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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
A question that I have heard numerous times over my years in ministry goes something like this: do people who have never even heard of Jesus still go to Hell when they die? The answer is "Yes", and today's passage helps to explain the reason why. Before looking at it though, let's think about salvation and eternity for a moment. The Scriptures teach that there are only two destinations for a man's soul after death. He will either be in Heaven or Hell. There are no other options. Daniel 12:2 states that at the final resurrection people will have either everlasting life or everlasting contempt. John 3:18 reads,
"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God".
There are only two alternatives: either a man is not condemned or he is condemned. Either he goes to Heaven or he goes to Hell. And what determines his destination? Whether or not he has believed in Jesus. Acts 4:12 tells us,
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
So, if a person has never received Christ as Savior, he can not be saved, and therefore he must be condemned to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.
But what about the person who never heard of Jesus? Since he obviously has not called on Jesus, then he can not be saved, and he can not go to Heaven. Is this fair? Today's text shows that it is. We saw yesterday that all men know that there is a God Who created the world and to Whom they are accountable. Therefore, according to verse 20, all men are without excuse. The problem is that when men understood that there was a Creator God, rather than seek after Him they rebelled against what they knew to be true and worshipped created things such as animals, nature, and idols that they crafted themselves. They created their own gods rather than submit to the God who had created them. Because of their vanity they thought that they were wise in doing this, but their rejection of the Creator in favor of worshipping His creation revealed them to be fools.
What should these foolish men have done, and what is the responsibility of the Christian to this problem? We will look at those topics tomorrow.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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