June 27^th, 2025          What about those that never hear of The Messiah 

Dear Heavenly Father, We have come together on this the set sabbath to Thank You so much for the awesome gift of You Son,Yeshua the Messiah. And to learn from scripture that it is through Him that all are saved during this time. You have planned out everything and it is all working according to Your plan. So we thank You for the beginning, middle and the end trusting in Your Son alone to do the right thing. And Thank Yeshua, You the only begotten Son, for carrying out His wishes so fully. We also thank You for all Your many blessing and the grace of the new day in Yeshua’s precious name, Amen.
For the last couple weeks we have been taking about knowing Yeshua the Messiah to get into heaven however this week I want to talk about one of the most popular questions people bring up; What about those people that have never had a chance to hear about Yeshua? I believe the answer to that question is emotionally difficult and must be handled with understanding and compassion, yet nevertheless the scriptures do teach that no one is saved without hearing and believing in Yeshua the Messiah. However, this does not mean that there are people out there sincerely seeking Yahweh who are lost because they just never happen to hear about Yeshua the Messiah. To a certain extent, no one seeks Yahweh on their own. Those who are lost, are lost because they are not even seeking Yahweh in what they do know about Him. You see, if someone is really seeking Yahweh, we can be sure that Yahweh sends the gospel in answer to their search. Let’s think about what the scriptural evidence is that one must hear of the Messiah in order to be saved? First, we see that scripture tells us about the need to believe in the Messiah. Please turn with me to John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Acts 16:31 “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” also in Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Those verses seems to imply that everybody, without exception, who do not believe in the Messiah will be lost. However, those that have never heard of the Messiah cannot believe in Him, for it is a fact that it is impossible to trust in something that you do not know about, and therefore it seems to follow that they are lost. This is the argument the apostle Paul takes up in Romans 10:13-17 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” We see in verse 13 that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” Now the question stands “How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed?" Thus, "effective calling presupposes faith in the one called. This rules out the argument that one might call on Yahweh to save them without faith in the Messiah" Paul continues in verse 14 with a question of his own: "and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" This verse seems clear that "faith presupposes hearing the Messiah in the message of the gospel. This rules out the argument that a person might have saving faith without really knowing or meeting the Messiah through the gospel. Continuing with verse 14, we read: "And how shall they hear without a preacher?" Again, this rules out the argument that one might somehow meet the Messiah or hear of the Messiah without a messenger to tell the gospel. Then wishing to make the point perfectly clear, Paul states in verse 17: "So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." This makes very clear that Paul is talking about special revelation, because he is speaking of a message that is told by a messenger and that the person must hear. Since "faith comes from hearing," those who do not hear the message cannot have faith and therefore, it seems, will not be saved. For that reason, one cannot say that if someone who has never heard the gospel lives up to the light they have they will be saved. Nor can we say that, since our conscience sometimes reflects the morals of the Messiah, following conscience is the same as following the Messiah, and as a result those who sincerely follow their own conscience will be saved. We cannot say those things and be biblical correct, because we have just seen that scripture teaches that one must call on the name of Yeshua the Messiah to be saved, and not just give an appearance of acting like the Messiah, and that in order to call on the Messiah, they must hear of Him, and in order to hear of Him, somebody must tell them. The faith that saves is not doing the best to follow your conscience and act like the Messiah, it is an act of will to call on Yeshua the Messiah which "comes from hearing" as we seen in verse 17. and the gospel of Yeshua the Messiah given to you by a messenger in verse 14. Now some may object by bring up verse 18 where Paul says that everybody has heard the words of Yahweh. Check it out. Romans 10:18 “But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” That scripture would seem to make some other verses appear to be unqualified statements. However, we know that not everybody has heard the special revelation, the good new gospel of Yeshua the Messiah, it might be argued that Paul is therefore speaking of natural revelation and as a result one does not need to hear special revelation to be saved and that the general revelation is sufficient. Thus, people can be saved without hearing the gospel. However, this would make Paul contradict himself, for he had just said that one cannot hear the gospel without a preacher and that one must believe in this gospel, which is carried by preachers, to be saved verse 14. So it is clear that Paul has been talking about special revelation, since that is what comes through human messengers as being necessary for salvation in verses 14-17. Why, then, does Paul seem to say in verse 18 that the whole earth has heard the words of Yahweh? Most observers agree that "Paul uses the words of the Psalm [which he is quoting] to draw a parallel between the general revelation and the spread of the gospel. The point being that Yahweh has set in motion a missionary movement, the sending of verse 15 that will reach to all the peoples of the earth on the comparison of the universal spread of Yahweh's glory through natural revelation. The words, 'their voice has gone out,' does not have to mean that the spread of the message is finished, in fact it is still going on. Thus, Romans 10:14-17 seem to clearly teach that one must hear of the Messiah in order to be saved. Another indication for this can be found in Ephesians 3:6 "That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:." Notice that the pagan nations come to salvation through the gospel, not apart from the gospel. As a matter of fact a key passage on the fate of those who have never heard is Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” I believe the point of saying, 'there is no other name,' is that we are only saved when we call on the name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Calling on His name is our entrance into fellowship with Yahweh. If one is saved by Yeshua, without hearing of Him, one cannot speak of being saved by His name. The verse says that we must be saved by taking shelter in His name. But if someone hasn't heard of His name, they cannot take shelter in it and thus there is no means of salvation for them. Consequently, to believe that people can be saved without conscious faith in the Messiah is to go against this verse, which says the only way to be saved is by the Messiah's name. Earlier in John 14:6 we saw how Yeshua said that "no one comes to the Father except by Me." Which means, those who have never heard of the Messiah are not saved, because you need to hear of the Messiah before you can come to Him, and you need to come to Him before you can be saved. Without making any distinctions, the Lord says that those who do not yet have the gospel are in darkness and in the power of Satan and without the forgiveness of sins we find this in Acts 26:15-18 “And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. 16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from the people, and [from] the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, 18 To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” The glorious truth of predestination also makes clear that one must know of Yeshua in order to be saved by Him. Yeshua declares that the Father has chosen who will be saved and given these people to the Messiah. Check out John 10:26 “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.” And John 17:2&3 “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”. Also John 17:9&10 “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.”, The Messiah declares that all of these elect will believe in Him in John 6:37-40 "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out . 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." Obviously, since they all come to Him, they will all hear of Him. Thus, everyone that is saved is saved by hearing of Yeshua the Messiah and then coming to Yeshua. Nobody, therefore, is saved without having heard of the Messiah: "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me." Also, we read in many other places that those whom Yahweh elects to salvation are predestined to believe as well. We can find this in Acts 13:48&49 “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.” So you see all that believe and bound to give thanks we see this in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:“ The truth that people must hear the gospel to be saved has an excellent claim on our lives. Yahweh has a wonderful rescue mission of gathering His elect. We can be a big part of this rescue mission because He brings them to Himself through faith in the gospel, not apart from the gospel. There are many elect out there who are already ransomed, but have never heard the gospel. We need to go get them! And do it with the joy of knowing that the Messiah, Himself is calling them through your words John 10:16 “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd.” There is just one more major question I’d like to try and answer today and that is, “Why would Yahweh command Believers to preach the gospel to all nations if those who never hear it can do just fine without it? We have now seen enough scriptures to be in a position to respond to the claim that those who never hear of the Messiah will be saved if they sincerely follow their conscience or other traits of general revelation. To be fair to the other side, they are not claiming that these people are saved by sincerely obeying false religions, but by obeying the general revelation that Yahweh has revealed in nature and in conscience. Is this view biblical? On the basis of the many scriptures we saw above, the answer must be no. As we saw, no one is saved apart from explicit faith in The Messiah, which comes from hearing about Him. Another important fact that this objection overlooks is that nobody ever lives up to the light of general revelation, such as their conscience. Paul says that the law of Yahweh, and thus our consciences, since they are reflections of Yahweh's law, shuts all of our protests against Yahweh's fairness because it reveals, through our failure to keep it, that we are guilty before Yahweh. Let’s turn to Romans 3:20-26 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law [is] the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God [which is] by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, [I say], at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” So you can plainly see both Jews and Greeks are all under sin and therefore by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. Paul also says that everybody who does not fully follow Yahweh's law is under the curse of the law. We see this in Galatians 3:10-13 “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, [it is] evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree:” Additional, this seems like a contradictory supposition. When Paul says that salvation is by faith, He means it does not come through following rules, such as the law or conscience, but by trusting in someone else, and that someone is Yeshua the Messiah. Romans 3:21-24 “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God [which is] by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” Further, as we saw earlier, the only faith that saves is faith in The Messiah Himself, not faith in the general revelation of Yahweh revealed in nature and conscience. Then again you maybe wondering what we are to make of Romans 2:14-15 “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and [their] thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;” Yet, I do not see how these verses can be used to argue that one can be saved without hearing about Yeshua the Messiah and follows his conscience. First, that is never said in that verse. Second, that interpretation violates the context. Paul is arguing that all people are guilty of sin. He has just said in verse 12 "all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law." Paul is answering that while they do not have the law that Yahweh revealed in special revelation, but they do have Yahweh's moral law by virtue of general revelation. Yahweh has written His law on all people's hearts, meaning that He has put in all people an understanding of what is good and what is evil. Far from this verse teaching that people can be saved by sincerely following their conscience, it teaches that they are justly lost and need to be saved because they knowingly and willingly fail to follow the general revelation of Yahweh's law revealed in one’s conscience. Thus, we cannot say that Yahweh saves those who have never heard by means of their following their conscience. This is because nobody follows His commands until after they are saved, Divine Word Ministries teaches of salvation by faith and not works of the law, and many verses teach that one must hear of The Messiah and clearly trust Him for salvation in order to be saved. All of these scriptures make us conclude that, according to scripture, one must hear of The Messiah and trust in Him to be saved. We cannot hold that if a person who has never heard the gospel seeks the right way to live, he/she is mysteriously following The Messiah and thus will be saved by Him. The scriptures we have seen make it clear that a person must believe the gospel of The Messiah to be saved, and in order to believe this gospel they must hear it. A common objection at this point is this: "Isn't The Messiah powerful enough to reveal Himself to everybody?" This misunderstands my whole argument. Of course The Messiah is powerful enough to reveal Himself to anybody. But the scriptures seem to teach that the way He has chosen to reveal Himself is through the Gospel, not apart from the gospel. He is reaching out to this lost world by fervently sending His missionaries everywhere to tell people about Him. In conclusion I am not attempting to be mean or trying to restrict the boundaries of Yahweh's saving love, no-one could. Rather, I am endeavoring to preserve the central place of The Messiah in the salvation of mankind. I mean if people can be saved without hearing of The Messiah, then the good news of the Messiah's death and resurrection are no longer the light sent from heaven to save people in a doomed world and the supremacy of Yeshua the Messiah, the only begotten Son of Yahweh almighty and the salvation He brings in the gospel may be lessened. Also, I am trying to be faithful to the words of the Messiah, which I believe to not only be true, but awesome in all its facts. Scripture teaches that Yahweh is sovereign over history and has everything exactly the way He wants it. We can find this in the Old Testament Isaiah 46:10 “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:“ as well as the New Testament Ephesians 1:11 “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:“ The saving mission of the gospel of The Messiah always has been and always will be successful in calling The Messiah's lost sheep back to Him John 10:16 “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd.” So I can safely say that the scriptures we have seen seem to indicate, He will not save them apart from the gospel of The Messiah. Well, I just remembered one last question that always comes up when talking about this kind of stuff and that is, What about those who lived before The Messiah? Were they saved and if so, how? Scripture in the Old Testament is clear on the fact that believers were saved. Furthermore, the source of salvation has always been the same The Messiah and His death on the cross. Even the people who lived before The Messiah were saved because of Him. The means of salvation has also always been the same--by grace Yahweh's undeserved favor through faith. The content of this faith, however, differed before The Messiah and was not as specific, but it still pointed to The Messiah. For example, in the Old Testament Yahweh commanded the people to do animal sacrifices, because these pointed to the time when The Messiah would die once for all to take away sins. And let us remember that the content of their faith was still the special revelation that Yahweh had revealed, not general revelation. In closing, please let these truths motivate you to become a spreader of His awesome truths. The world is perishing, and it needs to hear the gospel to be rescued, just as you were saved let others be saved by speaking up about what you know to be true. I encourage you to pray and reflect on these verses as well as incorporate them into your own prayer life. Ask the Father to enlighten you on their full meaning and application for your life. Yeshua the Messiah saves. Walk with Yahweh and may He keep your feet firmly planted in His word and may the Lord bless and keep you all in the coming week. 
May the LORD bless you and keep you;
May the LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
May the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.