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Destiny of the Unevangelized and the nature of hell
September 2, 2006
Reading through the Bible in one Year: Psalm 78:1-87:7; Romans
15:22-1 Corinthians 1:16
Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,
I have to do a paper for school on the topic above.
Since it is a rather heated topic I thought it might be fun to do it
on this Bible study. It will be interesting to hear your
comments on it.
Matthew 28:19-20
19 “Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching
them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age.”
Mark 16:15-16
15 And
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel
to all creation.
16 “He
who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who
has disbelieved shall be condemned.
Acts 1:8
8 but
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and
you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
NASB95[1]
Jesus established the great commission in Acts, and the
Gospels that instruct us to evangelize the world. Why is this
important? Many beleive that God has placed in each person a
wiggle or a thought that directs them toward God.
We have two different types of un-evangelized people.
First, we have those who have never heard at all. These people
are the ones who have never been exposed to the Gospel in any form.
The second set of people is those who have been exposed to knowledge
of God in some way, and they do not see a reason to follow
God. This may be because they have not been shown how to apply the
knowledge to their lives. In America, it would be extremely
hard to find someone who has never been exposed to the Gospel in any
form. With mass media, the gospel has been effectively exposed
to every person. There are probably those who do not speak
English who have never been exposed to the Gospel.
One problem that people raise when they want to argue about
salvation is people will ask about the ignorant native that lives in
the back woods of Africa. What is the answer to that one?
Who is exposed in that situation?
Romans 1:18-22
Unbelief and Its Consequences
18 For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because
that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made
it evident to them.
20 For
since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His
eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being
understood through what has been made, so that they are without
excuse.
21 For
even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give
thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their
foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing
to be wise, they became fools,
1 Corinthians 1:20-24
20 Where
is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this
age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For
since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not
come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness
of the message preached to save those who believe.
22 For
indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;
23 but
we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to
Gentiles foolishness,
24 but
to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power
of God and the wisdom of God.
Jeremiah 5:21-22
21 ‘Now
hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
Who have eyes but do not see;
Who have ears but do not hear.
22 ‘Do
you not fear Me?’ declares the Lord.
‘Do you not tremble in My presence?
For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the
sea,
An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it.
Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.
NASB95[2]
One problem that we face is that people will say that this is
a Christian concept and that there are many ways to God. It is
interesting that in Romans Paul indicates that no one is excepted
from sin and all people in all the world are all accountable to God.
Ro 3:9-23; Galatians 3:28-29, Let's argue backwards for a bit.
If everyone started out as Jew, Greek, slave , free man, male, or
female, then that pretty much covers the entire human race.
Everyone is found to be sinners and everyone is found to be in need
of Jesus as savior.
Matthew 4:8-10
8 Again,
the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the
kingdoms of the world and their glory;
9 and
he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down
and worship me.”
10 Then
Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall
worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’ ”
NASB95[3]
The story of the temptation of Jesus give us an indication of
the lost state of the entire world. Satan knew that he owned
the souls of man, and that these souls were bargaining chips which
he had within his power to deal with. Jesus simply had to
worship Satan and then He would have the easy way out.
I am going to close here, we will continue the study for a few
more days. All comments are welcomed.
Father, as we consider Your Word today, open our eyes so that
we undersand and apply the Scriptures to our lives accurately.
In Him,
Joe Turner.
[1] [2]
[3] New American Standard Bible : 1995
update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
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Destiny of
the Unevangelized and the nature of hell
September 3, 2006
Reading through the Bible in one Year: Psalm 88:1-89:52; 1
Corinthians 1:14-2:5
Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,
Un-evangelized are by definition those who have never been
exposed to or never accepted the truth of the Gospel. In a
pure definition of the word it would mean those who have never heard
the Gospel at all.
Genesis 1:26-27
26 Then
God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the
sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God
created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.
NASB95
[1]To
understand the destiny of the unevangelized, it is important to
understand the creation or the beginning of the unevangelized.
All men were created in the image of Adam, who was created in the
image of God. Evolutionists tell us that man is created in the
image of an ape and somehow we managed to become human.
Evolutionists have yet to show the missing link that establishes
this, probably because it does not exist. God said He formed
man out of the dust of the earth.
Genesis 2:15
15 Then
the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden
of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
Colossians 3:9-10
9 Do
not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its
evil practices,
10 and
have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge
according to the image of the One who created him—
Ephesians 4:23-24
23 and
that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and
put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been
created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
NASB95[2]
As created beings, all men are formed to serve, praise and
worship God, (Gen 2:15). Adam sinned against God, and as a
result of that sin, all men died spiritually. In other words all
men fell out of fellowship with God because of the sin, (they still
have a spirit, but it was out of fellowship with God). Man was
originally created to live forever, and as a direct result of the
fall, now died physically. The problem that we face when
we say that man is dead spiritually is that it is misconstrued to
mean that man's spirit is totally dead, which could be said to mean
that man does not have a spirit. Obviously this is a fallacy
in reasoning. Scripture tells us that once man accepts
the blood of Jesus that He is restored in fellowship with the Lord,
and put's on a new self that is "renewed", (Col 3:9-10, Eph
4:23-24). He also becomes a "new creation" meaning that he is
something totally different than he was before. If that is the
case, man was created or intended to be in fellowship with God.
Galatians 5:19-25
19 Now
the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity,
sensuality,
20 idolatry,
sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes,
dissensions, factions,
21 envying,
drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn
you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such
things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness,
self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 Now
those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its
passions and desires.
25 If
we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
1 John 2:15-17
Do Not Love the World
15 Do
not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the
eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is
from the world.
17 The
world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who
does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 4:4-6
4 You
are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because
greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
5 They
are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world,
and the world listens to them.
6 We
are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God
does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the
spirit of error.
1 John 5:10-12
10 The
one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the
one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not
believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.
11 And
the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this
life is in His Son.
12 He
who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God
does not have the life. NASB95[3]
Since man was created in the image and likeness of God, man
was created a passionate being (Gal 5:19-25). He was created
to desire to do things. The desire of man intentionally should be
pointed toward God. However, man in his natural state without
being restored to fellowship with God will use the passionate side
of his nature to follow the lust of the flesh and the pride of life
(1 John 2:15-17). There is a difference between those who
follow God and those who follow the natural desires of their flesh,
1 John 4:4-6). Those who accept Christ work on the cross are
admitted into heaven, those who do not, or un-regenerate men are not
accepted into heaven, (1 John 5:10-12).
Matthew 25:41
41 “Then
He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed
ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil
and his angels;
NASB95[4]
Various cults teach that an un-regenerate man will cease to
exist, or be incinerated in hell when they die. Jesus clearly
teaches that an un-regenerate man will face eternal judgment that
was intended for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41). These
men are the ones who have been exposed to the truth, but refused to
apply it to their lives. Jesus never gave an option for men
who had never heard the Gospel at all, it is assumed that all men
will respond to God.
I am going to close here, the clock caught up with me, more
tomorrow. All comments are welcomed.
Father, as we consider Your word today, open our eyes to how
it applies to our lives.
In Him,
Joe Turner.
[1] [2]
[3] [4] New
American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The
Lockman Foundation. |
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Destiny of the Unevangelized and the
nature of hell
September 5, 2006
Reading through the Bible in one Year: Psalm 90:1-98:9; 1
Corinthians 2:6-4:6
Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,
A note: I am going to deviate from the practice of
attaching comments at the bottom of the study during this discussion
because we can continue the discussion in the context of the study
better.
The continuing study is in refeence to the ones who are
unevangelized. Consider this, what about the one who has never
heard the Gospel at all? Erik Krag wrote in and made some good
comments on this:
Will all men respond positively to God, those who have not
heard the gospel? Perhaps I misunderstood what you were saying.
Please note Romans 3:10-12, especially verse 11: "...There is none
who seek for God..."
I appreciate Eriks comments because they answer questions that
I raised in the previous study. There is none who seek after
God. That raises a problem because we like to think that we
seek after God. Here is the problem as I see it, we are faced
with a free will position versus a predestined position. To
bring back the argument that has been made previously, dead men
can't make live man decisions. In other words, the dead man
who is dead spiritually does not desire the things of God in any way
whatsoever. We discussed this in a study a few days ago, are
spiritually dead men truly spiritually dead, or are they spiritually
dead in their relationship with God? In other words, aren't
spiritually dead men still technically "alive" spiritually since
they still have a spirit? This spirit will go on to exist in
hell if it is not regenerated in Christ. If it is regenerated
and the out of relationship condition cured when Jesus' blood is
accepted, then the man is alive spiritually, indicating that He is
now a partaker of Christ' life, eternal life and will live forever
in fellowship with God.
One of the things that people wrestle with is those who have
never heard the Gospel at all. Consider for example the native
that lives in the jungle that is beyond the reach of the missionary.
A missionary reaches out to them eventually, and a church is built.
What happened to the natives that never heard the Gospel? Paul
tells us that those who never heard the Gospel receive a witness
through nature to such an extent that those who have never heard are
without excuse before God.
Romans 1:18-20
Unbelief and Its Consequences
18 For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because
that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made
it evident to them.
20 For
since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His
eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being
understood through what has been made, so that they are without
excuse.
NASB95[1]
Consider this reasoning for a moment. At the time of the
flood God saved eight people from the flood. They were the new
parents of the entire race of humans. Life went on post flood
and people all spoke one language, until the tower of Babel.
At that time, God spread man through the entire world. That's
where the tribes and peoples that are still being discovered came
from. The point is that God did not throw away these people,
He is still concerned about them.
One Biblical example that we have of this is the city of
Ninevah. God was so concerned with Nineveh that He went
through drastic measures to move a preacher in to speak with these
people. It is a given that God sent a missionary. What
is revealing in the story is that God demonstrated that he cared
about the people even though they were not His chosen people.
The indication from the last verses of the book is that God is
intensely interested in all of his creation.
Jonah 4:10-11
10 Then
the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for
which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow,
which came up overnight and perished overnight.
11 “Should
I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are
more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference
between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”
Psalm 145:14-21
14 The
Lord sustains all who fall
And raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The
eyes of all look to You,
And You give them their food in due time.
16 You
open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 The
Lord is righteous in all His ways
And kind in all His deeds.
18 The
Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
19 He
will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.
20 The
Lord keeps all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
21 My
mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and
ever. NASB95[2]
God is intensely interested in all men. He provides for
all of our needs. Consider Ps 145:17-21, God will respond to all
who call on His name. He will hear them and will save them.
When you join this with Romans 1, it is an interesting
combination. It seems that the dead man argument does not
apply in all cases because David indicated that people choose to
seek the Lord, respond to Him, and others do not follow Him.
Any thoughts on this?
I am going to close here, more tomorrow.
Father as we consider some of the mysteries of the Bible, lead
us in our study.
In Him,
Joe Turner.
[1] [2]
New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA:
The Lockman Foundation. |
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Destiny of the Unevangelized and the
nature of hell
September 7, 2006
Reading through the Bible in one Year: Psalm 99:1-105:45; 1
Corinthians 4:7-6:20
Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,
Today I want to focus on the nature of hell. There is a
lot of debate on this in Christian circles today. Some say
that hell is a real place where the worm never dies and the fire
never goes out, and the condemned will live in torment forever.
Others are making the case that Hell is a place where the wicked are
incinerated, terminated by the fire and that a just God will not
torture a person for eternity. I hope that as we look at this
study that I can prove the first to be true from the Scriptures.
I believe that hell is a real place where people will be tormented
forever. There are convincing arguments for the contrary
position, I will try to stay objective on that one.
Before we address that, Erik wrote in and made a comment on
the last study:
I tracked with you until you wrote the following:
God is intensely interested in all men. He provides for
all of our needs. Consider Psalm 145:17-21, God will respond to all
who call on His name. He will hear them and will save them.
When you join this with Romans 1, it is an interesting
combination. It seems that the dead man argument does not
apply in all cases because David indicated that people choose to
seek the Lord, respond to Him, and others do not follow Him.
Any thoughts on this?
Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of
His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in
our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by
grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated
us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, [emphasis
added]
Erik raises some good points and some good questions.
Which does come first? Regeneration or saving faith.
Depending on which circle that you travel in, you can answer each
question differently. Calvinists, which includes most Baptist
and reformed churches, will say that God draws men to Himself in an
irresistible way and men are saved by the regeneration of the
washing of the word. They cannot possibly have saving faith
because they are incapable of generating faith in a fallen state.
Therefore the faith would come an instant after God worked in their
lives.
Others will say that saving faith comes from within a person.
When a person calls on the name of the Lord, he is regenerated in
his spirit. This is the position that I hold. I believe
that there is a part of man that is capable of responding in faith
to God's calling. Erik quotes from Peter in Acts 4:12, earlier
in that sermon, Peter indicated that the responsibility of
responding to the call was on the people themselves, after they
responded to the call, then they would be saved.
Acts 3:19-20
19 “Therefore
repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order
that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
20 and
that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,
NASB95[1]
It's interesting that Peter thought that if the Jews would
just accept the Lord, He would return immediately. I thought
further on the being dead in sin and did a little research on it.
When we talk about being dead in sin, what exactly does that mean?
Are we a corpse that has absolutely no life in us, therefore totally
incapable of making any spiritual decision? Or are we
considered as a corpse due to the fact that we cannot possibly have
fellowship with God?
A quick word search on this revealed an interesting note in
several places from the New American Standard references. It
seems that in the following verses, dead in sin could also be
translated as dead by reason of sin. I hack at Greek, try to
get the gist of words and such. Sentence structure from Greek
to English is still a mystery to me. The New American
footnotes help clarify in the following verses.
Colossians 2:13-14
13 When
you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all
our transgressions,
14 having
canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against
us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way,
having nailed it to the cross.
Ephesians 2:1-9
Made Alive in Christ
1 And
you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in
which you formerly walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that
is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among
them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as the rest.
4 But
God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He
loved us,
5 even
when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with
Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and
raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus,
7 so
that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His
grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For
by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not
as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Romans 6:10-14
10 For
the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life
that He lives, He lives to God.
11 Even
so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ
Jesus.
12 Therefore
do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
13 and
do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as
instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as
those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness to God.
14 For
sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but
under grace. NASB95[2]
Col 2:13 indicates "dead by reason of transgressions".
Eph 2:1 indicates that "you being dead by reason of your trespasses
and sins". Later in the same passage, Paul indicates in verse
5 that we were "dead according to our transgressions". Romans
6:11 tells us that we are to consider ourselves to be dead to sin,
not that we are incapable of sin, but that the heart attitude will
not seek to sin. The idea seems to be that we are in a state
of deadness which is an attitude, not an actual state of total
death. Before knowing the Lord we were spritually the same as
dead because our sin kept us out of fellowship with God. After
salvation, we are no longer out of fellowship with God because our
sin is now forgiven.
James 2:23
23 and
the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham
believed God, and it was reckoned to
him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.
Ephesians 5:14-19
14 For
this reason it says,
“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”
15 Therefore
be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,
16 making
the most of your time, because the days are evil.
17 So
then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
18 And
do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled
with the Spirit,
19 speaking
to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody with your heart to the Lord;
Hebrews 11:1-3
The Triumphs of Faith
1 Now
faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of
things not seen.
2 For
by it the men of old gained approval.
3 By
faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of
God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are
visible. NASB95[3]
James contrasted the body being dead with works that are dead
without faith. Paul in Ephesians 5:14 said that believers can
enter a place where they are as good as dead spiritually, and that
they need to wake up, and get intoxicated with the spirit of God.
One last thought according to Hebrews 1, men of old who were not
regenerated by the blood of Jesus exercised faith and gained
approval from God through that faith. These men were capable
of faith even though they were dead according to their trespasses
and sins. Faith is possible in a person as an act of the
spirit even though he is in rebellion with God. In other
words, since he is in sin, he is dead to God. He still does
have the capacity to "faith".
I intended to get on the subject of hell, perhaps I will send
an addendum later. If you have any thoughts on any of this or
on the opening paragraph, I will be interested in hearing them.
Father, as we consider the scriptures discussed today, enable
us to sift through them and draw out understanding from Your word.
In Him,
Joe Turner.
[1]
[2] [3] New American
Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman
Foundation. |
|
September 8, 2006
Reading through the Bible in one Year: 106:1-48; 1 Corinthians
7:1-24
Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,
I have copied and pasted the paper below, at least the first
half of it. Thank all of you for helping me reason this out.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I have to submit
it by Sunday evening.
The Destiny of the Unevangelized
God makes provision for the unevangelized. The unevangelized
by definition have never heard or been exposed to the Gospel in any
way. This excludes all modern nations and narrows the argument
down to tribes or peoples who live in rural primitive settings.
It is nearly possible to live in a modern day city and not hear the
Gospel, because of the exposure of television and printed texts.
It is important to understand the origin of the people by
considering first the origin of man (Gen 1:26-27). God created
man in His image and in His likeness. Adam was created as the
earthly father of all humans on the earth. Later when God
flooded the earth with water, eight people survived the flood, these
became the parents of the modern world (Gen 7:13). Through
these people God repopulated the earth. The result of the
Tower of Babel was that God scattered people through the entire
earth, populating every corner of the globe (Gen 11:1-9). It
can be concluded that before God chose Israel as a specific nation
of people all mankind knew God and worshipped him individually.
One may ask did God forget the people He scattered on every
corner of the globe and only focus on the history of the Jewish
people? A careful study of the scriptures reveals that God is
intensely interested in all man. The first example is Nineveh,
the entire point of the book of Jonah is that this rebellious
prophet was sent to speak to a people that God considered as
important even though they were not Jewish (Jonah 4:10-11). In
this case God remembered an immense amount of people and considered
them worthy of rescuing. One important point from the story is
that the people were not told how to repent and turn back to the
Lord; they knew what to do when they heard the message of judgment.
The scripture indicates that Jonah made a quick trip through the
city preaching his message; no instruction or discipleship is
indicated (Jonah 3). God expressed intense interest in all who will
seek Him and call on His name (Ps 145:14-21). Another good
example is the Assyrians with Cyrus the great deliverer of the
nation of Israel. God ordained him by name many years before
his birth, and he was not part of the nation of Israel (Isa
45:1-13). It is important to note that Isaiah indicated that
Cyrus did not know God. Melchizedek priest of the God Most
High is a good example because he was outside of the lineage of
Israel (Gen 14:18-19; Heb 7:1-3).
There is a residual knowledge of God that is evident through
nature which is significant enough that God holds all men
accountable for this knowledge on judgment day to the point that
they are without excuse. Paul argues the case that God makes
Himself known through nature to all people (Ro 1:18-20; Acts
14:14-17; 17:23-32).
God has placed a witness in nature to speak to every man
regarding Him. The great commission raises great difficulties
because God indicates that it is necessary for man to reach out to
the unevangelized, making every effort to reach out to every nation
(Matt 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 1:8). In this respect it
is vitally important for the modern church to send out missionaries
to the unevangelized because it was ordered and because this is the
way to draw men into an intimate relationship with God.
God has made himself known to every man. The Inclusivist
will say that there is a blending of effort from the church and
natural revelation that speaks to all men regarding God. Every
man is held accountable to God for what God has revealed and will be
personally determined by God because every man is without excuse
before Him. The only way to God is through Jesus Christ (Acts
4:12; 10:43; 1 Tim 2:5-6). We cannot understand
God’s design or judgment based on nature; only that it exists.
Father, as we consider a hard concept, open our eyes to
understanding of Your word.
In Him,
Joe Turner.
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