Does God Love Everyone, and Did Jesus Die for Everyone?
By Nick Bibile
We
need to preach Repentance first to the Unbelievers, so they will be convicted of
their sins and turn to Christ as our goal is to win souls.
Joh 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am
known of mine. 15 As the Father knoweth me, even so
know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Click here to get a Free Evangelism Tract
God has a general love to all his creatures as he gives the rain, the sunshine to all. He is the creator of all mankind and we are told to love even our own enemies. But God’s particular, intimate love is with the true believers. Only to the true believer he can say, he loves you.
I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20)
If we tell
the unbelievers that God intimately loves them, repentance is not needed, as God
loves them anyway! But they say, “God loves the sinners but hate the sin.” If
God loves the sinners why does God send sinners to hell for eternity? God
punishes the sinner in hell. The God of the Bible will not compromise because
he is infinitely holy, if God is not holy then there will be no hell as he will
wink at every sinner and give them bear hugs to all sinners.
Joh
There are many
Christians when witnessing to unbelievers they say, “God loves you and he has a
wonderful plan for your life”, this is the most common teaching of the majority
of the churches today, but this was not the common teaching of the historical
church. There is not one scripture in the Bible to say when apostles were
witnessing to the unbelievers they said, “God loves you.” Then why is it today
many Arminian Christians are saying to the unbelievers “God loves you.” Let us
expose this kind of tradition. By the
way Roman Catholicism believes the same as the Arminians so they joined hands
together in this issue.
When ever you
witness to someone saying, “God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your
life.” It is so tempting to the flesh.
Great, if you become a Christian, everything is going to be alright. You
will have wealth, health, peace, joy and pleasure for the rest of your life.
This is what many think of the wonderful plan. God is going to bless you.
Did Jesus tell his
disciples, “God has a wonderful plan for you, follow me and you will have
wealth, good health, peace and joy for the rest of your life?”
No, Jesus said the
opposite. This is what Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Lu 9:23)
Dear friends, the
false church is lying to the people. No wonder, over 90% of the people who
makes a decision for Christ fall away. According to Jesus following him is not
on the broad road that leads many into hell but the narrow gate which is very
difficult to enter. True Christians will go through tough times in this wicked
world as they will not conform to the world and the world will make fun out of
them.
2Ti
Jesus never told
his disciples, “God has a wonderful plan for you. But told the truth, “In the
world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the
world.” (John 16:33)
Arminians say the following
“God loves you” And they will go to John 3:16, they try to make their
point by saying God loves everyone and he personally love you, please accept
him. They are begging the unbeliever to accept God. Here we see God frustrated
if people will not believe in him, going after everyone begging to come to him.
Dear friends, this is not the God of the Bible but let us first see John 3:16
Joh
John 3:16
Joh
Let us see briefly this scripture see the context. God is speaking to
Nicodemus, a teacher of the Jews. From Jewish perspective there are only two
kinds of people. The Jews, Gods special people and the
Gentiles who are in the world. Just like how Christians would say today
we are Christians and the unbelievers are of the world. Jesus is telling
Nicodemus God so loved the world (Gentiles) that he gave his only begotten Son,
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Whosoever believes in God is
a believer and not unbeliever. What Jesus is telling Nicodemus is God loves not
only the Jewish believers but also the Gentile believers. The nations or the
world was distinct from the Jews; see (Romans
The meaning of the
world here in context, means Gentiles or other ethnic groups of the world.
Ro
13 For I speak to
you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine
office.
14 If by any means
I may provoke to emulation
them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
15 For if the
casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the
receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
Here we see the
Gentiles are of the world and verse 14 is clearly speaking of the Jews.
Now go to Luke
12:30.
Lu
Luke was a Gentile
and writing not from a Jewish mind but from a Gentile mind. For the Gentile
mind it is the unbelievers are nations of the world. Now Matthew who was Jew
writes on the same scripture.
Mt
Let us see the
verse next to John 3:16 verse 17 so we can see the context.
Joh
Now if you say, God
loves everyone and the mission of Jesus is, the world through him might be
saved, a question should be asked, “Are all people saved.” The answer is no. Then the next question. “Did Jesus fail in his mission as
could not save all?” Absolutely not. Then the world in John 3:16 and verse 17 is
talking again of the Gentile believers who would believe in him. The Jewish mind (Jesus is speaking to
Nicodemus the Jew) they were expecting the Messiah to deliver the people of
But Jesus is
speaking to Nicodemus the Jew and saying, no. The Messiah’s mission is not to
bring punishment but to save. Saving not from a physical
kingdom but from their sins.
Mt
His people are the
elect. But even the elect or born to this world as sinners
and they were lost. They were too the children of disobedience.
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that
now worketh in the children of disobedience.
But Christ mission
was to save which was lost.
Mt
So we clearly see
the context in John 3:16 and 17, God loving the world means God loving the
Gentile believers.
Jesus was
manifested the Father’s name to the believers and not to the unbelievers.
Ac
Before even the
elect were unbelievers but when they heard the gospel they believed because
they were ordained to eternal life by God.
My Friends John
On the other hand
we see scriptures the world means unbelievers who will not believe in
Jesus. There is a clear distinct of the
world, God loving the world means Gentile believers and the rest are
unbelievers.
Joh
Here the world is
the unbelievers.
Joh
Here again we see
the believers are different than the unbelievers, unbelievers and the world
goes together. But the believers are not worldly. Unbelievers would love if the
believers would conform to the world. They hate the believers because they will
not become like them.
Joh 17:6 I have
manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine
they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
Fulfillment of John 3:16
Acts
2:5 Now there
were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the
multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing
them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished,
saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we
hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians
and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia,
Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and
Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works
of God.” Peter gives his famous sermon at Pentecost and they
were cut to the heart of their sins against God and three thousand were saved.
But
Peter too like Nicodemus still had problems that preaching to the
Gentiles. However God decided to use Peter to win the Gentile Roman Cornelius
who was a God fearing Gentile. Peter
went to pray, then he saw a vision.
Acts
Again God had
to repeat three times to Peter.
Eventually Peter realized that the gospel must be preached to the
Gentiles also, the Gentiles too can come into the
Acts
Acts
Acts 11: 1 Now the apostles and the
brothers who were throughout
God told apostle Paul “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends
of the earth.’” Acts
Ac
So
my friend, no wonder why Nicodemus could not understand when Jesus said, “For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (Joh 3:16)
The
world is any Jew or Gentile who believes in God.
Eph
1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.
A
mystery is something that was hidden before and now revealed.
What is the mystery?
The mystery is that the believing
Gentiles are brought into God’s Kingdom
Eph
3:1 For this
reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the
stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by
revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my
insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which
was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been
revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the
same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Eph
Beloved,
let me ask this question, how can the Jew and the Gentile, the two can become
one? By abolishing the ceremonial law. The
enmity between the Jew and the Gentile was the middle wall of partition. That
middle wall was broken by Christ on the cross, now the two are reconciled
together and in Christ, there is peace.
Gal
3:
8 And the
Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the
Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you
shall all the nations be blessed.”
Rev
5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy
are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by
your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people
and nation”
Rev 7:
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one
could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with
palm branches in their hands, 10 and
crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb!”
Remember the seed of the
gospel, Genesis 3:15. The promise of redemption and
salvation.
Ge
The seed of the woman is
Christ and his members, his members are the true
John
Now in John 15:19 If you were of the
world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the
world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
The world will
hate you, you mean the true Christians, there is an enmity hatred, the kingdoms
of this world and the kingdom of God is always at enmity, remember how the
devil tempted Jesus by showing the kingdoms of this world.
Luke 4:5 And
the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms
of the world in a moment of time
Jesus in his
High priestly prayer did not pray for the world but prayed for them (true
believers) that were given by the Father.
John 17:8 For I have given them
the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know
in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am
not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are
yours.
We see in a
nutshell, God promised a Savior in Genesis 3:15. Two seeds will come one from
the woman, the Savior and his body, the true elect of God or the believers,
then the other seed would be the offspring of the devil, people who will never
believe in Christ, they would be of the world. There is going to be enmity all the way
through until Christ’s second coming.
Jesus preached
the
Does God
hate the unbelievers?
God
does not hate all men as creatures but as sinners. God has a general love to
all his creatures as he gives the rain, the sunshine to all. But Gods
particular, intimate love is with the true believers.
Mt
Lu
There
is a universal general love of God to all men as God is the creator of mankind.
God does not have a particular an intimate love for all mankind as all men are
born sinners.
Psalm
51:5 … and in sin did my mother conceive me.
There
are two parties angry, God and
Ps
From
the part of God, he is angry with the sinner because of his holiness and
righteousness; his eyes are too pure to look at evil.
Hab
We
need to understand anyone who is not a true born again Christian is an
anti-Christian.
Mt
Does
sin deserve an eternal punishment? The Bible is very clear the sinners will be
punished in hell forever. Why is it that the punishment is eternal not
temporary? We need to see this from the
perspective of God’s holiness. God is infinitely holy.
Isa
6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of
hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
In
the presence of the infinite holy God, even the smallest sin is an infinite sin
towards God.
Jas
2:8-10 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of
the law as transgressors. For whosoever
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Then
if sin is infinite toward God, the punishment is infinite. If God is not holy,
then he will wink at sins and say it’s ok and there will be no hell. Sin is
punished because who God is, he is a holy God.
What is our obligation to God?
Why
we need to love him with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength? Because God
is infinitely worthy of love, honor and to obey. Our obligation to God is
great. Sin is a violation of this obligation.
God
does not have an intimate love for everyone. If God loves the unbelievers
intimately then the sinners does not have to repent, as God loves them anyway,
he can continue in his sins. But on the truth is the sinner does not have peace
with God.
There are two
parties angry at each other; there is no peace between them. There have to be a
mediator between the two angry parties. God the Father did not allow man to
perish, but sent his Son to be the mediator.
1Ti 2:5 For there
is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
What is the purpose
of the mediator? To bring reconciliation. He reconciles the two parties that
are angry at each other.
Ro
Once the mediator
brings reconciliation, then we have peace with God.
Col 1:20 And,
having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether
they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
21 And you, that
were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind
by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.
This is where we
will understand how great the salvation is, God has provided through Jesus
Christ. We all deserve an eternal punishment as everyone has sinned against God
and our sins were infinitely evil and we all deserved an infinite punishment
but God in his mercy, instead of judgment, there was the mercy of God, which
came through Christ Jesus. He came to fulfill the laws we have broken.
Mt
Christ came as our
representative. He fulfilled all of the demanded laws. His obligation to the
Father was infinite. He took the deserving punishment on believers’ behalf. At
the cross God the Father saw Christ in us as sinners, sinners worthy of his
wrath. God executed his fury upon Christ so the believing sinners are set free,
we are reconciled to God through Christ Jesus, and we have peace with God. This
is the true gospel.
Then how can someone tell an unbeliever that God
loves you?
If God loves the
unbeliever, then there is no need of a mediator, as there is no enmity, there
should be peace between the unbeliever and God, and there should not be any
reconciliation. But in the gospel, we see enmity, mediator, reconciliation and
peace. This is the true gospel. Telling the unbeliever God loves you is a false
gospel. The false gospel will bring false conversions.
Telling an
unbeliever God loves you. Will not bring true conviction to his heart on sin. Only
a person who is truly convicted of sin will realize his need for Christ.
Nowhere in the New Testament, have we seen the apostles telling the unbelievers
God loves you. Instead, we see just the opposite.
Ac
Why were these men
convicted of their sins? Because Peter did not say, Jesus loves you. Instead he
said, Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,
ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. (Ac 2:23)
First the
unbeliever need to be convinced of his need of Christ, and need to be convinced
of his horrible sin against God, his guilt, the power of sin and the wrath of
God that is going to come upon all who are disobedient. Remember when the
Israelites were in the wilderness the fiery serpents bit them and many died.
Then the Lord told Moses to make a brazen serpent and set it on a pole, anyone
who was bitten by a serpent will live when he looks at the brazen serpent on
the pole. (Numbers 21:6-9) Jesus said, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. (Joh 3:14) My friend,
no one will look to Christ unless they were bitten by the serpents, they will
realize the danger of death as the serpent has bitten them.
Telling the
unbeliever God loves you will not make the unbeliever see the danger. But
telling the unbeliever, that the wrath of God is going to come upon all who are
disobedient to God.
Unbeliever should see the sin, as he had
violated all the commandments of God and he is continue violating these
commandments daily in his life, through speech and action, then he is
continually living without any obligation to God. Due to this he is heading towards the wrath
of God. Then he will realize he needs to be saved, (salvation) from the wrath
of God. When you say, God loves you. The unbeliever will not see the danger or
the wrath of God that is going to come upon him; instead the unbeliever will be
comforted. This is not from God as it is not biblical it is from Satan.
The English great
theologian John Owen (1616-1683) said, before people will come to Christ, they
need to know that they are lost, condemned sinners, standing accursed in Gods
sight. The
The gospel is
called the good news; the good news is we are enemies of God, living in sin.
God was angry with the sinner and Gods wrath was upon us, yet because of his
grace and mercy he sent his Son to those whom he elected. God reconciled the
believer and loves the believer.
Jesus makes it so
clear in the following when he said.
John 17: 6 “I
have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.
Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now
they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For
I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and
have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that
you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom
you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and
yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
John 17: 20 “I do
not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their
word.
Jesus gave a commandment but not an option to preach the
gospel to all the world.
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and
said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I
am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Every Christian must be involved in the great commission
directly or indirectly. We don’t know who is elect and who is not. The elect
are not born with a cross on their forehead. We are to preach the gospel to
all; the elect will respond and believe. It’s our job to witness and preach the
gospel to all and God will do the saving as salvation is of the Lord.
The church has a
crucial role in evangelism. The church is not just a congregation of individual
believers. It is also the body of Christ through whom the good news of
salvation reaches the world. We need to realize there are millions of people in
the church today who have heard a false gospel. They think they are saved, but
in reality not, as there is no true repentance. There is a great harvest field.
Nicodemus thought that he was saved, but he was not. Many religious people like
Nicodemus believe that they are saved, but they are not.
If your neighbors house on fire in the night
and you know they are asleep, will you not do anything about it? In the same
way there are many people around you; do you carry a tract to give? You talk to
many unsaved people; have you at least given them a tract, witnessed to them?
You are learning here every Sunday what are you doing in what you have learned.
Charles Spurgeon said, surely it is an intolerable disgrace to anyone to profess
to be a Christian, and have no concern about the souls of others, while they
are perishing by millions.
Click here to get a Free Evangelism Track