said
(04:04):
and we promise you we willcontinue to send a check to you
so that you can do those things,so that we do not have to go
there and do them ourselves.
I could feel at this point mywife, who's standing behind me,
her hand, comes on my shoulder.
She could tell that I'm aboutto lose it.
And then he continues.
He said I remember my lastchurch where I was serving.
(04:29):
We had a missionary come fromJapan and he shared about all
that God was doing.
And he said I told my churchthat day that if they didn't
give to help this missionary inJapan, that I would pray that
God would send their kids to goover to Japan to work with him.
Like it was a threat.
And he said we gave that guy alaptop, listed all kinds of
things that they supported himwith, and the service closed
(04:50):
down.
Heather and I got into the carand began to drive away saying
nothing.
We couldn't believe what hadjust happened and I began to be
angry.
And then it was one of thosemoments where God kind of turns
the tables, and I began to thinkyou know, those deacons and
(05:12):
that pastor have said what mostof the people who are sitting in
a pew this morning believe, butare just not bold enough to say
now, before you say that's toobrash, dave, that's a little too
bold, don't you think you'rebeing a little Artemis?
Let me ask you a question howmany of us are living like
(05:33):
people in the inner city areokay without Jesus Christ?
And how many of us are livinglike it's okay to give a check,
just as so long as we don't haveto go there and do it ourselves
?
How many of us are reallypraying, how many of you with
children are really praying thatGod would raise up your son,
(05:53):
your daughter, to go into theMiddle East and give their life
to make the gospel of JesusChrist now?
And how many of our churchesare operating like the hundreds
of millions of people who havenever heard the name of Jesus
are okay without him?
And so this morning I want usto dive into a question that I
(06:14):
believe is one of the mostimportant questions facing the
church of Jesus Christ inAmerica today, and I want us to
take an honest look at the heartof God and what it means for
our lives and specifically forthe church at Brook Hills.
You've got your notes there.
One of the most importantquestions facing the church
today here's the question whathappens to people who never hear
(06:37):
about Jesus?
What happens to people whonever hear about Jesus?
Now?
This, I believe, is anextremely important question in
light of the video that we justsaw.
Over a billion people who havenever even heard his name, never
even heard the name of Jesus.
I've met some of them in Indiaand other places in Asia haven't
even heard his name.
(06:58):
You say Jesus.
That's the first time.
Who is that?
Over a billion people whohaven't even heard his name?
So I think it's an extremelyimportant question and I know
from the very beginning this isa pretty emotionally charged
question.
It's pretty thick because whenwe think about a billion and a
half people who haven't evenheard his name, we begin to
think about well, if God isloving and if God is gracious,
(07:18):
then those people certainlywouldn't go to hell, would they?
What happens to people whonever hear about Jesus?
And I believe that, at the core, this is a very emotionally
charged question and I know it'snot an easy question to answer.
Unfortunately, there's not aplace I can take you in
scripture this morning whereJesus says to his disciples some
of you have wondered what'sgonna happen to people who never
even hear about me.
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Here's the answer.
We don't have that in thegospels anywhere.
The answer we don't have thatin the Gospels anywhere.
But what I want to do is takeyou to a passage of Scripture,
or some passage of Scripturethat, I think, help us answer
this question.
In Romans.
Look with me at Romans, chapter15.
I want you to see thebackground of this book Romans,
chapter 15, verse 23.
We're going to read this, andthen I want you to think about
(08:01):
why this guy named Paul wrotethis letter that we had the
opportunity to spend some timetogether in last week.
Look at chapter 15, verse 23.
Why did Paul write this letter?
Look at what it says.
Now that there is no more placefor me to work in these regions,
and since I have been longingfor many years to see you, I
plan to do so when I go to Spain.
I hope to visit you whilepassing through and to have you
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assist me on my journey there,after I have enjoyed your
company for a while Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in
the service of the saints there, for Macedonia and Achaia were
pleased to make a contributionfor the poor among the saints in
Jerusalem.
They were pleased to do it andindeed they owed it to them, for
if the Gentiles have shared inthe Jews' spiritual blessings,
they owe it to the Jews to sharewith them their material
(08:44):
blessings.
So after I have completed thistask and have made sure that
they have received this fruit, Iwill go to Spain and visit you
on the way.
I know that when I come to you,I will come in the full measure
of the blessing of Christ.
Okay, a little New Testamenthistory here to help us get a
grasp on what's going on righthere.
I'm going to show you a map uphere on the screen.
It's going on right here.
I'm going to show you a map uphere on the screen.
It's going to show you Paul'smissionary journeys.
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This is Paul's first missionaryjourney and I know it's kind of
difficult to see, but I wantyou to look.
On the far right of these mapsYou'll see a blue arrow going
out.
You can't read what the cityname is, but that city is called
Antioch.
On the far right where the redand blue come together, that's a
city called Antioch.
In Acts, chapter 13, paul, hisbuddy Barnabas, gets sent out by
the church in Antioch.
(09:26):
The church in Antioch was thefirst church to really send
people out to go and share thegospel in places that had never
heard the gospel.
And so the blue arrows showPaul leaving.
They go down to Cyprus and theygo north and head into some
different areas, and the redarrows show them coming back.
And you'll notice that theycame back after they had left to
Antioch.
That was kind of home base forthem.
(09:47):
Let me show you Paul's secondmissionary journey.
Look at the next map Again.
The middle on the right isAntioch.
Once again, paul leaves fromthere.
He heads north.
God says I want you to go tosome places you've never been
before.
And so they go even farthernorth.
They go up into Thessalonicaand into Athens and into Corinth
and they come down to the farsoutheast, in Jerusalem.
(10:07):
And then where do they go backto?
They go back to Antioch.
That was home base for them,home base for the church sending
out.
Okay, third missionary journeyYou'll never guess where Paul
leaves from Antioch.
This is the home base, and so heheads out from Antioch this is
the home base.
And so he heads out fromAntioch north, goes in a lot of
the places he he'd been beforeand he comes to Corinth.
Corinth is about the middleleft on middle and the top left
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on that map, and that's where hewrites this book, letter to the
Romans, the people in Rome.
He writes this book and he sayswe just read it.
I'm going to go down toJerusalem, down in the far
southeast.
But you'll notice, guess wherePaul doesn't plan on going back
to this time Antioch.
He's not heading back to homebase.
Why is he not going back there?
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Well, look at this next map.
It'll help you get a grasp onit.
Right in the middle of this mapis the city of Rome.
If you look on the far right,you'll see Jerusalem and Antioch
Sidon in the middle.
You'll notice that Paul saidI'm going to go from Corinth
down to Jerusalem, and then hesaid I'm going to come to you at
(11:11):
Rome.
But what did we just read?
Was Rome Paul's finaldestination?
No, he said when I come to you,I need you to assist me on my
way to where Spain exactly,which is the very far west of
this map.
On the left you see that bigblock that we know as Spain
today.
That's where Paul wanted to get.
The people there had neverheard the name of Jesus.
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And Paul writes to them at Romeand says I need you to help me
get there.
You see, antioch had beenPaul's home base for missions,
but if he wants to get all theway over to Spain, is Antioch
the most logical place to helphim get there?
No, obviously you don't headeast in order to get west.
He says I need Rome, I need youguys to help me get to the
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people who haven't even heardthe name of Jesus.
I believe that is why Paulwrote this book.
Paul did not write this bookjust to give us a good,
systematic theology of what thegospel is about.
He wrote this book because hewanted these people to know how
great the gospel was, so theywould be compelled to help him,
assist him on his way to Spain.
Almost kind of like today.
I don't know if you've receivedone of these before, but
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sometimes when people go onmission trips, they send out
missionary support letters andthey'll write a letter and say
hey, this is an opportunity Godhas given to me to go overseas
and I want to write you and tellyou about it and ask you to
pray for me and, if the Lordleads for you, to help me out
financially in order to go onthis trip.
I think that's what Paul'swriting here.
It's a missionary supportletter.
Now, I've never seen amissionary support letter that
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looks like this in our culturetoday, but I think that's what
Paul is doing.
So, in light of that, the wholepurpose of me showing you that
is to show you that Paul iswriting this book to convince
people of the need to take thisgospel to people who'd never
heard it before in Spain and, asa result, when it comes to the
question of what happens topeople who never hear about
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Jesus, I think the ramificationsof this book are huge.
Now, again, there's not a pointin this book where I can show
you what happens to people whonever hear about Jesus.
Here's the answer.
But instead, what I want to dois I want to give you seven
affirmations this morning, seventruths that I think will help
inform the answer to thisquestion, seven truths that I
want you to see in the book ofRomans.
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So start with me and turn allthe way back to Romans, chapter
1.
Romans, chapter 1, and we'llstart in verse 18, which is
where Paul really begins hisdiscussion of why these people
need to hear the gospel.
Romans, chapter one, verse 18.
Look at what the Bible saysthere and begin to think about
what happens to people who neverhear about Jesus.
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Now we're going to read somedifferent passages.
Some will kind of fly through,some we'll spend some more time
on, and you've got these notesthat are in front of you.
I want to encourage you toreally follow along, pay close
attention, because there's somepoints where, if you
misunderstand me, you might welllabel me a heretic and kick me
off the stage, and I reallydon't want that to happen.
So I really want you to followalong close here.
Okay, all right, and hopefullywe won't be heretics.
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Okay, romans, chapter 1, verse18.
The wrath of God, paul says, isbeing revealed from heaven
against all the godlessness andwickedness of men who suppress
the truth of God by theirwickedness, since what may be
known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain,
for since the creation of theworld, god's invisible qualities
, his eternal power and divinenature have been clearly seen,
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being understood from what hasbeen made so that men are
without excuse.
Affirmation number one allpeople know God the Father.
All people in all history knowGod the Father.
All people, whether those of uswho are sitting in here, the
guy in the jungle in Africa,person in the village in Asia,
anywhere in between all peoplehave knowledge of God.
(14:44):
Person in the village in Asia,anywhere in between All people
have knowledge of God.
Bible says it is being revealedcontinually.
The wrath of God, the characterof God is being revealed from
heaven against all the godnessesand wickedness of men.
He says the whole creation.
This thing is revealed bycreation.
We know that God exists becausewe see his handiwork around us.
When we look at creation, wecan see that this didn't just
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happen by chance.
There's a God who is behindthis.
He reveals his characterthrough creation continually.
I want you to see that.
Paul says it is clear, clearlyseen, there's no question.
People know continual revealedby creation.
It is clear and it issufficient so that men are
without excuse.
So for every single one of usin this room, god is continually
(15:26):
revealing his character to us,as well as to the people in the
middle of the jungle in Africa,by his creation, continually, in
a clear way so that none of usare without excuse.
We all have the opportunity toknow God the Father.
All people know God the Father.
Sound good, we on the same page?
Okay, here we go.
Affirmation number two Allpeople reject true knowledge of
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God.
All people reject trueknowledge of God.
Look at what verse 21 through23 says.
Although they knew God.
Now, that makes reference towhat we just talked about.
All people knew God.
They neither glorified him asGod nor did they give thanks to
him, but their thinking becamefutile.
Their foolish hearts weredarkened.
They claimed to be wise, butthey became fools and exchanged
(16:09):
the glory of the immortal Godfor images made to look like
mortal man and birds and animalsand reptiles.
In other words, they rejectedtrue knowledge of God and began
to worship idols and images thatthey created.
And this is not just talkingabout people in Paul's day.
It's talking about people inall our day.
Every single one of us hasrejected true knowledge of God.
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Now, this is a fundamentalpoint here, but it's a point
that oftentimes we misunderstand.
When it comes to this questionof what happens to people who
never hear about Jesus, Iremember having a conversation
with some college students at aconference and we were talking
about this very issue.
I remember having aconversation with some college
students at a conference and wewere talking about this very
issue and there was a girl whowas sitting across the table and
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she said to me she said, well,what about people, she said, who
are doing the best with theknowledge that they have?
She said, for example, theIndians who came over to this
land, maybe the Aztec Indians.
They came over, they didn'thave a Bible, they hadn't heard
about Jesus and they worshipedthe sun, god, right, don't you
think?
I mean, they were doing thebest they could with the
knowledge they had.
Don't you think God is honoredin that?
Aren't those people religious?
(17:13):
I want you to think about that,based on what we just read from
Paul's word.
Aren't they religious?
No, they are idolaters.
They are idolaters, we areidolaters.
We cannot make images of Godand worship those and expect a
holy God who deserves all ourpraise to be honored in that or
to be pleased with that.
(17:33):
This is the essence of idolatry, and all of us are guilty,
whether it's ourselves, our jobs, our careers, our houses, our
possessions, our whatever in ourlives.
We put on a pedestal and webegin to worship those things.
That's idolatry.
It's taking the rightfulworship that is due to God away
(17:54):
from him and putting it onsomething else.
And whether it's worshiping thesun, god, or worshiping your
investment plan, either way itis idolatry.
All people, including everysingle one of us in this room,
as well as all the people inAfrica and Asia, have rejected
true knowledge of God.
Affirmation number two.
Affirmation number two.
Affirmation number three Basedon that, we can say there are no
(18:15):
innocent people in the world.
There are no innocent people inthe world.
You see, what Paul does here isfrom Romans, chapter 1, verse
18, all the way to chapter 2,verse 16,.
Paul talks about a group ofpeople called the Gentiles,
which were the non-Jewish people, the nations, and you can
almost picture as Paul talksabout how evil they are.
You can picture the Jewishreaders of this letter giving
(18:36):
hearty amens to every paragraph.
Yeah, those guys are terrible.
Look at them.
Look at them and then younotice it's very interesting.
In chapter 2, verse 17, there'sa major shift.
Paul says to these Jewishpeople who are reading the book
and are amening, how evil theGentiles and the nations are.
He says now you, if you rely onthe law, brag about your
(18:58):
relationship to God.
He begins to talk to peoplethat are Jewish, if you know his
will to prove what is superiorbecause you've been instructed
by the law, and he begins to saythat, even though the Gentiles
are disobedient to God, you'rein the same boat.
There are no innocent people inthe world, and that's why, when
it comes to the middle ofchapter three, paul says there
are no innocent people in theworld.
There is no one who doesrighteous not even one.
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No one who understands, no one.
No one who seeks God, no onewho does good not even one.
There are no innocent people inthe world.
Now, it's at this point that ifyou were to ask me this morning,
david, be honest what happensto the innocent guy in Africa
(19:43):
who's never heard the gospelbefore, I would look at you and
I'd say, beyond the shadow of adoubt I believe the answer is
that that person would go toheaven.
What happens to the innocentkind of villain in Genesia who's
never heard the gospel before?
I believe with all my heartthat person would go to heaven.
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Now, before you label me aheretic and begin to think what
is this guy talking about, letme remind you that if there is
an innocent guy in africa orasia who's never heard the
gospel before, if he is innocent, if she is innocent, then he or
(20:26):
she has no need for a savior.
He's not done anything wrong,so why would he be separated
from God?
He's not separated from God.
He has a relationship with Godand he doesn't need to be saved
by the blood of Christ.
The only problem is he justdoesn't exist.
Please hear me on that.
This is how this question ismost often phrased, preacher.
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What happens to the innocentguy in Africa who's never heard
the gospel before?
We bias the question from thevery beginning in favor of this
person who's never done anythingwrong, who's in the middle of a
jungle.
And it's just not true.
Whether it's a guy in Africa orAsia or any one of us sitting
in here in this auditorium thismorning, every single one of us
has rejected true knowledge ofGod and we are not innocent.
Let me remind you this morningthat we get this idea,
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particularly in our culturetoday.
We get this idea that thedefault is heaven, and it's just
not biblical.
The default is not heaven, thedefault is hell.
We have sinned against God andwe deserve separation from him
forever.
So, yes, an innocent personwould not need a savior.
The problem is there are noinnocent people in the world,
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whether in this room, not oneinnocent person nowhere else in
the world.
Make sense, we're on the samepage.
Okay, affirmation number four.
Okay, we got that.
You followed along with that.
Okay, affirmation number fourAll people are condemned for
rejecting God.
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All people are condemned forrejecting God.
What I want you to see is atthe end of Paul's argument, when
you really come to Romans 3,verse 19 and 20, he says some
very important words.
I want you to look at them withme.
He says we know that whateverthe law says, it says to those
who are under the law, so thatevery mouth may be silenced and
the whole world held accountableto God.
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No one will be declaredrighteous in God's sight by
observing the law.
Rather, through the law, webecome conscious of sin.
What this is saying is is thatbecause all of us stand before
God with sin in our lives, allof us have disobeyed God.
We stand before him accountablefor our sin and we stand before
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him deserving separation fromhim.
All people are condemned forrejecting God.
Now, this is a very importantpoint right here, and I want you
to think about it with me for asecond.
Some people would say and Ithink it's a valid question well
, what about?
What about, okay, somebody inanother place that's never heard
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the gospel before, never heardthe name of Jesus?
Would God, a loving andgracious God, really send that
person to hell for rejectingJesus, even though they never
had the opportunity to hearabout Jesus?
Think about it.
Do you think it would be loving, do you think it would even be
just of God to send someone tohell for rejecting a Christ that
(23:19):
they never even heard about?
I don't think it would be.
I don't think people would besent to hell for rejecting a
Christ that they never even hadthe opportunity to hear about.
But don't miss the point ofthis passage All people are
still condemned for rejectingwho?
For rejecting God.
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We begin to get this idea,surely.
Surely, if they haven't heardof Jesus, that they get a pass
somehow on this thing?
Surely, if they haven't heardof Jesus, that they're not held
accountable to the same thing weare held accountable to?
And obviously, yes, they have adifferent level of knowledge.
They haven't heard the name ofJesus.
But I want you to think aboutit with me what about the
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ramifications If somebody gets apass simply because they have
not heard of Jesus?
I want you to think about howthis would completely deter the
missionary enterprise of thechurch.
Think about it with me.
If the people in the middle ofthe jungle in Africa are okay
and are headed to heaven simplyprecisely because they have
(24:20):
never heard the name of Jesus,then the worst thing we could do
is go and tell them about Jesus.
Right, because when we do, wewould increase their chance of
condemnation, because when we do, we would increase their chance
of condemnation.
Think about how this lookspractically If you believe that
people are okay, they get a passbecause they haven't heard the
name of Jesus.
Think about how this lookspractically, even here in
Birmingham.
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Imagine going onto a collegecampus here in Birmingham and
there are people on collegecampuses all across the United
States who have still neverheard the name of Jesus
Internationals, for example.
I want you to imagine going upto an international student on
the UAB campus over here.
I want you to imagine going upto them and saying have you
heard about Jesus?
And them look at you and say,no, I've never heard of Jesus.
(25:02):
Now if that person gets a freepass simply because they have
not heard about Jesus, then whatwould you do in that situation?
You would pull them aside andsay, okay, if anybody tries to
tell you about him, thenimmediately put your fingers in
your ears and begin yellingreally loudly and run away,
(25:23):
because that would only increasetheir chances of going to hell.
Now, we know that is notbiblical.
We know that's not biblical.
We know that all over scripture, we are seen to take this
salvation and to take thisgospel to the ends of the earth.
All people are condemned forrejecting God and, as a result,
we need to take the gospel tothem.
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Let's move on to affirmationnumber five.
I'm Doing good here, followingwith me, all right.
Affirmation number five it'spretty bleak at this point.
It's pretty bleak.
All people, no innocent peoplein the world, all people
condemned for rejecting God.
I am thankful that therebecomes a turn in this book that
we're reading, called Romans.
Affirmation number five God hasmade a way of salvation for the
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lost.
This is one of my favoritepoints in the whole book of
Romans.
Hopefully those of you who werehere last week saw this come
alive, maybe, but when you seePaul get to the end and he says
we know that whatever the lawsays, it says to those who are
under the law in every mouth ofhis silence, the whole world
held accountable to God.
I can almost picture Paul,whether he's writing or
(26:28):
dictating this, just tearsfilling his eyes.
No one declared righteous inhis sight by observing the law.
Then he picks the pen back up,wipes the tears away and he says
but now?
But now a righteousness fromGod, apart from law, has been
made known, to which the law andthe prophets testify, and this
righteousness from God comesthrough faith in Jesus Christ to
(26:48):
all who believe.
You see, all people, includingall of us in this room, are
condemned for rejecting God, butthankfully God does not leave
us there.
He has made a way of salvationfor you and me.
He has made a way of salvationfor every single person in all
of history, every single personthat is living on the face of
this planet today, for the sixbillion people in the world
today.
God has said I've made a way ofsalvation for the lost, and it
(27:10):
goes right against this mountaintheory of religions that says
we have to find our own pathwayto God.
We have to make our way up toGod, god at the top of the
mountain, us at the bottommaking our way up.
No, against all that God says,I have come down the mountain to
you.
I have made a way of salvationfor you, and the question in our
culture today is definitely not.
Why is there not more than oneway?
Why is there only one way?
(27:31):
The question is, when yourealize the context of the book
of Romans, the question is whyis there any way at all?
We don't deserve the privilegeof grace and mercy that God has
poured out in his son Christ.
But he has done it.
He has done it for you in thisroom, he has done it for me, he
has done it for the people inAfrica and Asia and everywhere
in between.
He has made a way of salvationfor the lost.
This is the good news.
(27:53):
Romans, chapter 3, verse 21through 26.
Memorize that passage, let itsoak into your being.
God has presented Jesus as asacrifice of atonement.
He has shed his blood so thatyou could not be condemned, so
that you could say later inRomans 8, there is now no
condemnation.
God has made a way of salvationfor the lost.
Affirmation number six.
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Affirmation number six Based onthis and what Paul says after
this people cannot come to Godapart from Christ.
People cannot come to God apartfrom Christ.
I'll let that soak in for asecond.
If you'll look in Romans,chapter 3, verse 27 through 31,
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you'll see Paul begin to talkabout boasting.
And he said boasting is excluded.
On what principle?
That of observing the law?
No, but on that of faith.
Now listen to this verse, verse28.
For we maintain that a man isjustified by faith, apart from
observing the law.
So we are not justified beforeGod, we are not saved from our
(28:58):
sins before God by what we do byobserving the law.
No, we are saved by faith.
Faith in what?
Faith always has to have anobject.
You can't just make up faithand have faith.
You have to have faith insomething.
That's what he had just saidand what he builds on after this
.
It's faith in Christ.
It's faith in what Christ didon the cross and his
resurrection from the grave.
When you trust in Christ, whenyou place your faith in him, you
(29:22):
can come to a relationship withGod.
But apart from that kind offaith, no matter how good you
are, no matter how memorable ofa person you are, no matter how
many things you do.
You cannot come to God onlythrough faith.
People cannot come to God apartfrom faith in Christ.
And as we think about whathappens to people who never hear
about Jesus, this is a very,very big question Because and
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I'll be honest, I'm right hereand what I'm about to say when
we hear this question, we beginto think maybe God would make
another way.
If there's over a billionpeople who haven't even heard
the name of Jesus, then maybesomehow, maybe God has made
(30:09):
another way for them to come tohim apart from Christ.
If God is gracious, if God isloving, then certainly he would
make another way.
Right, and that's a realquestion.
It's a question worthstruggling with.
But I want you to think aboutit as you struggle with that
question.
As soon as we come to the pointand this is happening all over
(30:31):
the church today as soon as wecome to the point where we say
maybe God would make another way, then we say to Jesus on the
cross thank you for what you did, but it wasn't necessary, we
could have found another way,and that is a dangerous place to
(30:52):
be.
I want you to see that ouranswer to this question may just
throw the whole necessity ofthe cross in the air.
Because here's the deal If theycould come to God apart from
Christ, then why did Christ haveto die?
For anyone of us in this roomwho walks out of here and says,
(31:17):
well, people who haven't heardthe name of Jesus can get to God
another way, then we are sayingChrist, your death was not all
we needed.
Christ, thanks for what you did, but we could have found
another way ourselves.
This question is so packedtheologically and it's so
(31:40):
important that we realize theramifications of what we believe
.
So we had some good news for asecond there, but things have
gotten pretty dismal, prettybleak again.
Because if people cannot cometo God apart from faith in
Christ, then you've still gotover a billion people who
haven't heard the name of Jesus.
And that's where we come to ourfinal affirmation.
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Affirmation number seven Christcommands the church Doesn't call
.
Christ commands the church tomake the gospel known to all
peoples.
Christ commands the church tomake the gospel known to all
peoples.
I want you to see this with meover in Romans, chapter 10.
(32:24):
Turn with me over there.
We won't read all of theseverses, verses five to 15.
Maybe, basically, let me justkind of give you the context
here.
Paul is talking about how faithin Christ, faith in Jesus, has
come to replace faith in God,that when you place your faith
in Christ, that is placing yourfaith in God and that's how we
are saved.
Speaking particularly to theseJewish people, now I want you to
(32:44):
come with me to verse 12, and Iwant you to look at what Paul
says.
Remember Christ commands thechurch to make the gospel known
to all peoples.
Verse 12,.
Romans, chapter 10, for thereis no difference between Jew and
Gentile.
The same Lord is Lord of alland richly blessed is all who
call on him For.
So verse 4, underlining,memorizing everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will besaved.
(33:06):
How, then, can they call on theone they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in theone of whom they have not heard
?
And how can they hear withoutsomeone preaching to them?
And how can they preach unlessthey are sent as it is written?
How beautiful are the feet ofthose who bring good news.
Now, paul asks a series ofquestions here.
How can they, how can theybelieve?
(33:28):
Call on the one they haven'tbelieved in?
Believe and they haven't heard?
And how can they hear withoutsomeone preaching?
How can they believe, call onthe one they haven't believed in
, believe and they haven't heard?
And how can they hear withoutsomeone preaching?
How can they preach unlessthey're sent these questions?
And what Paul is doing is he isdescribing the plan of God to
make the gospel known to allpeoples.
This is the mission.
This is the mission that Ibelieve is unstoppable, from
cover to cover in Scripture Godmaking his gospel, his goodness,
(33:48):
his greatness known among allpeoples.
The question I want to ask thismorning, though, is where is
the breakdown in this mission?
Where is the breakdown in thismission?
And in order to ask thatquestion, what I want you to do
is I want you to kind of take ajourney from the back to the
front of this passage we justread, and I want you to think
about God's plan.
It's not written here, andyou've got some space there at
(34:09):
the bottom of that page in yournotes if you want to write this
down.
But I want you to think about,let's follow the verbs from the
back of what we just read to thefront, and I think we'll get a
picture of what God's plan isfor making the gospel known
among all peoples.
What does it say there?
At the very end, verse 15.
How can they preach unless theyare sent?
So this is where it starts.
Christ sends his servants.
(34:30):
That's where the plan begins.
Christ is sending people,servants you and me to make the
gospel known.
So Christ sends his servants,and what it says there is how
can they preach unless they aresent?
So when Christ sends servants,what do the servants do?
They preach.
Now, this isn't just for theguys who stand behind the podium
or stand in front of the wholegroup.
(34:50):
This is a word in the NewTestament that means proclaim
the gospel.
It's a word that applies to allof us in this room who have a
relationship with Christ, notjust for the vocational
preachers.
This is for all of us.
Christ sends his servants andthe servants do what?
Live good lives, be nice people?
Well, yes, certainly thosethings.
But they preach, they share thegospel, verbally, proclaim the
(35:12):
gospel.
What happens when his servantspreach?
What does it say?
How can they hear withoutsomeone preaching to them?
So, obviously, when Christsends servants, the servants
preach.
People hear, people begin tohear the gospel, many of them
for the first time.
And what does the Bible saybefore that?
How can they believe in the onewhom they have not heard.
Don't miss it.
When Christ's servants and thoseservants preach and people hear
(35:34):
, many who hear will believe.
Now, obviously, not all whohear, but I believe this is a
promise from scripture.
You go to the Han, you go tothe people that are listed up
here, the Bengali that you sawin this video.
I guarantee you, I believe,based on the authority of
scripture, that when we sharethe word of Christ with them and
share the gospel, there will bepeople who, when they hear,
they will believe and they willembrace this message because
(35:56):
it's unstoppable, because weknow that all of eternity is
headed to a day when every kneewill bow and every tongue will
confess, from every nation andevery tribe and every people,
and they will sing praises toChrist.
Men and women have theconfidence.
You, women, have the confidence.
You go to people and you sharethe gospel.
There will be many who, whenthey hear, they will believe.
Now, what happens when theybelieve?
What do they do?
How can they call on the onethey have not believed in?
(36:18):
So, when they believe, theycall.
So here's the progressionChrist and servants preach when
they preach.
People hear when they hear,they believe.
When they believe, they call.
Those people who believe willcall on the name of the Lord and
the guarantee is, for everysingle person in all the world
who calls the name of the Lord,what will happen?
He will be saved.
He will be saved.
Christ sends servants.
(36:39):
They preach the gospel.
When they preach, people hear.
When they hear, they believe.
When those who believe call,they will be saved, guaranteed.
That is the outline.
That is God's plan for makingthe gospel known to all peoples.
Now the question is where isthe outline?
That is God's plan for makingthe gospel known to all peoples?
Now the question is where isthe breakdown in this mission?
Think about it with me.
Is the breakdown here?
(37:01):
When they believe, when theycall, will they be saved?
Yes, no doubt.
That's a guarantee.
When they believe, no doubtthey will call when they hear,
no doubt many of them willbelieve in Christ.
When we preach unless we'repreaching in a room by ourself,
which really doesn't make a lotof sense people are going to
(37:22):
hear.
When we preach, they'll hear,and undoubtedly, christ is
sending servants.
So where's the breakdown?
And the servants who have beenentrusted with the gospel of
Jesus Christ fail to preach thisgospel to all nations.
Please hear me loud and clear.
(37:44):
This is God's plan.
It is plan A for taking thegospel to all nations and there
is no plan B.
There's not a plan B.
You don't see it anywhere inScripture.
Sure, people might say well,doesn't God have the power to
make this gospel known to themin other ways?
Undoubtedly God could write itin the sky and clouds.
(38:06):
He could write out the gospelJesus loves you.
He could go through the wholeRoman road in the clouds.
No question he could go throughthe whole Roman road in the
clouds.
No question he could do that.
He has the power to do that.
He has the power to revealhimself in dreams and visions,
which he is in many,particularly Muslim areas in our
world today.
There's testimonies about Godrevealing himself in dreams and
visions.
But can I remind you that whenyou read the book of Acts, you
will not find one verse, not oneverse, where the gospel goes to
(38:29):
the nations, apart from thetestimony of servants of Christ.
What about Cornelius?
He sees a vision, right?
What does God do?
He calls Peter.
He says get up and go and tellhim what this means, tell him
about the gospel Throughout thebook of Acts.
There is only one way thegospel goes to the nations, and
it's through men and women, boysand girls who are proclaiming
the truth of Jesus Christ, whoare taking this responsibility
(38:51):
to preach and really givingthemselves to it.
That is God's plan A and thereis no plan B.
And so I say to you thismorning, the biblical truth that
I pray God will bring home inour hearts is this God's desire
for the church at Brook Hills isnot to sit around on a Sunday
morning to answer this question.
(39:11):
God's desire for the church atBrookhills is not to sit around
on a Sunday morning to answerthis question.
God's desire for this church isto alleviate the question all
together.
My interest this morning is inno way to have debates over what
happens to people who neverhear about Jesus.
That is not my purpose.
My purpose is not just for usto have a good theological
discussion on a Sunday morning.
(39:32):
My purpose is for you, underthe inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, to see, to see thisquestion and to feel its weight
and to feel its gravity and tobegin to think in your life.
How can we at this church be apart of alleviating this
question all together, so thatwe don't have to sit around and
(39:53):
think about what happens topeople who never hear about
Jesus, because we know thatthose billion people have heard
his name.
And I know what you're thinking, dave.
Once again you're getting alittle idealistic on us.
How can we at the Church ofBrook Hills really impact
hundreds and hundreds ofmillions of people with the
(40:13):
gospel?
And it's a good question.
I want you to look at a map uphere with me on the screen.
It's a map that you saw earlierand I want you to notice.
You might it's faint, but rightin the middle, for example,
around Rome, you see a littlebit of yellow around that red
dot, and over there on the rightin the east, you see a little
(40:34):
bit of yellow.
Around Jerusalem and Sidon, yousee a little bit of yellow.
That yellow represents theregions that were known to
contain Christians at thebeginning of Paul's ministry.
That's, the regions that wereknown to contain the gospel.
People had heard the gospel,received the gospel, believed in
the gospel at the beginning ofPaul's ministry.
Now what I want to do is I wantto show you a map that shows
(40:58):
you the regions that were knownto contain Christians by the end
of Paul's ministry.
That's pretty significant,isn't it?
Now, obviously, I'm not sayingthat Paul was the only one who
was sharing the gospel duringthat time there were a lot of
people doing but I believe withall my heart, paul had a huge
impact on this map.
The gospel began to go forth.
This was the end of Paul'sministry before he died.
What I want you to notice onthis map is the far west, spain,
(41:22):
and there's no yellow there.
You see, paul's desire was toget to Spain, but he never made
it there.
In fact, he was arrested inJerusalem.
He was taken to Rome, but notquite the way he'd planned.
He was in chains and he nevermade it to Spain, and the end of
his life, spain had never heardthe gospel.
So what does this mean?
(41:43):
Paul?
You're a failure, paul.
You were too idealistic, paul.
You were too idealistic, paul,you.
You gave your life to thispurpose, but there was a lot of
areas you never got to cover.
Why did you even give yourselfto that mission?
(42:04):
Before we say Paul's a failure,though, I want to show you, in
just a second, a map that showsyou the regions that were known
to contain Christians within twocenturies of Paul's death.
Look at this with me.
Within two centuries after hehad died, the gospel had not
(42:25):
only infiltrated Spain, but thatentire part of the world.
And I want to remind you, therewas no TV and there was was no
radio and there was no internet.
It was just men and women whohad the gospel in their hearts
and they proclaimed it withtheir mouths.
They gave their lives to it.
And so the question I have forthe church at Brook Hills this
(42:49):
morning is what kind of impactare you going to have on this
next map?
Ladies and gentlemen, do notunderestimate the power of the
Holy Spirit of God in your lifeand in the life of this church.
When you look at this map, youwill see many blue areas.
(43:10):
Those blue areas, every bluearea, represents at least 100
people, groups who still have noaccess to the gospel.
And I am standing before youthis morning to say I believe
with all my heart that God wantsto use the church at Brook
Hills to infiltrate this map ofthe gospel and he wants to
change the face of this map.
(43:30):
He has commanded us to make thegospel known to all nations.
God, help us to see the need.
They haven't even heard hisname.
There's nothing more important.
This is more important.
God, help us to see that thisis more important than building
(43:50):
a 401k.
This is more important thanbuilding a 401k.
This is more important thanhaving a nice house and driving
a nice car.
It's more important than livinga nice, comfortable life.
I haven't even heard his name,and the question I want to ask
(44:13):
you this morning is are you in?
Students, teenagers, you've gotyour life sitting before you,
your plans, your dreams, yourambitions.
Are you in?
Are you willing to say myentire life is going to be
directed at one passion makingthe gospel known among all
peoples.
Are you in?
Those of you who are sittingwondering, sometimes with your
(44:33):
arms folded, what does thechurch really have for me?
What really can I do a part ofthis church?
Are you going to rise up andsay I want in on this mission?
Wives, husbands, homemakers,businessmen, businesswomen are
you in?
Are you willing to sacrificethe pleasures of this world in
order to say I'm going to makethe gospel known in all nations,
(44:55):
no matter what it costs me andno matter what it costs my
family, grandparents?
Are you in?
Grandparents, are you willingto set up and be a model for us
of what it means to use the lastyears of your life to make the
gospel known in all nations.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's episode of radical with
david platt.
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