ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS OUTSIDERS MOST OFTEN ASK US

Part I: Answering The Five Questions Unbelievers Most Often Ask Us

D. Answering The Question About Those Who Never Hear The Gospel

I. Introduction

A. Though many people have many questions about our Christian faith, we have noticed over the years ten questions that people outside of our Church most often ask us, questions 1 Peter 3:15 calls us to answer.

B. Five of the questions come from unbelievers and five from believers, so we answer them in this lesson series, and I am indebted in part to Josh McDowell, A Ready Defense, 1991, p. 405-424 for the format of the lessons.

II. Answering The Question About Those Who Never Hear The Gospel.

A. This question is: "How can Christianity be true and its God just and loving in sending all unbelievers to hell if many never hear the Gospel? How about infants who die without the ability to know and believe the Gospel?"

B. We first answer the question on infants (as follows): 2 Samuel 12:23 notes David said that though his dead infant son would not return to him, he would go to him. David, a believer, went to heaven, so infants and all who are likewise mentally incapable of knowing the Gospel in this life go to heaven at death in God's grace.

C. Second, we answer the question about those who can understand the Gospel, but who have never heard it:

1. In Acts 17:18-27, Paul told the very secular Areopagus of Athens that God was not far from each of them.

2. Then, Jesus taught in John 16:8-11 that the Holy Spirit would convict the lost world of sin, righteousness and judgment, and Revelation 22:17 shows the Holy Spirit apart from the Church, the "bride" of Christ, constantly urges unsaved people to "Come" to Christ's salvation, that He is convicting them about it!

3. Also, Romans 1:18-20 teaches God has revealed His eternal power and Godhead in creation so that no one has an excuse about knowing God exists, and thus should seek after Him as Paul taught in Acts 17:24-27.

4. These verses taken together imply that IF an unbeliever anywhere on earth RESPONDS POSITIVELY to the revelation of God under the Spirit's convicting work, GOD will SURELY GET him the Gospel so he might believe it and be saved! The following testimonials support and illustrate this claim:

a. Raymond J. Davis, an SIM missionary to Africa whom I knew, in his book, The Winds of God (Cedar Grove, New Jersey: SIM International Publications), 1985, p. 3, 54, 59-61, told of Cheleke, a witchdoctor in the Gamu Gofa province of Ethiopia who in the 1920s before the missionaries came, "foretold that one day someone would bring a golden book. The messenger would stand under the wanza tree near Cheleke's house . . . One day in 1951 a stranger arrived in the village. . . [and] was invited to sit with the witchdoctor under the wanza tree . . . [where he gave him the gospel from a CEF wordless book] . . . [As he] turned to the last page, a gold one . . . Cheleke stopped him. 'This is a thing of wonder!' he exclaimed. 'My spirit god told me years ago that a golden book would come to me under this very tree!'" Mr. Davis's book has a number of stories of God's work to prepare people in Ethiopia for the gospel before the missionaries came!

b. The July-August 1989 issue of SIM NOW (Charlotte, North Carolina: SIM USA, Publisher), No. 46, p. 11 provides a written testimony of a Arab from Lebanon who graduated with honors M. A. from the Islamic University of Al Azhar in Cairo with a major in Islamic Law who was appointed preaching sheik in mosques in Beirut, Tripoli and Sidon. This man wrote his testimony (as follows): "When I was serving my religion in its many duties, I honestly believed that I was serving God. But so many difficulties and problems came into my life, I began to think perhaps that was not the way God wanted me to serve Him. I became increasingly dissatisfied, and asked God if this were not the way, would He please show me the right way. After that I kept having a dream in which I was walking along a path that always ended at a church. Every time I had this dream I asked God if it had come from Him. And another thing -- I kept thinking of Christ. The picture of Him on the cross, with blood flowing from His wounds, kept imposing itself on my mind. This was even against my will, because I had been taught that Christ was not crucified. In spite of my continued rejection of Christ, this picture came to my mind more and more, and every time it happened I felt a great happiness . . . I finally decided that I wanted to accept Christ . . ."

Lesson: God's infinite love for the world caused Him to send His Son to die for it that all might be saved (John 3:16). Thus, if people like infants die who are incapable of understanding the Gospel, God graciously takes them to heaven and works to reveal Himself to the rest of the world by the evidences of nature and the Holy Spirit's convicting work. If anyone responds positively to this work of the Spirit, God arranges for him to hear the gospel.

Application: May we believe in Christ to be saved (John 3:16) and defend God's love and justice toward all men.