What About Those Who Have Never Heard About Jesus? – Part 1A

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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. We share God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory, no one is saved apart from the name of Jesus Christ. And that's why, ladies and gentlemen, we ought to be sharing that message with people.

We share that message not because we hate people with other religions, but because we love them. We don't want them to miss heaven. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. The Bible claims that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. But what about those who've never heard about Jesus?

Wouldn't it be unfair for God to leave them out? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress addresses this common argument against the exclusivity of Christ. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress? Thank you, David, and welcome to this Thursday edition of Pathway to Victory. Just before we get started, I'd like you to stop by our website today, ptv.org, and check out our soon coming Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska. The dates are just around the corner, June 15 through 22.

On Saturday, June 15, we'll depart the beautiful harbor in Vancouver, British Columbia, and head north to see the majestic beauty of the great frontier. I guarantee you'll come back from this vacation spiritually and physically refreshed. We're bringing our own entertainment with Michael O'Brien, Rebecca St. James, and comedian Dennis Swanberg. It's a trip you won't want to miss.

To secure your spot, go to ptv.org. Well, all this month, we've been so encouraged to receive positive feedback from listeners who are responding to our series, Not All Roads Lead to Heaven. And while there's still time, I'm inviting you to request your copy of my brand new devotional by the same title. The subtitle is 100 Daily Readings About Our Only Hope for Eternal Life.

Look, none of us escapes the condescension we often feel from critics and cynics who embrace the woke agenda. But this is no time for us to cower in fear. God has called us to share our Christian faith with boldness and compassion. My new devotional will inspire you to fulfill your calling, and I'd be happy to send you a copy when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

I'll say more about my new devotional later on, but right now, it's time to turn our attention to our study. Today, we're wrestling with the very relevant question, what about those who have never heard about Jesus? Every parent who has ever disciplined a child is familiar with these three words, it's not fair. Now, sometimes that comes from a child when he wants to protest his guilt at all, but when the evidence is too overwhelming to deny his guilt, the child will use that argument to say, well, the punishment being meted out is far too severe for the crime committed.

Whether that punishment is a grounding or a spanking or later on, the confiscation of cell phones or car keys, it's not fair. The it's not fair protest is also the primary objection people have to one of the most basic ingredients of the gospel. And that is the only way to escape hell is through faith in Jesus Christ.

You know, some people, like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar, want to deny that they're guilty at all. But other people will admit, well, I may be slightly flawed, but hell is far too severe a punishment for just a few mistakes here and there or for not believing the right things about Jesus. And when you start addressing those who have never heard about Jesus, well, the it's not fair protest are sounded even much more loudly. Pastor, are you saying that the only way a person can go to heaven is by trusting in Jesus? And therefore, if they have not heard about Jesus, they're going to be confined to an eternity in hell?

It's not fair. I bet you've run across that objection as well. What about those who have never heard about Jesus?

Thirty years ago, the question used to be framed this way. What about the heathen in Africa? For some reason, we used to think all the heathen of the world congregated in Africa.

That's where they were. But today, you don't have to travel halfway around the world to find people who have never heard about Jesus. A member in our church said to me not long ago that she works with a young adult woman here in the Metroplex. That young adult woman had never heard of Adam and Eve, and that person had never heard of Jesus Christ. That's amazing to me that right here, not only in the Bible Belt, but in the buckle of the Bible Belt, Dallas, Texas, you have people who have never heard of Jesus Christ. As our culture becomes increasingly secular, this question about what about those who have never heard about Jesus becomes increasingly relevant, especially when you add the word innocent to the question. What about that innocent young woman in Syria who has never heard about Jesus Christ? Is she condemned to hell for rejecting a gospel she never even heard?

It's not fair. This is such a basic question regarding the exclusivity of Jesus for salvation. In fact, it's the primary argument against that belief. This is so crucial that we're going to take some time and answer this question both this week and next week. For some of you who are listening or watching this program, this is going to be brand new information to you.

For others, it may be a refresher course. But I think it's very vital that those of us who have been charged as Christians with sharing the gospel be able to answer this question. You know, 1 Peter 3.15 says, we ought to be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks us for the hope that is within us. If somebody were to ask you, you believe Jesus is the only way to salvation, what about those who have never heard about Jesus? Would you know how to answer that question in a way somebody could understand? We're going to answer the question about what about those who have never heard the gospel by stating four biblical propositions, four biblical truths that when you add those truths together, answer the question clearly about what happens to those who have never heard about Jesus Christ. Today, we're going to look at the first two of those propositions. Next time, we'll look at the final two. The first basic understanding you have to have to answer this question about those who have never heard the gospel is this.

Write it down. Everyone is guilty before God. In fact, I want you to say that with me out loud. Everyone is guilty before God. Everyone is guilty before God. Now, to the secularist who believes that man is basically good, the idea of anybody going to hell is just preposterous. Okay, not anybody.

Let's send those two shooters from San Bernardino. They deserve to go to hell, we would say, and maybe child rapists deserve to go to hell and drug dealers, but for the majority of people, they don't deserve hell. People are basically good, aren't they? Even if they're not perfect, maybe slightly flawed, basically they're okay, but that is not the starting place of the gospel. The gospel begins by saying everyone is guilty before God. You see, there is no good news of salvation unless you understand the bad news, and that is our guilt before God. Do you remember in our year and a half study of the book of Romans, the Magna Carta of the Christian faith, how Paul, like a prosecuting attorney, spends the first three chapters of Romans declaring mankind's guilt before God? He says the Jew is guilty before God, the Gentile is guilty, the religious person is guilty, the pagan is guilty, and then he closes in Romans 3, 9, and 10 with these words, what then?

Are we better than they? Not at all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, as it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. And then verse 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There's none righteous among us. That word righteous means in a right standing before God. In Romans 3 verses 10 to 12, in those three verses, Paul says no or not even, no or no one, six different times, no one is righteous, not one is righteous, no one is righteous, not one is righteous, no one is righteous, not one is righteous.

Get the message? Nobody is in a right standing before God. You say, why is that true?

How could that be true? Well, the answer to that question, how we all became estranged from God, is found in Romans 5 verse 12. Paul says, therefore, just as through one man, that is Adam, sin entered the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. When Adam sinned, his sin virus was passed on to every man, woman, and boy and girl who has ever lived. And the proof that you and I inherited that sin virus is demonstrated in the fact that we all die physically.

That's what he says. Because death, sin entered into the world through Adam and death came through sin and death spread to all men. The fact that people die is proof that they've inherited the sin virus. Do babies die?

Yes. Babies die, which is proof they've inherited the sin virus. Every one of us has inherited the sin virus. What did we inherit? Well, we inherited from Adam not only Adam's corruption, that is his inclination, propensity to sin, we've also inherited Adam's guilt. You know, a lot of people have trouble with that. They say, no, wait a minute. Are you saying we are held responsible for what Adam did? Absolutely.

There you hear the protest. It's not fair. It's not fair that I would be held guilty for what another person did. That's just not fair, even though you and I, every hour of every day, only confirm Adam's choice, don't we, when we sin against God. But they say, it's just not fair that I would be held guilty for what Adam did. Paul anticipated that argument.

He said, well, if you think that's unfair, let me show you something else. He says in Romans 5 17, for if by the transgression of the one, that is Adam, death reign through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, another one, that is Jesus Christ. Paul said, yes, we're all held guilty because of Adam's sin, but here's something even more unfair, that you and I could be declared righteous before God by what one person, Jesus Christ, did for us.

That is unfair too. Aren't you glad God's unfair in that way, that he credits us with the righteousness of Jesus Christ? That's the essence of the gospel message. Well, since we've already focused in past messages on the origin of sin and the reality of our guilt before God, let's talk about the results of our guilt before God. Because every one of us is guilty before God, every one of us is deserving of the wrath of God. Every one of us deserves the wrath of God. You see, the starting place for answering this question, what about people who've never heard the gospel?

What about this person, this person? The starting point is to realize they're guilty. They're guilty before God. They are guilty before God and therefore they are deserving of the wrath of the punishment of God. You know, today it's very unpopular to talk about the wrath of God. People will applaud you if you talk about the love of God or even the justice of God, but nobody wants to hear about the wrath, the anger of God. It's just politically incorrect, to be frank with you, to talk about the wrath, the punishment of God.

That sounds like something from the Victorian era or the Puritan era. It just doesn't seem relevant today. A few years ago, the Presbyterian Church USA decided to drop from its hymnal a very popular song that we sing in Christ alone, a song by Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend. And they were upset because the song said, and on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. And the denomination thought, that's too severe. We don't want to talk about the wrath of God being satisfied by the blood of Jesus Christ. So they told the songwriters that they wanted to change the words to, and on that cross, as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified. Not the wrath of God was satisfied, but the love of God was magnified. Fortunately, the songwriters were more interested in theological correctness than political correctness, and they refused that request. And so the hymn was thrown out of the hymnal. That's today, though.

People don't want to hear about that. And yet, the wrath of God is a reality. Arthur Pink points out that if you do a study in the concordance, you will find that the wrath of God or the anger of God is mentioned far more than the love of God.

Both are true about God, but you can't strip one attribute away from God just because you don't like it. I mean, throughout scripture, you see the Bible talking about the wrath, the anger of God. For example, in John 3, verse 16, Jesus uttered what became the most popular verse of the New Testament, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son. But did you know in that very same chapter, Jesus also said in John 3, 36, he who believes in the son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Or Romans 1, 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Or Romans 3, 5, but if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? Or in that passage we read just a few moments ago, Ephesians 5, 6, let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the what?

The wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Now what do we mean when we mean the wrath or the anger of God? It's important to know that in the Greek language there are two different words, both of which are translated anger or wrath in the Bible.

The first word is the Greek word thumos, thumos. It's a word that refers to an explosive kind of anger that wells up quickly and also subsides quickly. It's that emotion you feel when somebody cuts you off on the highway or somebody says something to you that just rubs you the wrong way or your mate says something to you that just presses the wrong emotional button inside of you.

Man, you get furious, but hopefully you get over it. That is thumos. It is an anger that arises quickly and dissipates quickly. But the second Greek word for anger or wrath is the word orge, O-R-G-E, and this is a term that is used to refer to the wrath or anger of God.

What does that mean, orge? Leon Morris says it is a strong and settled opposition to all that is evil arising out of God's own nature. It is the holy revulsion of God being against that which is the contradiction of his holiness. You know, when we sin against God, God doesn't flare up and lose his temper and pour out his anger on us and then gets over it in the next hour or two. That's not the wrath or anger of God. Instead, the wrath of God refers to God's settled and building opposition to everything that is unholy. Think of God's wrath as the water that is building up behind a dam and that at one time will break through that dam. That is the anger of God. It is building, it is building, it is building within a couple of hours of the shootings in San Bernardino. The New York Daily News published the headline, God isn't fixing this. And I had several interviewers ask me on Fox the question.

One of them in particular said, what is your response to that? Why isn't God fixing this? Why does God allow evil to go unchecked?

And my answer was very simple. God doesn't work according to our timetable. God will fix this one day, make no mistake about it. But his anger is building and it's building and it's building and one day it is going to be unleashed upon ungodliness.

But sometimes that water that is building behind the dam occasionally it laps over onto the people below before the dam ever bursts. And it's the same thing with the wrath of God. Yes, there is a future day of God's wrath coming that we're going to look at in a moment. But right now we experience God's wrath. We experience the result of his holy revulsion for breaking his laws in our everyday lives.

We experience that individually. Whenever we ignore what God's commands say about our life, we experience the consequences of it. Whether it is broken relationships, divorce, illness, there are natural immediate consequences that come whenever we break God's rules. In Romans 1-18 Paul says, for the wrath of God is revealed.

Not one day will be revealed. It is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. You see, folks, there is a law of sowing and reaping. Whatever a man sows, this will he also reap.

When you break God's laws, there are natural consequences. We feel his wrath. That's not only true for us individually. It's true for us as a nation as well. You know, there's a lot of discussion going on right now in the light of what happened in San Bernardino, of what we should be doing as a nation. There are some who would say, well, what we need are stricter laws.

We need stricter laws. May I remind you, guns don't kill anyone. It is the human heart, the darkened human heart that uses those guns that is the ultimate problem. So whenever we want to talk about violence and terrorism in our country, okay, let's have a discussion about guns.

But let's also have a discussion about enhancing law enforcement and respecting our police instead of castrating them and showing our disrespect for them. And not only that, if we're going to really address the problem of violence in our country, let's address the spiritual component that is present. You know, for the first 160 years of our nation's history, every school child who went to school heard about God. They heard about the reality of God. They memorized his laws.

The New England Primer was a textbook used in many, if not most, schools in this country, and that New England Primer had verses from Scripture about God that every student had to memorize in order to pass. But 160 years, that was our history. But about 60 years ago, we allowed the liberals, the secularists in this country, to engage in a social experiment.

And the experiment was this. Let's expunge any mention of God from the public square, from the schools, from government. Let's expunge any acknowledgment of God and his laws from the public schools. Let's stop prayer. Let's stop Bible reading. Let's stop any Ten Commandment displays.

Let's remove all of those things and see if we can still have a good society, a moral society, without God. Well, guess what? That experiment has been a dismal failure.

It is an absolute failure. No nation can reject God and be blessed by God. Maybe I should explain a couple of references I made today about the shooting in San Bernardino, California. This tragic event occurred just days before I delivered my message. It only reinforces the compelling need to share the gospel of Jesus Christ before it's too late. Along these lines, I've written a brand new devotional that I'd like to send you today. It was inspired by my bestselling book a few years ago and this teaching series called Not All Roads Lead to Heaven.

The devotional contains 100 brief devotional readings. Each one is carefully crafted to boost your confidence in God's loving plan of salvation. And it's designed to help you speak the truth to your friends and family so that everyone has an opportunity to respond to the call of Jesus Christ. By reading my new devotional, you'll accomplish two goals. First, you'll be encouraged to embrace the truth of the gospel with your whole heart. And second, you'll be inspired to be God's representative in our dark and foreboding world. While there's still time, be sure to request your copy of my 100-day devotional, Not All Roads Lead to Heaven. It's yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. In closing, allow me to reinforce my gratitude to anyone who gives generously to Pathway to Victory. God has placed us in a prominent position of influence for the gospel, reaching more listeners and viewers than ever before. And we couldn't accomplish our mission without you. God is using your generosity to pierce the darkness with the light of His word.

David. Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you give a generous gift to Pathway to Victory, be sure to request your copy of the brand new devotional, Not All Roads Lead to Heaven, 100 Daily Readings About Our Only Hope for Eternal Life. Plus, you'll receive the brochure, Christianity, Cults and Religions. To request these resources, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org.

Now, when your gift is $50 or more, you'll also receive an additional resource along with the devotional, the original best-selling book by Dr. Jeffress, Not All Roads Lead to Heaven. To request both of these excellent books, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. You could also write to this address if you'd like, P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.

That's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Join us again next time when Dr. Jeffress returns with part two of his message called, What About Those Who've Never Heard About Jesus? That's Friday, here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.