We must realize, like Paul, that the Gospel must reach where man has not been to save those who have not heard. Simply stated, ignorance cannot stand as an excuse for the heathen in judgment. Even the Old Testament made provision for atonement for sins committed in ignorance. All sin, even though through ignorance, must have atonement. Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Man is lost from birth.
He is born spiritually dead, not because he has failed to hear the Gospel. None of us can be exempt from being born in sin. We were all born with a nature of rebellion against God. Men were lost long before the Gospel was ever proclaimed. This state of spiritual deadness and rebellion against God is the state of 'lostness' in which man is born.