SEARCHING ISSUES: WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO'VE NEVER HEARD?

SEARCHING ISSUES: WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO'VE NEVER HEARD? Genesis 18:25 Romans 2:12-16, 4:4-6 (With acknowledgement and gratitude for these resources: Nicky Gumbel, Searching Issues; Gregory and Edward Boyd, Letters From a Skeptic; Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God?; Hugh Hewitt, The Embarrassed Believer) July 7, 2002 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introductory In his novel, A Painted House, John Grisham describes a Sunday school teacher who is sharing a few words of eulogy at the funeral of man named Jerry Sisco. Jerry was a mean character, who had been killed the night before in a back alley fight after he picked on one person too many. The reader gets some insight through the first person words of the little boy who had seen the fight along with his friend Dewayne: "She made Jerry sound like a Christian, and an innocent victim. I glanced at Dewayne, who had one eye on me. There was something odd about this. As Baptists, we'd been taught from the cradle that the only way you made it to heaven was by believing in Jesus and trying to follow his example in living a clean and moral Christian life… And anyone who did not accept Jesus and live a Christian life simply went to hell. That's where Jerry Sisco was, and we all knew it." We would all agree that it should not be up to us who gets into heaven. God is the only righteous judge. And we know that it is by His grace only that anyone of us sinners on this green earth could ever get there. But sooner or later we find ourselves picking and choosing who deserves and doesn't deserve that grace, don't we? Of course, we know that grace by its very nature is undeserved or it wouldn't be grace. So, who gets this saving grace, anyway? The nicer people? Those who go to church or those who behave themselves (sometimes they're not the same ones, you know)? Those who try to follow Jesus? We know no one is perfect, so is it those who try harder than the others? Do you recognize this line of question? It's the one you hear over and over again from your non-believing, only-slightly-inquisitive neighbor or family member. You know the one who really doesn't want to know the answer, but feels close enough to you to ask anyway, because it's been bugging him? Down deep in his heart he is confused. He knows there is justice out there somewhere, and that a lot of people who say they are sure they are going to heaven seem to him that they don't deserve to go. What are the criteria? That's what people want to ask you, Christians, once they get to know you a little. They want to know-who gets to go to heaven, and how and why? Actress Sophia Loren recently said in an interview: "I'm not a practicant, but I pray. I read the Bible. It's the most beautiful book ever written. I should go to heaven; otherwise it's not nice. I haven't done anything wrong. My conscience is very clean. My soul is as white as those orchids over there, and I should go straight, straight to heaven." The series of study we're in this summer has to do with such questions that non-believers, cynics and genuine seekers all around us have. Studies and surveys have isolated about a dozen genuine questions that are on the minds of people on the outside of Christianity looking in. To one degree or another these questions stand in the way of their decision for or against Christ and Christianity. So the series is an opportunity for us to examine the questions with a view to developing clear answers to the questions which are both biblically sound and understandable to those who are asking. For me, it is pure equipping. Ultimately, we believers would like to win the opportunity to share the gospel in a clear and compelling way with those we know. In order for us to get to that place we must listen carefully to the questions and provide answers that are true and, as much as possible, not "religious-sounding". The first question we dealt with was How can a loving and almighty God allow so much suffering in our world? During two messages in mid-June we dealt with that question. The next most popular question among seekers and cynics in our American culture is the one we dealt with last week and continue today - What about all those people of other faiths? Last week we considered the exclusive claims of Christ over/against the many other teachings on how to know God and be in His favor. The basic conclusion we came to might be summarized in the words of the martyred Russian theologian Alexsander Senn who said that all religions seem to be honest attempts to reach God, but Jesus Christ is the only way. Lee Stroebel, in his great book, The Case for Faith, says the exclusive truth claim of Jesus "is among the biggest obstacles to spiritual seekers today." Today, I would like us to focus on the specific question, If Jesus is the only way to the Father, what about all those of other faiths and other cultures who have never heard about Him? Do they have any hope of getting to heaven? Let me begin with four preliminary points that are fundamentally important: 1. The Bible's teaching is both true and practical. The Bible is not a philosophy book, dealing in religious theories and hypothetical issues. We tend to think in such ways, but when we try to get answers to hypothetical questions from our Bibles we often end up frustrated. Why? Because the Bible is more practical than that. If you wanted to get answers to questions about the nature of energy and how energy is released through the harnessing of synchronized explosions in a combustion engine, you don't go to your Ford Owner's Manual. Similarly, the Bible is not a philosophy book, and is a true and reliable source of instruction for people who want to know how to live out their lives for God. When we come to the Bible we will find clear teaching on how to be saved and reconciled to God the Father through Jesus Christ, but we'll not find a thorough explanation of God's opinion about being sincere but in a wrong religious system. There are inferences which we'll look at but no systematic theology. 2. We can be sure that God will be just. In Genesis 18:25 Abraham asks the rhetorical question: "Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" He clearly expected the answer, "Yes, of course He will; He is the God of all righteousness and justice!" Jeremiah 9:24 reads, "'…I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on the each, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord." We need never doubt that the Lord will be just. He will be more just than we are; He will be more just than anyone in this world's systems, certainly more than the 9th circuit court that had the audacity to declare God unconstitutional! A couple had two boys, 8 and 10, who were always getting into trouble. The parents were certain if any mischief occurred in the community that their two young sons were involved. They were at a loss as to what to do about their behavior. Then the mother heard about a minister who'd been successful in disciplining children, so she brought the boys to him. The minister asked to see the boys individually, and the youngest went first. The clergyman sat the boy down and asked, "Where is God?" The boy made no attempt to answer. The question was repeated in a sterner voice but still no answer. Then the minister shook his finger at the boy and asked in an even sterner voice, "Where is God?" At that the boy ran from the room and into a closet and slammed the door. His older brother followed him in and asked what happened. The younger brother replied, "We're in trouble this time. God is missing, and they think we did it!" 3. Third, we are confident that no one will be saved by religion. People are saved by God's grace-His undeserved love through Jesus Christ and His substitutionary death on the cross. He died so we could be forgiven and reconciled to God. It simply does not depend on our doing enough for earn salvation-it only depends on whether we will trust His provision for us, just like He told us to. Jesus said, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (webmasters note: Matthew 7:13-14) In our fallen, religious thinking, we tend to see the narrow road and narrow gate as very strict and perfect obedience to a very long list of rules and expectations. But the narrow gate is not perfect behavior (no one measures up to that!). The narrow gate is Jesus! Only a few find it, because most folks can't believe that God would do such a thing for them! Being in favor with God is not a matter of what we do-it is what Christ has done for us! He has opened a way to the Father for anyone and everyone who will trust Him. 4. Fourth, since the gospel is based on grace activated through faith, there is biblical ground for optimism. Did you know that there are some people who did not know Jesus Christ personally or consciously, but who were nevertheless saved? Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses… Even some non-Israelites-Noah, Job, Melchizedek, even Rahab the Canaanite prostitute is in the "saved by faith" list in Hebrews 11. Romans 4:3 - "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." The sacrifice of Christ embraces more than just those who consciously embrace Him. If people of the Old Covenant, and even others not included under the Israelite covenant, could be made right with God through their faith in God, then how do we reconcile this with Jesus exclusive claim, "I am the way the truth and the life. No man can come to the Father except by me." (John 14:6)? For those who lived and died not ever having seen or heard or accepted Christ, God saw their faith in Him and, by His grace, applied the saving blood of Christ to them because of their faith. Hebrews 11:13 says, "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance." Then, in verses 39-40 - "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." Study in Romans 1-3 Let's look at the book of Romans for a minute. In chapter 1, the apostle Paul says that people can know God, at least to a limited degree, through CREATION. Verses 18-20 - "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Dr. John Medina, genetic engineer at the University of Washington: "The average human heart pumps over 1,000 gallons a day, over 55 million gallons in a lifetime. This is enough to fill 13 super tankers. It never sleeps, beating 2.5 billion times in a lifetime. The lungs contain 1,000 miles of capillaries. The process of exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide is so complicated that "it is more difficult to exchange O2 for CO2 than for a man shot out of a cannon to carve the Lord's Prayer on the head of a pin as he passes by." DNA contains about 2,000 genes per chromosome-1.8 meters of DNA are folded into each cell nucleus. A nucleus is 6 microns long. This is like putting 30 miles of fishing line into a cherry pit. And it isn't simply stuffed in. It is folded in. If folded one way, the cell becomes a skin cell. If another way, a liver cell, and so forth. To write out the information in one cell would take 300 volumes, each volume 500 pages thick. The human body contains enough DNA that, if stretched out, it would circle the sun 260 times. The body uses energy efficiently. If an average adult rides a bike for 1 hour at 10 mph, it uses the amount of energy contained in 3 ounces of carbohydrate. If a car were this efficient with gasoline, it would get 900 miles to the gallon." Elizabeth Barrett Browning said, "Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees takes off his shoes-The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries." A chance of 1 out of 1,000,000,000,000,000 (quadrillion, 10 with 14 zeros) is considered a virtual impossibility. But when DNA co-discoverer Francis Crick calculated the possibility of a simple protein sequence of 200 amino-acids (much simpler than a DNA molecule) originating spontaneously, his figure was 10 with 26 zeroes after it. Those who remember one fad of the past will appreciate British scientist Fred Hoyle's view of the odds against evolved life. "Anyone acquainted with the Rubik's cube," he wrote, "will concede the impossibility of a solution being obtained by a blind person moving the cube faces at random." Mr. Hoyle's best-known analogy, however, has a tornado in a junkyard taking all the pieces of metal lying there and turning them into a Boeing 747. It might be possible for two pieces to be naturally welded together, and then two pieces more in a later whirlwind, but production of even a simple organic molecule would require all of the pieces to come together at one time. The initial act of eliminating our Creator God from our thinking is so immoral and unethical in itself as to render the concern with ethical fine points quite absurd. It's as if students were to murder the teacher and then sit down to have serious discussions about proper manners in the classroom. People don't go to hell by accident. Somewhere along the line, they deliberately refuse to acknowledge what they know of God, and they choose to not glorify God, nor thank Him, but they turn to worshiping things that were created instead of the Creator. So, the CREATION is one way that God reveals Himself to human beings. The refusal to acknowledge Him is the opposite of faith. But there is another way He is revealed to human beings. Look at Romans 2:14-15. Here Paul is making the point that people who know the Law and do not obey it, sin. But, he says, those who do not have the Law in written form before their eyes will also be judged by the same Law! How can this be? Well, verses 14 and 15 are inserted as a parenthesis to explain. "Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thought now accusing, now even defending them." God's nature is not only revealed through CREATION, His law is also revealed in man's CONSCIENCE. The point is that everyone can know God to one degree or another. And God judges people according to their hearts according to the light of truth which they did have to respond to, and according to the faith which was (or was not) implicit in their hearts. People don't go to hell by accident. What about very young children who die? What about retarded persons whose mental capacity prevents them from knowing about Jesus and His offer of salvation by grace through faith? How about those in lands and cultures that have not yet been reached with the gospel? If they die without hearing about Christ, they will be judged according to the light of truth that they did have. Conclusion So, what do we say? Do all non-Christians go to hell? We can only say with certainty that everyone without Christ remains in his sins and is therefore subject to the judgment of damnation. We may also say with certainty that everyone outside of the Christian faith is in danger. We must take seriously Jesus' statement that He is the only way to the Father. Thirdly, we may also say with certainty that those who have explicit faith in Jesus Christ will be saved. Concerning all others who have faith in God however they define God, are in the hands of God. He alone is perfectly just and He alone is perfectly merciful-and I am glad I am not in charge of deciding the eternal fate of people. Imagine yourself turning on the TV and tuning into a courtroom trial. In your living room, you can see only what the camera shows you. You don't hear all the testimony. You don't get to question the witnesses. You don't get to see all the evidence. You don't hear the instructions to the jury. You're not privy to the conversations between the lawyers and the judge. When the jury comes in with its verdict and the sentence is passed by the judge, how adequately can you assess whether justice has been done? We would not be able to know what justice required and whether justice was upheld if we are lacking information. How then can we sit in judgment on God's justice? We don't have all the information necessary to judge whether God has been just. The final certainty is this: those who consciously reject Christ have no hope, no matter what religion or other expression of their faith is. John 3:18 - "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." We can say with confidence that those who have heard the gospel are responsible before God for that level of truth. If they accept Christ they will be forgiven and reconciled to God with heaven as their hope. They will be given God's Spirit until that day and may enjoy every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. But if they reject that certain truth and do not trust Christ, they are condemned. "How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?" (Hebrews 2:3) Lastly, our job as His Church is to tell people the Good News offer Jesus died to give them. If the early Christians had not been willing to tell the Good News to those who already had a religion of their own, Christianity would have died in one generation. If there is anything clear in the New Testament it is Jesus' desire that His followers share the gospel with every person in every nation, in every culture, under every religious banner that He is the way, the truth and the life. We must share it as clearly and compellingly as we can, under the leading and power of His Spirit. How do we do that? 1. Be humble and sensitive. We Christians are no better than any other sinner in the world. We're all in the same boat. We all need a Savior. So there is no room for arrogance. 1 Peter 3:15-16 - "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." Be respectful of non-Christians. They are made in the image of God, and no matter how that image may be tarnished, God loves them and Jesus died for them, just like He died for you! 2. Be positive. In Acts 4, Peter did not attack other faiths. He simply preached the good news about Jesus, and his punch line was pure truth: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (vs. 12) Our job is not to win anyone by or persuasion, but to present the unadulterated message of salvation by grace through faith. A drunken man got on a bus late one night, staggered up the aisle, and sat next to an elderly woman who was clutching a Bible. She looked the wayward drunk up and down and said, "I've got news for you, mister. You're going straight to hell!" The man jumped up out of his seat and shouted, "Oh man, I'm on the wrong bus again!" 3. Be courageous. We are called to be unashamed witnesses for Christ. We have two millennia of example behind us-men and women across the centuries who were not perfect spokesmen for Christ, but who unashamedly shared the gospel. Their message was usually unpopular, but they didn't stop. Tolerance is the new god of the age, and it's easy to give up hope in a gospel that insists there is only one way. Remember, the pluralism of today is similar to the pluralism of first century Rome. And, as Michael Green says, "Far from closing our options, pluralism allows us to proclaim an undiluted gospel in the public square and in the supermarket of faiths, allowing others the same right. Let the truth prevail and let craven silence be banished." In one way the non-Christians are right-the claims of Christ are outrageous. But they happen to be what G. K. Chesterton called "the wild truth" (idea - the 9/11 debacle seemed ridiculous on 9/10)   [Back to Top]