Our Obligation to the Unreached – Part 1

0:00 You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author, and teacher David Platt. So if you have a Bible, and I hope you do, let me invite you to open with me to Romans chapter 1. I've got to admit this is almost too good to be true, to be in Ruth last week. This was my favorite book in the Old Testament. Then to follow that up with Bible reading in Romans this week and next was probably my favorite book in the New Testament. but not just because I love this book but for a variety of reasons I do not believe it is a coincidence that we would find ourselves in Romans right now in light of some things God is doing in our faith family and a lot here that informs our understanding of what God is doing right now at Brook Hills so this week and next week I want us to consider some truths in Romans that we've seen before and trust that the Holy Spirit of God is reminding us of these truths right now for a reason.

1:13 I even used that word reminding with a bit of hesitation because yes, these truths we're about to look at in Romans are reminders. But as our pastors were praying this morning, we just had this sense as we were praying that God was not just going to remind us of these truths during our time today and next week, but that God was going to jolt us with these truths. As we gather together, and then as we're reading Romans each day on our own, studying it together, I'm just praying, we were praying this morning that God might jolt us in a fresh way with truths that we may already know. collectively as a church and individually and in families all across this room. In fact, I want to, I know we just prayed for the Meredith, but I want to pray for us in this time we're about to have toward that end.

2:06 So will you pray with me? God, oh God. we thank you for you how you have so sovereignly led us as a church, as your people, this last year we've been reading the Bible. Lord, even hearing stories last week from Ruth of people who are walking through this and that and that word just came home to their hearts at just the right time. Lord, we know that was not coincidence.

2:51 We praise you for how you are leading this church. You're leading this church by your spirit and your word. and it's awesome to think about how you're leading us. And so if any one of us is coming to this room tonight out of a sense of, or this morning out of a sense of routine or without much anticipation, just kind of normal,

3:19 Lord, we pray that you would jar us out of that because we believe, we believe we're about to hear from you. We believe you're about to speak to us and we want to say, with our heads bowed right now, our Bible's open, we want to hear. God, we want to hear from you. we want you, we desire, we long for you to speak to us right now. And we trust that it's not coincidence that we're in Romans right now.

3:56 And so we pray that even if we've read these truths before, even if we know these truths, God, that you would in a fresh way bring them to bear on our minds and our hearts and that you would jolt us. however you desire.

4:18 And we open ourselves up, we yield to you as a church, as individuals and families in this church. We pray that the next few moments even, you would take your word and by the power of your spirit, just apply it in 2,000 different hearts in this room in potent, particular ways. in the process of our hearts collectively in this room as a church. So we pray this in Jesus' name, knowing that what we've asked, we've asked according to your will. We know you want to speak to us. And so we ask these things, believing that we have what we have asked. In anticipation, we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay. So remembering, let's start by remembering why the book of Romans was written in the first place.

5:22 So I've got you in Romans 1 here, but hold your place for a second and turn to Romans 15. Because this is one of those letters that Paul, who writes the book of Romans, one of those letters that he writes when he gives us an introduction at the beginning of a letter, which we're going to go back and read in a second, but at the end of the letter, he gives us a little more insight into what he's trying to accomplish with the letter. This is a passage we'll probably look at more next week, but I want to go ahead and read part of it now. Look with me at Romans 15, 18, because at the end of the letter, Paul starts to give us more clues about why he wrote the letter in the first place. Verse 18, Paul says, For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and all the way down to Illyricum, I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ.

6:21 And Paul says, Thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see. And those who have never heard will understand. So Paul says, I want to see Christ preached where he's not been named. In other words, I want the gospel to go to people who've never heard it. They've never heard of Christ, they've never heard the gospel, want them to hear. So then he writes, verse 22, this is the reason. why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions where I've been, Jerusalem all the way down to Illyricum, and since I've longed for many years to come to you in Rome, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I've enjoyed your company for a while.

7:23 At present, however, I'm going to Jerusalem, bringing aid to the saints. now what we just read makes total sense in light of the geography that lies behind this book so i want to remind you of the context in which paul was writing using some maps on the screen so look at these maps with me and and i want to i want to give you a picture of what we read in the book of acts leading up to the book of romans that'll help us understand what paul just said in romans 15 if you look on this map you won't be able to read the names of cities but i'll kind of help point things out. If you look on the far right side of this map, so the eastern portion of this map, about halfway up, you'll see red and blue arrow come together in a place that is called Antioch, the city of Antioch. And if you remember in Acts chapter 13, that's where the church at Antioch was worshiping and praying and fasting. And the Spirit said to that church, set apart for me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I've called them. So God said to the church at Antioch, Paul needs to leave, Barnabas needs to leave, and go. And so they laid their hands on them, just like we did with Emeritus, and they sent out Paul and Barnabas. The blue arrows show the journey that they took out.

8:31 So they went south down to Cyprus, the island there, and then went north up into different regions that we read about, Lystra and Derbe, different places where Paul would go and preach in the synagogue, and then usually get kicked out of the synagogue, and he'd preach in the city, and people would get saved, and then Paul would get stoned, and then kind of move on. So that was, and stoned by rocks. By rocks. Stoned. So, huh.

8:55 Okay, so the way that comes out didn't sound— So anyway, he'd move on from city to city, and so in all these cities, disciples are being made, churches are being planted, and he makes his way back to Antioch. So that was kind of home base. And they come back to Antioch, and they encourage the church there. Now, that sets the stage for a second missionary journey. That's first missionary journey, second one. Here's second map. Again, you can't see the letters, but if you look on the, again, right side of this map, eastern portion of this map, about halfway up, that's Antioch. And you'll notice the arrows that go up north. What happened is Antioch sends out Paul on a second missionary journey, and he goes into those areas that he had been before. Different places where disciples have been made, churches have been planted. He's encouraging them. But then, if you remember Acts 16, he gets a Macedonian vision. A man from Macedonia is saying, come over to help us. The Spirit of God redirects Paul and sends him north, northwest, up into places where like Thessalonica and down to Corinth in the middle of the map is close to the middle of the map is Ephesus then he makes his way down to the bottom right portion of the map that's Jerusalem in the southeastern portion of the map and then he goes back up to what city? Antioch his home base and encouraged the church there church encouraged him so he ended his second missionary journey there that sets the stage for a third missionary journey again Antioch on the far right about halfway up he goes north and the white and blue arrows are him going out and then the red and white arrows are him coming down.

10:16 What he does is he goes, and you'll notice he's going to the same place as he's been before now. So this is not new territory for Paul. He's going, he's making disciples, strengthening churches in all these different places and he comes back down to Jerusalem. But you'll notice once he gets down to Jerusalem in the bottom portion of the bottom right-handed portion of this map, where does he not go back to? He doesn't go back to Antioch. Which begs the question, why not? And the answer has everything to do with why we have the book of Romans. Let me show you one more map. This map, it's a little different, but kind of get your bearings. If you look on the far right, again, the eastern portion, you've got three dots. The one at the top is Antioch, then you've got Sidon in the middle, and then you've got Jerusalem at the bottom. That kind of helped frame this map in light of the other one. You've got Antioch and Jerusalem, and then right in the middle of this map, you've got Rome. So there's a red dot with some little yellow around it. That's Rome. And in between Antioch-Jerusalem on the far right and Rome in the middle is a red dot. And you can see, some of you might be able to see Corinth is the name of that city in the middle.

11:17 And that is the city where Paul writes the book of Romans. So keep this map up for a second. Just kind of get this picture in your mind. Paul has traveled out of Antioch and all these places around Antioch and down in Jerusalem. And he's seen disciples made and churches planted there. And he's saying, there's no more work for me to do here. Everybody knows the gospel is present in this place. There's churches that have been planted in this place. And so he says, I'm going to come to you at Rome. But Rome is not the ultimate goal for Paul here. What's the ultimate goal? Spain. He says, I want, hope to see you in passing. Verse 24, as I go to Spain to be helped on my journey there by you. You look on the far right, you know geography, far left of this map in the far western portion, that's Spain. And Spain hadn't heard the gospel yet. There's no churches planted in Spain yet. And Paul knows that.

12:09 And he's saying, I want, my ambition is to see Christ preach where he's not been named, i.e. Spain. And so I'm writing a letter to you at Rome to get you to help assist me on my journey to Spain so we can get the gospel to people in Spain. Because they got the gospel in this area, they don't have the gospel over there, and we got to get the gospel over there. And so that's a fundamental part of the reason why we have the book of Romans, which changes everything about how we understand this book. So you can take the maps off the screen. Now think through. This is like, you know when somebody's going maybe on a mission trip or maybe moving overseas and they might write a letter out to friends and family and say, hey, I'm going doing this. Will you pray for me? Or maybe if they're looking to raise money, will you pray about financially supporting me as I go?

13:04 Kind of missionary support letter. Well, if you've ever seen something like that, read something like that, just picture Romans in that way. This is one big, fat missionary support letter. I've never seen one written this well. This is good. Others aren't inspired by the Holy Spirit in the way this is. And so Paul is writing a letter to Rome saying, now think about it. What we're reading right now, we're in Romans 7 today. I mean, Romans 1 through 8. This is the most masterful, beautiful picture of the gospel, I'm convinced, anywhere in Scripture. which is majestic, Romans 1 through 8. But don't miss it. It's not gospel just for the sake of gospel. Hey, I'd like to give a systematic treatise on the gospel to the church at Rome. No, this is gospel for the sake of mission. Paul's saying this gospel is so good, so we must work to get it to people who've never heard it. It's why we have Romans. It's why we have this masterful picture of Romans, to show the church why we must get the gospel to people who don't have it. Follow this.

14:00 the intended effect of the book of Romans was to cause the church at Rome to do whatever it took to get the gospel to people who never heard it. That's why we have Romans. Which is why, okay, now turn back to Romans 1. This is why Paul says what he says in the beginning of this letter. So with that context, now listen to how he opens the letter. That's what he says in verse 1. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus the word he uses there is the Greek term for slave slave of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God then he begins to explain the gospel which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about.

15:02 So this is what I want to bring about. It's what I'm living for. The obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. I'm writing to you at Rome, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he begins to thank them. Thank God for them as he does in many of his letters. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you, always in my prayers, asking that somehow, by God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you.

15:56 but thus far I've been prevented. The Lord may reap some harvest among you, just as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I've been working. I've been wanting to get there, but I've been doing all this work over here. Then he says, verse 14, follow this. I am under obligation, both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. Did you hear that? Paul says, I owe the gospel to people. I'm obligated to preach it to people. Greeks, barbarians, wise, I owe him all the gospel.

16:29 So I'm eager to preach the gospel to you in Rome because I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. This is Paul saying, this is the greatest news in all the world. people can be made right with God through faith in Christ. There's no better news than that. In all the world, there's no better news to tell anyone on the planet that they can be made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ. And so he says, there's no better news. We've got to make sure everybody hears this. So then what Paul does, starting in verse 18, is he starts making the case for why they all need to hear it.

17:23 Why everybody needs to hear the gospel. So that's this book. So then ask the question, why then are we reading the book of Romans right now? what is the intended effect of our reading Romans right now as a faith family? This week, next week. I submit that the intended effect of the book of Romans right now is that the church of Brookhills would have our eyes raised to the people in the world who have never heard the gospel and that this book might cause us to do, might jolt us to do whatever it takes to reach them with the gospel. it's not that there's not other purposes and ways that God has used or will use our reading of Romans in our lives and our families but I believe the primary purpose of our reading Romans right now and I just don't believe this is a coincidence I am so confident in the sovereignty of God having us in this book over these couple of Sundays these couple of weeks because He is causing us to say maybe in a fresh way we will do whatever it takes to get the gospel to people who have never heard it in our day.

18:49 I said, well, is the need like it was in Paul's day? He was trying to get to Spain. Things have changed a lot in 2,000 years. The gospel went to Spain. And sure enough, the gospel did go to Spain. But 2,000 years later, are there people who have never heard, among whom Christ has not been named?

19:13 And the answer is yes. many. This is where I want to paint a portrait of the unreached in our day. So Paul was saying Spain in this day. Unreached in our day. And again, if you've been around Brookhills, now this will be new. But as God reminds us of these realities, he jolt us with these realities.

19:40 As we read Romans, we must remember, Who are the unreached in our day? Who are the people who've never heard? Paul had these people in Spain in his sights. Who needs to be in our sights? Who are the unreached? The unreached are people groups among whom there is no indigenous community of believing Christians able to engage that people group with church planting. And that is a loaded sentence, so let me unpack it a little bit. See, at the very beginning, it's a people group. So just remind you what that means. When Jesus commanded the church to make disciples of all nations, what we say at the end of our worship gatherings, when he used the word nations there, he was not referring to geopolitical nations like we think of when we hear nations. 2,000 years ago, the 200 or so geopolitical nations that we might think of were not existing like they are now at that point.

20:41 No, Jesus uses the word ethne, from which we get ethnic or ethnic groups. Ethnic groups of people that share common cultural or language characteristics. And among 200 or so nations in the world today, there are a plethora of people groupings. In every nation. Not just in every nation, in every city. So think about 200 nations, yes, but they're filled with a diverse array of peoples. just to put one more term on the table unengaged so over 3,000 out of these 6,500 people groups over 3,000 people groups are not just unreached but are also unengaged meaning there's currently no evangelical church planning strategy underway to reach that people group those people groups including about 200 million individual people that number's a lot less than the two billion obviously but in many cases not in all but many these would be smaller people groups that may not comprise large swaths of people but they still have distinct ethnicity many times language i was spending time recently with some missionaries from the international mission board our primary partner working among unreached peoples.

21:57 And these missionaries were working to reach people groups, these people groups who have still not had any contact whatsoever with the outside world. So there's still people groups like that, small but scattered throughout, living in total isolation. What was encouraging, obviously, was that there's people working to get the gospel to them. There's only one thing worse than being lost, right? It's being lost in having no one try to find you. Now, all these numbers, unreached and unengaged, can feel distant. That's the way numbers and statistics work, I know. So, what does it mean to be unreached practically?

22:49 And I worded this in your notes in such a way that I want you to put yourself, for the next few moments, in the shoes of one of these two billion people in the world who are unreached. So right where you're sitting in your seat, just imagine, not two billion, don't try to imagine, who can think in terms of two billion? Imagine one.

23:15 Or maybe if you want to go a little bigger, like your family. Imagine your kids. Imagine your family. People you're maybe sitting with right now. Imagine you and your spouse, you and your close friend, whatever. if you're unreached, what does that mean practically? So put yourself in your shoes. That means practically, you do not currently have access to the gospel. In other words, if you're unreached, you likely don't even know the gospel exists. If you're like some people I've met in the world, you've never even heard the name of Jesus. Literally, Christ's name has not been made known to you. Go up to people, different points in the world, my life, say, hey, can I tell you about Jesus?

24:07 Who's Jesus? You know anything about him? Nothing. I've never even heard his name. So maybe that's you. You've never even heard his name. You have no idea that he even exists. or maybe you've heard of Jesus but you know as much about him as many people in the room today might know about Confucius. I think he taught on personal governmental philosophy. Not sure really exactly what he thought. It's all kind of confusing but it affects Eastern thinking a lot. That's about all you know.

24:45 And if you're unreached, You don't know any Christian. You don't know anybody who knows the truth about Christ. You've never met anyone who knows the truth about Christ. So to me, you don't have access to the gospel. And this is key. This is why we don't say, well, I don't know why we talk about unreached people around the world when there's unreached people who work at my office. Not true. Those people aren't unreached. Why? Because they work at your office. you got access to the gospel work next to a Christian you are access so if you're unreached it means you don't have access to Christians you don't have access to truth about what Christ has done and so follow this put yourself in their shoes unless something changes that means you will likely be born live and die without ever hearing the gospel that's what we're talking about practically we're talking about if you die today to put yourself in their shoes you're 80 years old and if you die today you will die likely never having even heard the good news of what God has done in Christ you won't even have heard nobody ever told you Which inevitably leads to the question, right?

26:16 What happens to you when you die? If you die, you have had access to the gospel. Nobody's even told you about what God's done through Christ. You die, well, where do you go? Do you really go to hell? Will you spend eternity in hell? you've died you've never even heard the gospel and that's where we come biblically to what it means to be unreached because this is a question that paul is answering in the book of romans in what we're reading every day right now biblically to be unreached means okay stay in their shoes so practically we've seen now biblically if you're unreached it means you have knowledge of god okay you have knowledge of god this is exactly where Paul starts in Romans 1 18 right after what we read he says verse 18 the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth for listen to verse 19 what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have This is Paul saying, everybody, everywhere has knowledge of God.

27:38 He's made it plain to them. In creation around them, God has shown himself, his glory. In such a way that verse 21, right after this, in case we didn't get it in verse 18, 19, 20, it says, for although they knew God, you have knowledge of God. So wherever you're unreached, you're an unreached person, you have knowledge of God. but second you have rejected God you've rejected God verse 21 for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things the story is for every person on the planet.

28:35 They have knowledge of God, including the unreached, and have rejected God. If you're unreached, you have an inherently sinful nature that rebels against the knowledge of God that you have, and you turn aside from the one true God to other gods. Now this looks different in different places. If you're unreached in West Africa, you maybe practice voodoo in your attempts to appease and direct evil spirits around you. Maybe you're unreached in India where you offer incense every day to a host of gods in your home that you've crafted with your hands. Maybe you're unreached in Saudi Arabia and every day, five times a day, you face one direction and bow down with prayers to a false god. Maybe you're in the mountains of Nepal, unreached there where you worship the Buddha and you sent your first son off to the monastery and hoped that he might attain Buddhahood.

29:38 Or maybe you're unreached in China or North Korea and you've rejected the idea of God altogether. You've suppressed even the very concept of God. So it looks different for different people. But if you're unreached, you have knowledge of God. With the knowledge you have about Him, you have rejected. you have turned aside from the one true God and as a result Romans is clear you stand condemned before God you're unreached you have knowledge of god you've rejected god and as a result you stand before god this is what i mean the verses that flow after this are some of the most depressing verses in all the bible if they're left by themselves just the sinfulness of man depravity of man on display all the way to chapter 3 verse 9 paul sums up the case he's been building ever since romans 118 And he says, what then?

30:39 Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all, for we are already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. As it is written, verse 10, he starts this quote from the Old Testament. He paints a portrait of the sinfulness of man. He says, none is righteous, no, not one. No one understands, no one seeks God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. A stinging indictment of all humanity, regardless of where you live as an unreached person you are guilty before God. Stand condemned before God. And you look down in verse 19 he just reiterates that we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. Every mouth silenced before God. Whole world held accountable to God.

31:31 And by works of the law no human being was justified in this sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin. In other words, the more we try to do good to overcome our bad, the more we sink deeper into our own depravity. You stand condemned before God. This is so key, right? Because the question is often phrased, well, what happens to the innocent guy in Africa or Asia who's never heard the gospel? And we know that's not a good question. Why? Because he doesn't exist. There's no innocent guy in Africa waiting to hear the gospel. If he was innocent, he wouldn't need the gospel. He's innocent. There's no sin. Why does he need to be saved from sin? problem is there's nobody there nobody in the world who's innocent there's guilty people all over the world that's why they need to hear the gospel they stand condemned before God and this is where this is so important because I'm convinced that most church members I hope this isn't the case here but across our culture at core believe that people who've never heard there's going to be some way where they get to heaven like surely God would not send anyone to hell condemn anyone to hell who's never even heard the gospel 80 year old never hears and then goes to hell no way but follow this and I get the emotion behind that we want there to be a way but as soon as we say okay there's a way if they haven't heard then they go to heaven well if that's true then what's the worst thing you and I could do go tell them the gospel before we got there they were going to heaven for sure we got there we started telling the gospel and now they got a chance to go to hell thanks for your commissioning stay in Birmingham Meredith don't come tell us this in New York we're going to heaven right now we know that's not true in addition certainly some other way As soon as we say, well, there's some other way, then we're saying that Jesus' work on the cross was not necessary.

33:35 Trusting what he did, it's not necessary. There's other ways we could have gone besides that. You. The reality is, if you're unreached, you stand condemned before God. and just keep going here. You have never heard the good news about how you can be saved by God.

34:02 If you're unreached, you know he's there, you reject him, you're condemned before him, and you've never heard the good news about how you can be saved by God. The greatest transition in all of the Bible is Romans 3.21, but now. Sin, sin, sin. But now righteousness from God apart from the law has been made known. And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ through all who believe. There's no difference. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace, the redemption that comes by Christ Jesus. God has presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, a propitiation through faith in his blood. God loves you so much. He has made a way for you to be saved from all your sin. He has sent his son. So don't think, well, what's the list of things I need to do? No, it's all based on what he has done. God has sent his one and only son. He's lived a life you could not live in your own life.

34:55 Perfect obedience to God. He's died the death you deserve to die. He's died in the place, the punishment for sinners. He's taken it upon himself and he's risen from the dead and conquered the enemy you could not conquer. Death, sin, he's conquered it. So that if you will simply trust in him as Lord and Savior, You will be forgiven of all your sin and reconciled to God for all of eternity. That's good news. That's gospel. That's good news. In the words of Carl Henry, the gospel is only good news if it gets there on time. Right? Do we realize this? Now it makes sense. Okay, you're in their shoes, right? You've got knowledge of God. You've rejected God. You stand condemned by God. And you've never heard the good news about how you can be saved by God.

35:50 So try to put yourself in those shoes. Now step out of imagining there. And let's just praise God we're not in those shoes. Aren't you thankful you're not in those shoes? Aren't you thankful that yes, you have knowledge of God, and yes, you've rejected God, but now you stand accepted before God. Not just accepted before God, you stand adopted by God and His family forever. How's that possible? It's possible because we've heard the good news of how we can be saved by God. We had access to this news. somebody told us. Praise God, somebody told us. We're not in their shoes. We're in these shoes, in this room, where we're singing these songs. So then, why must we go to the unreached? Now, use that word must in a Romans 1 14 way, obligated. Why are we obligated then to give our lives?

36:52 Whether we live here or move somewhere else, why are we obligated to give our lives? All of us who have this gospel, obligated to give our lives, getting this gospel to people who've never heard Why do we owe it to them? That's the intended effect of the book of Romans, to cause our hearts to consider how we owe the gospel to people who've never heard it. Why must we do this, church? Why must we do this, Christian? Why must you and I go to the unreached? Hear these four reasons in the book of Romans. One, because their knowledge of God is only enough to damn them to hell. we've got to get the gospel to the unreached because the knowledge of God is only enough to damn them to hell I just can't get out of my head burning bodies in Nepal When we round the corner and come upon this Hindu holy river, where these funeral pyres are set out on top of the river, it's a custom is to bring a friend or family member within 24 hours of dying, they bring the body to the pyre, they lay the friend or family member's body on the pyre, and they set it ablaze, and as the ashes come down, they believe this will be helpful for them in reincarnation.

38:11 And so we round the corner, and as I see this scene, and I'm just stopped in stunned silence. the sight and the smell of burning bodies. And as I'm looking at them, I realize that what I'm seeing is an earthly picture of an eternal reality. They're in hell right now. Watch this physical picture. It's a spiritual reality. It's real right now for those people who were alive 24 hours before. And now they're in hell. And it hits me that most, if not all of them on those funeral pyres, most of them died without ever even hearing the gospel. This cannot be tolerable for us. It can't be tolerable for us.

39:10 And do we believe this? There's no knowledge of God's only enough to stand in hell. and then if that was not enough reasons the second reason because the gospel of God is powerful enough to save them for heaven like this gospel is good and it works it saves it saves people I think about right near Nepal northern India walking through city slums and stopping in the home of this elderly woman with Hindu gods all over this one room shack it's all she's ever known She's an older woman. And we sit down and I share about the one true God and say he loves you. And he sent his son to die so that you might know him. Share the gospel. And in an instant, in the power of the gospel, in a moment just like that, she leaves behind generations of Hinduism.

40:04 And she says, I want to trust in Christ alone for my salvation. This gospel saves. There's not a person or people group on the planet that is beyond the power of our God to save. So we're obligated to go because this gospel is power enough to save them for heaven. If they hear it, they're going to believe. Not all of them, of course, but to sure many will. We know that. Revelation 5, 9, and 10. Every people group is going to come. There's going to be representatives from every people group around the throne of Christ, singing his praises for his salvation. How then can we not take the gospel to them if we know they're going to believe when we get there? which leads to the third reason why we must go to the unreached because the plan of God warrants the sacrifices of his people it just makes sense it just makes sense we don't have to cajole people into missions when we realize the gospel we're compelled to mission if we're having to be cajoled it's because there's a gospel problem in our heart we don't realize it we need to realize it remember it cajol us with these truths because when we realize these truths it just makes sense That's why Paul starts the book.

41:10 He says, I'm a slave of Christ Jesus. I'll do whatever he wants. I'll go whatever he wants. And I say, I don't know about this. He says, I'm yours. I'm yours. People have never heard this gospel. I'm yours. Use me to make it known. So he says, I'm obligated. I owe it to them. I owe it to them. I'm obligated to preach the gospel. I mean, that's the plan. Paul knows that's the plan. We'll talk about this more, maybe a little bit next week. But I mean, this is the plan. It's the preaching of the gospel. It's how they're going to know.

41:36 You say, well, maybe. I mean, couldn't God use some other means to make the gospel known to them? And sure he could. He has all power in the world. He calls the stars by name. He could tell them to get together in a formation that spells out the Romans' road in the sky if he wanted to. He has the power to do it. He can do it in multiple languages. He can do that. But he's not doing that. Why is he not doing that? Because he's chosen to involve you in this. because he's chosen to involve you and that he's given you grace for the spread of the gospel to all these peoples you say what about dreams and visions and yes God's moving through dreams and visions in different places but we just got reading through the book of Acts finished in the book of Acts there's not one verse in the book of Acts where the gospel is going forward apart from a human instrument of proclaiming the gospel brothers and sisters we cannot sit back and just hope maybe God's going to do something else besides us and why would we want to anyway when God's invited us to be a part of the greatest mission on the planet.

42:33 Brothers and sisters, we are plan A. There is no plan B. We must go to unreached people, groups, because this is the plan of God and it warrants the sacrifices of his people and sacrifice is the right word. If we have, by God's grace, this much access to the gospel in our culture, there's so much access here and there's so little access over there, then surely God is leading many more of us, maybe the majority of us, to lay down our lives here and go to those cultures there. doesn't that just make sense?

43:06 Or if God calls us to stay here, then surely he is leading us to live simply here and give sacrificially so as many people as possible can go and get this gospel to them. This involves sacrifice among all of us, regardless of where we stay or go, in our lives, our families, the church, the plan of God, war and sin. And ultimately, because of the fourth reason, we're obligated to reach the unreached because their knowledge of God isn't only enough to damn in hell. The gospel of God is powerful to save them forever. And because the plan of God, warrants sacrifice of his people, and ultimately because the Son of God deserves the praises of all peoples. This is it. This is how the book of Romans begins. He says in verse 5, we've received grace. Why? What's the purpose of grace? Why have we received grace? To bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. Church of Brook Hills,

43:58 Christian brother or sister in this room, you have received grace. I've received grace. We've received grace. Why? And why was I born into the family I was born into? Why have I heard the gospel ever since I was born? How has my life been immersed in the gospel? I had nothing to do with where I was born.

44:21 You had nothing to do with where you were born. and praise be to God you've been born and contacted in some way up until now you've heard the gospel I don't understand that I don't understand why I was born where I was born instead of being born in the middle of Saudi Arabia and going 80 years without ever hearing why me that's a mystery beyond measure to me but I do know that I've been given mercy for a mission. That the grace I have been given, that the grace you have been given has a goal, and it's not intended to center on you or me. It's intended to center on his name among all the nations.

45:09 This is the goal. We want to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of Christ's name among all the nations. Every nation, every people group bowing around the throne of Jesus, singing his praises. That is what we live for. This is what we work for. This is what we strive for. This is what we die for. For the day when all the peoples of the earth take their rightful place around the throne and give our Lord and King the glory he is due. Didn't you love, alongside reading Romans, reading 1 Samuel 5 this week, the Philistines bring the ark of God into their temple. They set it up next to Dagon, their God. And what's happening? The next morning, they walk in, he's face down, bowing down to the ark of God. So the text says they pick him up, put him back in his place. next morning they come in. Not only is he bowing down, but his hands have been cut off. I cannot wait for the day when all the false gods of the world are exposed in all their emptiness and every knee will bow and heaven and earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

46:08 They're going to see he's Lord. I want to see that day. I want to live for that day and use my life to hasten the coming of that day and use this church days of the coming of that day. So here's what I want to invite challenges to as we, as we've been today's Romans 7 if you haven't been reading the Bible, pick up and just start and read two a day. Two a day, it's football time. Two a days. So this week read Romans in this light. Read Romans and just ask God ask God to take the truths that we're reading here and jolt you with them. And see it. Don't just see it as, oh, that was a good theology lesson on justification. No, see it as gospel for the sake of global mission. This is gospel for the sake of people who have never heard it.

47:01 And then, just as you read, just ask the Spirit of God to show you what do you need to do in your life? What needs to change in your life? What needs to change in your life in order to get your life to be spent more for the spread of the gospel to people who have never heard it? And let's see what the Spirit of God does to the Word of God. Would you just ask, would you just lay your life down and say, help me to understand these truths, help me to apply them in the world? Two billion people haven't even...