Lesson 7: Are The Heathen Really Lost?

A. 4 QUESTIONS RAISED BY CRITICS

1. Universalism. DOESN’T THE BIBLE TEACH SOME FROM EVERY TRIBE WILL GO TO HEAVEN?

a. All tribes in Heaven. “They sung a new song . . . Thou was slain, and hast redeemed us . . . out of every kindred and tongue, and people, and nation” (Rev. 5:9; 7:9).

b. Many saved. “Many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down . . . in the kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 8:11).

c. All earth. “His elect from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:31).

d. ANSWER: yes, some will be from every tribe. We must reach every tribe. Not from every generation of every tribe. “This gospel . . . will be preached in all the world, then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14).

2. Inclusive. DOESN’T GOD WANT ALL SAVED?

a. God’s purpose. “God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved” (1 Tim. 2:5).

b. God is good. “The Lord is good to all” (Ps. 145:4).

c. God wants all to seek Him. “That they should seek the Lord . . . and find him” (Acts 17:27).

d. ANSWER: Because God loves all doesn’t mean all are saved. Illustration of lost in hell, “In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment” (Luke 16:23). Human responsibility to repent. “God commands . . . all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:34).

3. WILL GOD GIVE THEM A SECOND CHANCE AFTER DEATH?

a. The urgency to make decisions in this life (Prov. 24:1; Jn. 8:24; Heb. 3:7ff; 2 Pet. 3:9).

b. Immediate punishment. “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27).

c. Immediately go to Heaven or hell because of decision made in life (Lu. 16:22-23; 2 Cor. 3:8).

d. Belief in “second chance” undermines the foreign missions mandate.

4. WON’T GOD SAVE EVERYONE WHO HAS NEVER HEARD OF JESUS? The popular belief God won’t send a person to hell because they never heard. If those who have never heard the gospel will be saved anyway, keep silent. If we never tell, they will never reject or be lost.

B. 4 QUESTIONS RAISED BY BIBLE BELIEVERS

1. AREN’T WE DESCRIBING HEATHEN PEOPLE WHO ARE SINFUL, REBELLIOUS AND CONDEMNED ALREADY TO HELL?

a. By birth. “In sin my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51:50).

b. None righteous. “Both Jews and Greeks . . . are all under sin . . . there is none righteous, no not one” (Rom. 3:9-10).

c. All included. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:10).

d. All punished. “Death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12).

2. DOESN’T THE BIBLE TEACH EXCLUSIVE SALVATION IN JESUS?

a. Inclusive. “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one cometh to the Father except by Me” (John 14:6).

b. Exclusive. “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name . . . whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

3. HASN’T GOD REVEALED HIMSELF TO ALL PEOPLE, MAKING THEM WITHOUT EXCUSE?

a. Inner knowledge. “God shows His anger . . . against all sinful wicked people who push the truth away . . . for the truth of God is known to them instinctively, God has put this TRUTH in their hearts” (Rom. 1:14, LB).

b. From creation. “Since the earliest time, men have seen the earth and the sky and all God made, and have known of His existence and great eternal power” (Rom. 1:20, LB).

c. God punishes the heathen for knowing Him and rejecting Him, not for not knowing and rejecting the gospel.

d. When a heathen rejects God, there is no further obligation by God to do anything more for him.

e. No second chances. “When they gave up God . . . God gave them up” (Rom. 1:28, LB).

What Missionaries Know

• Heathen know there is a God.

• No atheists among them.

• They believe in type of god and worship system.

• They know they have sinned.

• They seem afraid of God’s punishment.

4. DID THE HEATHEN OBEY THEIR GOD–GIVEN CONSCIENCE?

a. God knows them inwardly. “From Heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind . . . considers everything they do” (Ps. 33:13, 15).

b. God will punish. “He will punish sin wherever it is found. He will punish the heathen when they sin, even though they never had God’s written laws for down in their hearts they know right from wrong . . . their conscience accuses them” (Rom. 2:15, LB).

c. Unbelief condemns them. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).