What About Those Who've Never Heard the Gospel? Will God Condemn Them to Hell, Too?

What about those who've never heard the gospel? Will God condemn them to hell, too?

Now usually the man or woman who asks these questions attaches a mental picture to them.

And that mental picture is oftentimes one of an unknown people group living on an uncharted island somewhere who are afforded no opportunity to hear about Christ due to their isolation.

And the conclusion often drawn by a person presenting this picture is that it would be unfair of God to damn these people since they were never given the chance to be saved in the first place.

Now I guess I could accept this conclusion except for the fact that it portrays the Lord as Someone who is unfair. And that's a false portrayal.

The truth is God is not unfair, but fair. According to the Scriptures the Lord makes perfect judgments. (Psalm 19:9) Therefore, if God were presented with an isolated people group (like the mental picture at hand suggests), I think it's more right to assume that He would treat them in a fair way. Because God can't possibly be unfair. It's not in His nature.

So what you're saying then, Pastor, is that God will send people to hell who haven't heard the gospel? No, I'm not saying that. What I am saying, rather, is that in such a situation God has the ability to make the right determination. And whatever His decision is mankind can trust Him to always be fair. Once again, God can't possibly be unfair. It's not in His nature.

Which brings me to this idea that some people won't be given a chance to hear the gospel. I believe that the Bible tends towards saying just the opposite...

...[T]hat which is known about God is evident [among man]; for God made it evident to [him]. For since the creation of the world [the Lord's] invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made (the creation), so that [all men (and women)] are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20)

Now according to these verses everybody has been given evidence of God through the things He has made. And this evidence of God in His creation ~ the beauty, wonder and intricacy of it ~ renders all people without excuse before Him. Therefore, there's no person alive that can stand before God and say, "You didn't make Your existence apparent to me," because He has to all people. The Scriptures confirm it. (Answer continues -> HERE)

(To read the conclusion of this post, click here.)

What About Those Who've Never Heard the Gospel? Will God Condemn Them to Hell, Too? (conclusion)

It's the Lord's purpose that this evidence of His existence (Romans 1:19-20) be a means of drawing men and women to search after Him. (Acts 17:26-27)

On this path of searching for God (Jeremiah 29:13), the Lord has it set up that His redemption plan in Jesus Christ be discovered. (John 3:16)

And I believe that anyone, no matter who they are and where they live ~ even if it's an unknown people group on an uncharted island somewhere ~ I believe that anyone who truly has a heart searching after God will do just that. He or she will discover the Lord's redemption plan...

The missionary story's told of God moving on a man in an unknown tribe to venture four days to a tavern to get a pencil and tablet. The man kept saying to the Lord, "But I can't write." God said, "That doesn't matter. Do it anyway."

The man finally returned home and the Lord told him to draw. Not being able to draw either, the man did what God said. Eventually his picture was of the Savior on the cross. And the Lord had extraordinarily gotten His redemption plan to a man that was open to Him.

Later, someone came along and led the man to Christ.

If you really want to know who the Lord is and you demonstrate it by searching for Him, He'll make sure you get a chance to. (James 4:8a) I really believe that.

And the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10:1-48 goes further to confirm it.

Cornelius was a man who was very religious. He feared God, prayed to Him continually and often helped others in need. (Acts 10:2)

But that's as far as Cornelius' religion went. For you see, he had yet to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he couldn't believe in Him because he hadn't even heard of Him at that point.

But God saw Cornelius' heart. The Lord saw that it was one truly searching after Him. (Acts 10:4b) So He commanded an angel to visit Cornelius in a vision. (Acts 10:3) And this angel told Cornelius to send for one named Peter (Acts 10:5) because Peter had a message for him to hear.

And Peter's message, in essence, was that God was drawing near to Cornelius because Cornelius was drawing near to God. When Peter finally showed up at Cornelius' house, he shared his message with him. (Acts 10:36-48) Peter told Cornelius about Christ and Cornelius got saved.

So what about those who have never heard the gospel? Will God condemn them to hell, too? Well, the answer is that it's likely that there won't be anyone that hasn't been given a chance to hear. And even if there is, the Lord is fair. People can surely trust Him to make a perfect judgment on whatever case He considers.

(To read the beginning of this post, click here.)