Today on Renewing Your Mind... In our last program, I talked about the importance of obeying the biblical mandate to give an answer to everyone who asks us and give a defense for the hope that lies within us. And I mentioned an exercise that I was engaged with with the people from the Evangelism Explosion organization in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where these people collated a list of the most frequent questions or objections that they encountered with people in the context of evangelism.
And they reduced that number to ten, and I wrote this book called Reason to Believe in response to that survey to give them some help in providing information for people who were involved in this task of evangelism. And I said that what we were going to do now is look at some of those most commonly raised questions or objections about Christianity. And today I want to start with a question that I get more often than any other question, which may seem a bit strange to you, but the one I hear again and again is this question, what happens to the poor, innocent native in Africa or Australia or South America or wherever who has never, ever heard of Jesus Christ? It's amazing how often that question comes.
I teach seminary, and frequently the question comes out of the lips of seminary students who are bothered by this question. And I sometimes, when I hear it, I think, oh, I've heard that question so many, many times. I'm getting tired of answering it. And then I check myself in mid-thought and I say, yes, but I remember the first time I raised that question.
It bothered me. It's an obvious question, isn't it? I mean, if we have any concern for people, if we have any compassion for people, we must ask the question, what happens to people who have never, ever had the opportunity to hear about Christ? And so this is not just an idle question. It's an important question. But usually the way it's phrased is, what happens to the poor, innocent native in Africa who has never heard of Christ? Well, when I hear the question phrased in that manner, I have two answers for it, one of which is kind of a trick answer designed to stimulate deeper thought, and the other answer is a more serious or more sober answer. Then I'll give you both.
I'll give you the first answer first. When people say to me, R.C., what happens to the poor, innocent native in Africa who has never heard of Christ? I said nothing happens to the poor, innocent native in Africa. The poor, innocent native in Africa doesn't have a thing to worry about. The poor, innocent native of Africa, when he dies, goes directly to heaven. He doesn't pass go.
He doesn't collect his $200. He has a free ride for eternal life, and people look at me in stark astonishment and sometimes in anger and say, how can you say such a thing? Doesn't the Bible command the church to go into every nation, into every tongue, into every tribe, and to preach the gospel to every living creature? Doesn't the Bible teach plainly that everybody needs to hear the gospel?
How can you stand there and say that the poor, innocent native in Africa doesn't need to hear the gospel, doesn't need Jesus? I say, well, I said it was a trick answer, and it's an answer to a complex question. Do you know what a complex question is? It's the kind of question tricky attorneys ask in the courtroom. You know, the attorney that asks the defendant, when did you stop beating your wife? If the defendant says, last week, he's virtually confessed to previously beating his wife. And if he says, never, that means he's still beating his wife.
However he answers the question, he convicts himself of wife beating. And that's what we call a complex question that's kind of a loaded question that makes assumptions that are not spelled out. Well, when the question, what happens to the innocent native in Africa who has never heard the gospel is raised in that manner, it has this kind of subtle assumption that I'm trying to challenge.
What's the assumption? The assumption that there are innocent natives in Africa. What I'm trying to say to people is innocent people in Africa, in South America, in Australia, in Russia, I don't care where they live, as long as they're innocent, they don't need Jesus. Innocent people don't need a savior. Innocent people don't need an atonement. Innocent people have nothing to worry about.
But what's the big question here? Are there any innocent people in Africa, Australia, New Zealand, or anywhere else? According to the Bible, there are no innocent people. There aren't any innocent people in Africa.
There aren't any innocent people in America. The whole world has been brought before the tribunal of God and determined to be guilty. Somebody counted once, and I don't know who in the world does this sort of thing, but somebody counted once that in a single Billy Graham evangelistic sermon, he quoted the same verse of Scripture 56 times.
I can't imagine that. But what was the verse? One of Billy's favorites, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If the New Testament teaches anything, it teaches the universality of human sin.
So the first thing, if we're going to answer this objection, is to get it clear that there's no such thing as an innocent native anywhere. But again, the protest may come forth and say, well, okay, maybe the people in Africa who have never heard of Jesus are sinners. They may be guilty of all kinds of things, but one sin they're certainly not guilty of is the sin of rejecting Jesus. And I say, you're absolutely right. They're certainly not guilty of rejecting Jesus if they've never heard of Jesus. How can anybody ever be called guilty of rejecting something that they've never been offered? They say, well, you mean they don't have to worry about the judgment of God because they've never rejected Christ, and the people breathe this deep sigh of relief.
I say, that's right. They don't have to worry ever about God's judging them negatively or punitively for rejecting Jesus of whom they've never heard. The only judgment that will come from God at that point will be on the church who's responsible for the fact that these people haven't heard of Jesus because we've been commanded to make sure that they hear of Jesus. We're the ones that are going to be held accountable for that, not the person who has never heard of Jesus.
But what frightens me is this sigh of relief. I say to these people, why are you relieved to hear that God will not judge these people for rejecting Jesus? And when we probe that, usually what I get is this, that people make the assumption that the only thing that would really get a person in deep weeds and serious trouble at the last judgment is the rejection of Christ. And since these people won't be in trouble for rejecting Christ because they've never heard of Christ, they breathe a sigh of relief saying, oh, our friends then will get this get out of jail free card. They won't have to pass go, and they'll go straight to heaven as if they were innocent.
And then I raise this question. Suppose, however, these same people who have never heard a single word about Jesus, who have no earthly idea whatsoever about the second person of the Trinity in terms of His earthly incarnation, what if those same people have rejected God the Father? You see, the only sin for which we are deemed guilty is not the sin of rejecting God the Son. If we also likewise reject God the Father, we are immediately exposed to His judgment. And the thing we have to understand, dear friends, is that Christ came into a world that was already guilty, not for rejecting Him of whom they did not know, but for rejecting the Father who sent Him. But again, you see the puzzlement and bewilderment in the eyes of people who hear me say that, and they say, but wait a minute, what about those poor people who live in those animistic countries where they're born and raised in the midst of idolatrous religion or different religions that obscure the character of God?
How can they be held accountable before God for rejecting the Father when they don't know anything about the Father either? I say, well now it's important for us to be able to give a biblical answer to that question because one of the clearest teachings of the New Testament is this, that God the Father has revealed Himself plainly and clearly to every human being who is alive on this planet. There may be lots of places in this world where the church is not present. There may be lots of places in the world where the Bible has never been published.
There may be many remote places in this world where the missionary activity of the Christian community has never penetrated, but there is no place on this planet where God has left Himself without a witness. The psalmist tells us, for example, that the heavens declare the glory of God and the permanent shows forth His handiwork. And there is no place on this planet where the heavens are totally invisible and the permanent is not made manifest. But you say, well what about the person who's blind?
They can't see the sky. They can't see the visible manifestations of God. Well, the Apostle Paul makes it plain in the New Testament that not only has God revealed Himself externally through creation, but also that He has planted within the soul of every human being a knowledge of Himself, that He has planted His law within us, and that in every human nature there is an immediate, inherent understanding, as vague as it may be, of the character of Almighty God. Now the place where this is most plainly taught in the Bible is in the first chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans. Paul says in the 18th verse of this chapter, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
Let me just comment on that briefly. I know that when the Bible speaks about the wrath of God, people get nervous, people get uncomfortable. Somehow people think it's beneath the dignity of God to become angry. They say, isn't anger a sin? Well, we understand there is such a thing as righteous indignation, and that the reality of God's wrath is an appropriate response to evil. Why shouldn't God be angry with evil?
God understands better than you do and better than I do how destructive sin is. And we also notice that the target of His wrath, of which Paul is speaking here, is not innocence. The wrath of God is never revealed against righteousness. It's not revealed against godliness, and it's not revealed against innocence. What Paul is saying here is that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against what?
Against ungodliness and unrighteousness. Now without getting into the technicalities here of the syntax of this text, I am persuaded that what Paul is talking about here is that he's not saying that God is just angry about all kinds of ungodliness and all kinds of unrighteousness, but there's one specific particular sin that the apostle has in view here. And it's a sin that can be described both as an action that is unrighteous, but it's also ungodly. It's a sin that is particularly related to our response to God.
What is it? He says this wrath is revealed against ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. God's anger is directed against mankind for the suppression of truth, for taking the truth and putting it in jail, incarcerating for stifling it, for hindering it, for holding it down. But it's not just that God is angry because of how we handle truth in general.
But again, it's more specific than that. There is a specific truth that human beings willfully and universally in our fallen condition, by our nature, repress and suppress. And that truth is the truth about God himself. He says in verse 19 of Romans 1, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
Look at that carefully. Do you hear what Paul is saying? Paul is not saying that God has planted obscure, hidden, esoteric clues in remote corners of the universe that only the most brilliant, the most erudite, the most investigative type person may, per adventure, Paul is saying here that God reveals himself plainly, clearly, manifestly. The Greek word there is phanaeros, the Latin term is manifestum, that God's revelation of himself to the world is crystal clear. It's plain.
It's manifest. God himself has shown it to them. And as the text goes on to say that man understands, it is clearly perceived by us. What Paul is saying is that every human being knows that God exists and that we know something of his eternal majesty, his power, his deity, his Godhead. And that truth we reject. And that that revelation is not something that happened in the 16th century or in the 1st century or in the 10th century B.C., but it's an ongoing self-disclosure of God that is built into the creation and has been going on through the things that are made through the created order from day one up until now.
And every single human being alive in Africa, in Asia, in Australia, in North America, in South America, anywhere in the world does the same thing. They suppress the revelation of God. And the conclusion the apostle comes to is, therefore they are without excuse.
Now in the minute or so that I have left, let me ask you to ask yourself this question. What excuse do you think people are depending upon to exonerate them from the last judgment of God? The excuse everyone is hoping for is the excuse that is claimed by the agnostic who says there's insufficient evidence, insufficient data, insufficient information about which to make an intelligent judgment.
The excuse we're all hoping for is the excuse of ignorance. At the last day, people are going to want to say, oh God, if only I had more knowledge, if only I had more information, if only you would have made your revelation more clear, I not only would have embraced you, I would have believed you, I would have been your faithful disciple, I would have obeyed you all my life. Paul said that excuse is ripped away because the assertion here that's dramatic is that the apostle is saying God exists and you know it. He has made it absolutely plain, and you have rejected Him and turned from Him to idolatry, and that the fact that you're religious does not ameliorate your guilt.
It intensifies it because it's a false religion, and you're not worshiping God as you ought. And so he brings the whole world before the tribunal of God. So what happens to the person who has never heard of Christ? That person is not going to be judged for the knowledge he doesn't have.
He will be judged perfectly by God strictly on the basis of the light that he does have. That gives me no comfort whatsoever because that person needs desperately to hear the light of the gospel, which is the hope of those who have already rejected the Father. Well, that's such a critical message for us today, isn't it? Everyone without Christ is lost. That increases our urgency to bring the gospel to our dying world. We're glad you've joined us today for Renewing Your Mind. All this week, we're making our way through portions of Dr. R.C.
's Sproul series, Objections Answered. In eight lessons, R.C. answers questions like, Why is Christ the only way?
Does God exist? And today's question, What about the innocent native? But in addition, we want to help you learn how to defend your faith in a comprehensive way. That's why we're also including Dr. Sproul's 32-part series on apologetics called Defending Your Faith. Receive a digital download of both series when you contact us today with a donation of any amount. Our offices are closed this week for the Thanksgiving holiday, so we're not answering the phone, but you can give your gift and make your request online when you go to renewingyourmind.org. Let me also recommend that you take a look at our free app. Under the Collections tab, you'll find literally hundreds of resources for the new Christian and for those who are exploring Christianity for the first time.
You'll find the app by searching for Ligonier in your favorite app store. And again, contact us today with a donation of any amount, and we'll be happy to send you Dr. Sproul's objections answered and Defending Your Faith. Again, this is an online offer only, so contact us at renewingyourmind.org. Before we go today, here's R.C. with a final thought for us. In our quorum deo thought for the day, let me remind you if you struggle with this difficult time, if you care about a lost humanity who doesn't know Christ, let me remind you if you are a Christian that you weren't born a Christian. You were born with the same propensity towards suppressing the truth of God's revelation that everybody else in the world has. And the only reason that you have come to faith is through the grace of God that has placed you in the circumstances where you could hear the good news of the Redeemer that God sent into this world, because Christ came into a world that had already been judged guilty. And I say to you, dear friend, if you really care about those people who have never heard of Christ, that you do something about it, that you make sure that they do, and let us no longer rest on the false assumption that everyone in the world is innocent and don't need Christ. God didn't rest on that. Christ didn't rest on that, and He does not allow us to rest on that. When we do share the truth of the gospel with others, it's important to talk about the exclusive nature of Christ. That's controversial with so many people, and it's viewed as arrogant. Tomorrow on the program, Dr. Sproul will answer the question, Why Is Christ the Only Way? Join us Tuesday for Renewing Your Mind. .
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