Judge on Trial
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Imagine being awakened in the middle of the night by a loud banging on your front door. You jump out of bed and do the sleepy-eyed stair stumble to the living room to see who would be so rude. You open the door to see two police officers on your porch with guns drawn ordering you to come out with your hands up. Your mind races as you try to connect the dots as to why in the world you would be in this nightmarish situation. You've t.p.'d a few houses and burned a couple cd's, but are those felony offenses? You step through the entryway and the cops throw you on the ground and cuff you tightly, then halfway throw you into the back of the patrol car.
"What have I done?" you demand to know.
"Shut up and save it for the judge, punk," replies one officer.
The cruiser pulls up to the courthouse and you are roughly escorted before the judge.
"What about due process and my phone call and all that?"
"You watch too much TV, kid. With this kind of crime you go straight to the judge for sentencing!"
The judge glares down at you from his bench and says, "You have been found guilty of caterwauling, a crime punishable by death."
You stand there dumbfounded, because you have never even heard of caterwauling.
"What is caterwauling?" you ask.
The judge rolls his eyes and explains, "Caterwauling is to screech or yell like a cat. You have repeatedly engaged in this behavior over the years and now you will have to die for your crimes."
"But I didn't know that was a crime," you argue.
"We know," replies the judge.
"Then why do you condemn me?"
"Because we can...take him away!"
So what would you think of a system of justice set up like that? What would you think of a judge like that? I think most would agree that any judge who would charge and condemn a person of a crime they didn't even know existed would be a pretty lousy example of justice.
Oh, but it's ok if we look at God that way, right? You know, the God who would condemn people to hell for not trusting Christ even though they never heard of Christ. Imagine a person dying in the middle of the night and being escorted by angels before God, only to be condemned to hell for acts of ignorance. Do you have this picture in your imagination? Good, because that's where it needs to stay. The God of the Bible is not that type of Judge, which is why I have a real problem with this question:
What about those who have never heard the gospel?
The Bible teaches that "From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God" (Romans 1:20 ).
Did you get that last part? People have "no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God." What He is saying is that in every corner of the world God has posted a huge sign saying "I EXIST!!!" No one will be able to stand before God and cry foul because he or she didn't know the rules.
What are the rules?
- God is not hidden or unknown in any way, shape, or form anywhere in the entire universe:
The message of God's creation has gone out to everyone, and its words to all the world. (Romans 10:18)
The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world. (Psalm 19)
- Every human on earth makes a conscious choice to either recognize or deny that God exists.
Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn't play hide-and-seek with us. He's not remote; he's near. (Acts 17:26-27)
Only fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." (Psalm 14:1)
From Amber the American adolescent to Tabansi the Tanzanian tribesman, all people instinctively know about God from what is around them. What they do with God's revelation is a function of motivation rather than location.
- When people acknowledge that God exists and turn to Him, He will get them the gospel message.
There are missionaries, Jesus films, and hundreds of other ways that God is getting the message of Christ to people who believe in Him through nature. True, there are places that apparently haven't been reached by missionaries or other communication, but gee, do you think that God might be smart enough and powerful enough to figure out a way to get the truth about Jesus to whomever He wants? In Acts chapter 8 and Acts chapter 10 there are examples of folks who believed there was a God who existed, so God got the gospel to them in supernatural ways. Just because we THINK there are people who have no access to the gospel does NOT mean that is the case. We should not give up on sending missionaries, but we should not give up on God's desire to see everyone saved either (2 Peter 3:9).
So as it turns out, the only people who haven't heard the gospel are the ones who didn't WANT to hear the gospel. They rejected God's "I EXIST" signs out of stubborn and pride. You'll recognize these people as the ones who stick their fingers in their ears and go "na na na na" whenever God reaches out to them, so God ends up giving them what they wanted all along: eternal separation from Him.
Is there someone in your life who needs to hear the gospel?
Head: What you need to know about this truth
God has made Himself known everywhere in the universe and will get the gospel to those who choose to acknowledge Him.
Heart: What you need to feel about this truth
Two things. First, you should feel grateful and thankful that you have put your trust in Jesus as your only hope of salvation and that you live in a country that allows you to freely tell others about Him without fear of arrest or execution. Second, you should feel burdened for the people in lands where there are no missionaries or churches.
Hands: What you need to do about this truth
Two things. First, because you live in a place that allows you to share the gospel with anyone, anytime, anywhere, why aren't you? You are God's messenger to all the people around you. Are you hiding the message? Second, you should choose one or more unreached people groups and start praying for them. Pray also about being called by God to be a missionary, which I guarantee will beat the materialistic middle management destiny of most American teenagers!
