The Greatest Injustice in the World

The following is a lightly edited transcript provided by a transcription service. Please check the video before quoting.

So here’s the deal. I only have a few minutes this morning to talk about the greatest injustice in the world. So I’m going to jump right in and I want to tell you where this is all going. At the end of our time together, a few minutes from now, I’m going to offer you a specific invitation to stand right where you are in this arena.

If you would be willing to put a stake in the ground today and say, so I’m going to put it up here on the screen. If you’d be willing to say, God, I will do whatever you call me to do, no matter what it costs to get the gospel to people who’ve never heard it.

God, I’ll do whatever you call me to do, no matter what it costs to get the gospel to people who’ve never heard it. So the keywords in this statement are God. So this is you standing before God. This is not about standing because somebody else is standing or you think you should stand or you feel bad sitting. This is about you soberly saying to the God who made you loves you, saying You’ll do whatever,

Talking About God

Like no strings attached. God, I will pack my bags and move somewhere else, anywhere else in the world. I’ll do it if that is to sell my possessions. If that is to not marry or only marry somebody else who’s saying the same thing, it would make no sense to say this, then marry somebody who’s not saying this.

So this standing will likely reduce the number of people you might be married to. So we’re talking about major decisions and your life now and in the future for the rest of your life is saying God, whenever, wherever, however, whatever you call me to do, no matter what it costs, knowing that there is absolutely no way for you to carry out this commitment without cost sacrifice. This is not for everybody. Many of you are not ready to say this, so don’t stand. We’re talking about sacrifice. To do what? To get the gospel,

God’s Love

The good news of God’s love in Jesus to people, women, men, kids, young adults, college students, people just like you and me who follow this have never heard. So people who’ve never heard the gospel, let me put a map up here on the screen to give you a picture of this. When you look at this map, you’ll see three main colors, green, yellow, and red.

So the green areas of this map represent parts of the world that have been reached by the gospel. So obviously that doesn’t mean everybody’s a follower of Jesus in those green areas or there’s tons of non-Christians in those areas. But those areas are places where the gospel has gone, disciples have been made, churches have been planted, and are able to spread the gospel that’s green. The yellow is areas that are less reached by the gospel and usually, it’s in one of two directions.

There used to be a lot of churches and Christians with the gospel. And then you look at different parts of Europe where that’s less and less the case and there’s less access to the gospel, or it might be the other way. The gospel has recently come to a place and it’s starting to grow, but it’s still pretty weak. So there’s not a lot of access to the gospel. But then the red areas on this map are known as unreached parts of the world.

And unreached, just to be clear, doesn’t mean lost or well just think about the difference. People are just as lost in Lynchburg as they are in Saudi Arabia if they’ve not put their trust in Jesus just as dead and sin just as on their way to eternal judgment. Same in Lynchburg. Same in Saudi Arabia. The difference is there are a few Christians in Lynchburg and churches in Lynchburg, Saudi Arabia.

There are very few Christians, and very few churches with the gospel, which means if you live in Saudi Arabia, the likelihood is you’ll be born and you’ll live and die and you’ll never even hear the gospel. You won’t have an opportunity to be in a church or a setting like this where the gospel is proclaimed and in these red areas, which by the way is why we don’t say, I dunno why we talk about unreached people around the world.

I mean there’s unreached people where I work, there’s unreached people where I live here. It’s not true. Those people are not unreached and say, well, how do you know? Because you work next to them and you live next to them. They have access to the gospel like you’re it. We’re talking about people. And in these red areas there are approximately 3.2 billion of them who will die and if they’ve never heard the gospel when they die, will go into eternity having never been reached with the good news of God’s love in Jesus.

And here’s the deal. I actually believe we can reach them, not any one of us individually, but all of us together. Think about the world we live in today, globalization, urbanization, ease of travel, and new technologies. We have more opportunities to spread the gospel in the world than we’ve ever had before in history.

The church in the first century could have only dreamed about the opportunities we have to reach the nations. It took them months to sail from one city to the next. We can get to the other side of the world in a day. They had to write letters that would take weeks or months to be delivered between social media, translation software, and the metaverse. We can communicate with people around the world in real-time from a device in our pockets.

Diversity Within the Church

I look out across this room, I see students getting degrees that will open doors to jobs overseas in all these red areas for any medical students, nurses, or doctors, I could point you right now to just about any job you could want at a hospital in the Middle East. Same for teachers, engineers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and fitness specialists.

I could go on and on in addition to jobs you can get here and one of the wealthiest places in the world that can support the spread of the gospel there. But it all starts with saying, God, I will do whatever you call me to do no matter what it costs to get the gospel to people who’ve never heard it.

And in order to lead to this invitation, for some of you to stand and to say this, I actually want to do something a little different. I want to flip this idea around for a moment. And I want to ask the question, what if we don’t stand and say this? In other words, what if we don’t do whatever God calls us to do?

What happens if we don’t sacrifice and we don’t get the gospel to people who’ve never heard it? What happens to 3.2 billion people when they die if we don’t get the gospel to them? That’s a pretty important question, isn’t it? 3.2 billion people in the world. And I think for most Christians in America where the gospel has come, either we don’t realize there are 3 billion people in the world who’ve never heard the gospel or we think they’ll be okay when they die, they’ll go to heaven.

That’s the only answer I can come up with for why we are not talking about this all the time in our churches and campus ministries and everywhere in Christianity today, if we believe 3 billion people were dying and going to an everlasting hell without ever even hearing about heaven, I think we’d be talking about that all the time.

Like we got to do something and not just a few of us here or there, like all of us, we’ve all got to do something. We got to pull our resources together and go and send, get behind brothers and sisters who are already in those red areas. This is not tolerable. Are we passionate about justice? If so, is there any greater injustice than 3 billion people going to hell while all the people who know how to go to heaven sit back and do little to nothing about that? And by the way, that is what we’re doing.

We’ve done the research at Radical. We spend almost all of our money on stuff for ourselves. We give some money to churches and ministries. But did you know that even out of what we give to churches and ministries and what those churches and ministries give to work overseas out of the money we give from churches and ministries to work overseas, approximately 99% of that money actually goes to green places on this map?

Global Missions

When we give missions, we think about Latin America Sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Europe. And I’m not saying it’s bad to come alongside our brothers and sisters in those parts of the world, but we are fooling ourselves if we think we’re giving to the mission of God and the world, but we are ignoring the people that are least reached by the gospel, which makes sense I guess if the people in the red are going to heaven, but it makes no sense if they’re going to hell. So what does the Bible say?

What does God tell us in his word happens to them? And I just want to show us what the Bible says about them in a way that should leave us with a clear answer to what happens if we don’t do whatever God calls us to do, no matter the cost to get the gospel to them.

So lemme tell you about them based on God’s word, and I encourage you to write this down either physically or at least imprint it on your mind and your heart. So here’s the first thing we know about them. These 3.2 billion people have knowledge of God. So if you have a Bible and want to follow along, you can pull it out.

All this is going to come from the book of Romans starting in chapter one, verse 18. If you don’t have a Bible, you can follow along on the screen here. Romans 18 says the wrath of God has been revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth of God by their wickedness since what we know about.

God, do you hear that language known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them for since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, eternal power, and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what’s been made so that men are without excuse for, although verse 21 says, they knew God so plain and simple, all people in the world, all people all over that map, every one of them has knowledge of God no matter where they live.

We Must Acknowledge and Believe in God

Now, of course, they don’t acknowledge or believe in God, which leads to the second truth about them. They have all rejected God. It says Romans 1 21 through 25, for although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him as God. But the thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened, although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore, God gave them over the sinful desires of their hearts, the sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies of one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served, created things rather than the creator who is forever praised. Amen. They’ve all rejected God. So to be clear, this is not just talking about them, this is talking about every single person in this room too, and every single person in the world.

This is the reality of sin in every single person’s heart, in my heart, in your heart, in every person in the world, we have all sinned against the God who made us turn from God’s ways to our own ways, from God’s truth to our own thoughts, which then leads us then to truth number three, again talking about those in the red, but in a way that actually applies to all of us as well. None of them are innocent before God.

So these initial verses in Romans are some of the most sobering in all of the Bible from Romans 18 to about two 16, Paul talks about the people beyond the people of Israel, the Gentiles, and their sinfulness. Then from around chapter two, verse 17 to chapter three, verse eight, he talks about the sinfulness of the Jewish people. And then you get to chapter three, verse 10, he says, as it is written, there is no one righteous, not even one, no one who understands, no one who seeks God all have turned away.

They have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. In other words, all people are guilty of sin before God, including every single person in the red. And here’s why this is really important because sometimes people will ask me, well, what happens to the innocent person in Africa who’s never heard the gospel?

Do they go to heaven when they die? And if you were to ask me that question, I would say, based on the word of God without hesitation, yes, they’ll go to heaven when they die, even though they’ve never heard the gospel. Because if they’re innocent, if they have no sin, they have no need for news of a savior. The problem is they don’t exist. There are no innocent people in Africa or Asia or anywhere else just waiting to hear the gospel. There are guilty people all around the world, and that’s why they need to hear the gospel.

None of them are innocent before God, which leads to truth number four about them. They all stand condemned for rejecting God. It says Romans three 19 and 20. We know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world is held accountable to God.

No one will be declared righteous and God’s sight by the works of the law. Rather through the law, we become conscious of sin. In other words, not only are all people guilty, but even our efforts to do good will never be able to overcome our guilt. All people stand condemned for rejecting God. Those last three words are really important in that statement because I think that many Christians here have this idea that because someone’s never heard the gospel, surely God is loving and he’ll let them in heaven because they never even had a chance to hear.

We Must Share the Gospel

They didn’t reject the gospel. They never even heard it. Surely God will let them into heaven. But if that were true, then what’s the worst thing we could do for their eternity? Go and tell them the Gospel right before we get there, a hundred percent of them going to heaven.

Now that we got there to share the good news, there’s a chance they could go to hell. Thanks a lot and keep it to yourself. If you believed that, if you believed that someone was going to heaven precisely because they’ve never heard the gospel and you were to meet somebody on the street here in us and you were to say, have you heard about who Jesus is and what he’s done on a cross and for our sins? And they were to say, I don’t even know what you’re talking about, never heard of Jesus.

If you believe that person is going to heaven precisely because they’ve never heard them, what would you say? You’d say, put your fingers in your ears and start yelling really loud and run away. It makes no sense. The reality is yes, there are 3 billion people who’ve never heard the gospel, but that doesn’t mean they get an automatic pass into heaven. They’re condemned for rejecting God regardless of whether or not they’ve heard the gospel.

This is a pretty low point here in the book of Romans. I can almost picture Paul who’s writing this in tears when he gets to the end of verse 20, just thinking about the sinfulness of all people in the world. But then I picture him picking up the pen and saying, but now a righteousness from God, apart from the law has been made known this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe there is no difference for all have sinned and fall what short of the glory of God and our, oh, don’t just memorize the bad news, the good news, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Why’d you stop at verse 23?

So good, God help us. So here’s the truth, number five about them. God loves them and God has made a way of salvation for them just as God loves us, you and me so much, that he sent his son to die on the cross for our sins to rise from the grave and victory over sin so that we don’t have to have any fear in life or death.

God Loves Everyone

He loves them that much too. Jesus has made a way of salvation, the way of salvation for us. I should mention, that I think about being in one of those red areas, sitting outside a temple from another religion, talking with two guys. One is from the religion he worships at this temple and the other guy is from a totally different religion. And we start talking and these guys are basically trying to say to me, Hey, all our religions are fundamentally the same.

We may use different words or do different customs, but we are just fundamentally the same at the core, but superficially different. I just listened and listened, listened. Finally, I said, it’s almost like you guys picture God or whatever you want to call him at the top of a mountain and we’re all at the bottom of a mountain and I may take this path up and you may take this path up, but in the end, we’ll find ourselves in the same place.

And they smiled. They said, exactly, you understand? I said, let me ask you a question. What would you think if I told Jesus the God at the top of the mountain, didn’t wait for us to find our way to him, but actually came down the mountain to where we are and brought us to himself? They said, well, that would be great. I said, here’s the difference.

This is who Jesus is. God in the flesh who has come to make the way of salvation, not just for you and me in this room, but for all the people and all the nations. So God loves them. It’s made a way of salvation for them. And I would just say, I don’t assume in a room this size that everybody has trusted, and received the love of God in your life. I invite you to receive the love of God in Jesus, in your heart, and then to realize you’ve been given a gift in this gospel, the greatest gift in the world, which leads to okay, truth number six about them.

They can’t come to God apart from faith in Jesus. That’s Romans 3 27 through 30 where then is boring, it excludes what principle of observing the law. No, but on that of faith, we maintain that a man is justified by faith made right before God, by faith, apart from observing the law, and doing good things, is God the God of Jews only. Is it not the God of Gentiles, the nations too?

Yes of Gentiles, the nations too. Since there’s only one God who will justify the Jewish people by faith, the UNC circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised, the Gentiles through that same faith. This is how people can be saved from sin. How every person in the red can be saved from sin through faith in Jesus. But that brings us back to the question, doesn’t it? How can people put their faith in Jesus if they’ve never heard of Jesus?

And that’s the exact question that Paul asks in Romans chapter 10. So turn over there with me if you have a Bible or look at it here in Romans chapter 10, verse 13. Everyone the Bible says, who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

How then can they call on the one they’ve not believed in? And how can they believe in the one who they’ve not heard and how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they’re sent as it is written? How beautiful the feet of those who bring good news, the picture here is crystal clear. People cannot put their faith in Jesus if they never hear about Jesus. And if they can’t put their faith in Jesus, they can’t be saved from their sin.

Do you see the picture here? It’s really simple. 3 billion people in the world can’t go to heaven if they don’t hear about the one who makes heaven possible. It’s just simple logic to realize they won’t hear unless somebody goes and tells them, which leads to the last thing about them. And this is where you and I come in. Jesus has left us in this world to get the gospel to them. He has left us here to do whatever it takes to get the gospel to them.

That’s why we’re here. Right before Jesus went to heaven, what did he tell us? Followers to do one thing, make disciples of all the nations, not just in places where the gospel has gone. Among every group of people in the world, you’ll receive power. When my Holy Spirit comes upon you, you’ll be my witnesses. Where? To the ends of the earth, to all the people.

Lemme show you this. And what we just read in Romans, look at the verbs in this passage in reverse. And as you do, you’ll see God’s plan for making the gospel known in all the world, among all the nations. Follow this with me. It all starts with sending. So Jesus sends his followers and what do his followers do? They preach, which doesn’t mean standing behind a podium in front of a large group of people. It means just speaking the good news to somebody else. Proclaim it, and share it with somebody else. S

o Jesus sends his followers to speak this message. And when they speak it, what happens? People hear unless we’re proclaiming the gospel to a wall, then people will hear it when we speak it. And when they hear it, what will happen? They’ll believe. Now obviously not everybody who hears the gospel will believe we know that.

Every Nation at the Throne of God

But what did we just sing? We know the end of this story and the end of the story. Every nation, tribe, and tongue will be gathered around the throne of God singing praises to him for his salvation. That means you can go anywhere in the world, any of those people groups in the red, you can proclaim the gospel and you can have confidence. Somebody’s coming out, somebody’s going to believe it.

So when they hear, they’ll believe, when they believe, what will they do? They’ll call. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be what? Saved. So now, alright, we kind of see the plan. Let’s look back then and ask, where can this plan break down? Will those who call on the name of the Lord be saved? Absolutely. Will those who believe call on Jesus? Yes. Will those who here believe?

Again, not everybody, but we know some will be guaranteed. When the good news is preached, will people hear Yes, unless we’re preaching to a wall? Yes. Is Jesus still sending people or is he taking a generation off? I don’t think he has. He’s still sending his followers. The only potential breakdown in this whole plan is when his followers, people who have the gospel, choose not to do whatever it takes to proclaim the gospel to people who’ve never heard it.

In other words, when followers of Jesus say, we’re just going to live our lives in places where the gospel has gone and we’re going to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to 3 billion people, we’re basically going to create a whole culture of Christianity that ignores them and throws pennies to them.

And this is the Christianity that you are surrounded by right now in our culture where you can coast through a nice, comfortable, casual cultural Christianity that turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to 3 billion people who’ve never heard the gospel. 3 billion people who are on a road that leads to an eternal hell and nobody’s even told them how they can go to heaven. And I want to urge you this morning not to settle for that kind of Christianity.

Don’t settle for anything less than whatever God calls you to do no matter what it costs to get the gospel to those who’ve never heard it this morning, I’m inviting you to be a part of changing this picture. God is inviting you to be a part of changing this picture. And you might think, well, what can I do to change that? I’m only one person. Well, of course you are. We all are. And God made us that way. But so are they. I know I’ve mentioned 3 billion people over and over again,

But these are individual people. See them. We’re talking about Jira in Afghanistan. Her people group is PTOs, the largest people group in Afghanistan. She and her close-knit tribe live by a code of protecting one another’s honor and showing generous hospitality. She works hard for her family day in and day out in a barren mountainous region where she lives. We’re talking about the healing in Somalia. He lives in the capital Mogadishu.

It’s a port city just north of the equator on the Indian Ocean. Most of the men he knows have left Somalia. He has stayed convinced it’s the best way he can care for his parents his wife and his kids. We’re talking about Amir and Aaliyah and Yemen, an older brother and a younger sister who still have childlike zeal for life even though they live in one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world right now surrounded by civil war and conflict that they are born into with parents who struggle every day to find food for them. And here in this moment, what Jesus is saying about each one of them, they are all RA to heal Amir and Aaliyah. They all have knowledge of God.

Why Have People Rejected God?

They’ve all rejected God. They’re guilty of sin and stand condemned before God for their sin. Yet God loves them, all of them. God loves each. God loves to heal. God loves Amir. God loves Aaliyah so much that he has sent his son Jesus God in the flesh to give his life so that they could have eternal life with him.

But they can’t experience eternal life with him if they don’t hear from somebody who knows Jesus about him. And Jesus is saying to an arena full of college students who know this good news, I have left you here for a reason. And it’s not to spend your life on stuff that won’t last. Open your eyes and see what will last 3 billion, haha and to heal.

And Amirs and Aaliyah are on a road right now that leads to an internal hell, nobody’s told them how they can go to heaven. And some of us are still thinking, but how can that be just of God? And isn’t it just like us in our sinfulness to point the finger at the supposed injustice of God as an excuse for why we won’t obey the clear commands of God?

See it. Do you want justice and give your life, do whatever it takes to alleviate eternal suffering, eternal poverty, eternal slavery to sin for billions of people. That’s the invitation for you. No matter who you are, no matter what gifts, or skills you might have, regardless of your degree, your wiring, whatever you bring to the table for you to put a stake in the ground today and say, God, I will do whatever you call me to do, no matter what it costs to get the gospel to people who have never heard it. So will you bow your heads with me all across the room?

I invite you to bow your heads and close your eyes. I just really want to challenge you to keep your eyes closed during this time. This invitation is not about anybody else but you and God. This is not about seeing and how anybody else responds. It’s sure not a lot about letting how they respond affect the way you respond as best as I can.

I just want to help you to look to God alone right now. He’s the one speaking to your heart to tune everybody else out. And in just a moment, I’m going to ask you to stand. If you would say, God, I will do whatever you call me to do, no matter what it costs to get the gospel to people who’ve never heard it.

And I really want to encourage you to stand only if you’re willing to put a stake in the ground today and say that. And some of you, for a host of reasons, are not at a point where you’re ready to say that at the same time.

Others of you may have said something like this in the past. I want you to feel the freedom to stand and say in a fresh way, that steak is still in the ground in my life. God, here I am. Whatever you call me to do, you alone know what’s going on in your heart and your life right now.

Redefining Christianity

But I’m praying that God will raise up a generation of students who will redefine Christianity by saying, we’re doing whatever it takes to get the gospel to people who’ve never heard it. And this moment is an opportunity for some of you to join in that.

So, God, I pray that you would help every person in this room to respond with honest authenticity and humble courage right now. So right now, before God, just you and God, if you would say, God, I will do whatever you call me to do, no matter what it costs to get the gospel. People who’ve never heard it, would you just quietly stand up where you are? Just you before God, just you before God. Just keep thinking about anybody else around you. Just you before God.

Anybody else? Oh God. You see, not only this physical action but the hearts underneath this physical action of standing. God, pray that you will be pleased, honored, and glorified. And these statements, stakes, surrender today.

God, I certainly don’t presume, and they don’t know all that this means for them in the days ahead. But I pray for a spirit of faith over them that they would trust you. If they can trust you to save them, satisfy them for the next 10 trillion years. Surely they can trust you to lead them on this earth wherever you want them to go.

And God, I pray, we pray together that you would use the lives of those who are responding to your prompting and this way today to make the good news of your grace known among the nations. God, we ask boldly today that there would be people in the red who hear the gospel for the first time from the lips, the feet of those who are standing right now. We pray that you would direct their steps, whether that is moving overseas at some point, whether that’s staying here, for the rest of their lives, whatever it might be that they would pray, they would give, they would go.

They would give their lives. Making disciples. Making disciples who make disciples of the nations. We pray that unreached people will be reached because of what your spirit is doing in this room right now.

I pray that you would guard and protect them from every attempt of the adversary to pull them away from you and from this surrender to you in the days, months, and years to come. And God, I pray also on behalf of those who are sitting for a variety of reasons.

Thank you for their honesty in this moment, God and I pray that they would know in a fresh way, even in this moment, that they are loved by you and that you would do whatever is needed in their hearts to bring them, to surrender to you with their lives.

That you would show that this is the way to live. How do we pray all of these things with a longing that in our day, multitudes in the red would be reached with the good news of your grace in Jesus’ name And all God’s people say amen? And just stand with me, all of you.