Does God Love Everyone in the world?

 

All scripture quotations are from the King James Bible

 

By Dr. Ken Matto

 

The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.  (Psalm 5:5)

 

One of the major teachings which goes along with the free will movement is that God loves everyone in the world.  If that is so true then why does God demand that we become saved in Christ, repent of our sin, and turn our backs on the world?  The old adage that God loves the sinner but hates the sin has been tossed around by free will preachers for years and they don’t even search the Scriptures to see if that saying is true.  It is probably not researched because it keeps the attendance high and the good givers to keep on giving.  Half of that saying is correct and it is half where God hates the sin.

 

The other half that God loves the sinner is nowhere found in scripture.  The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.  (Psalm 5:5)  The Hebrew word behind “hatest” means “to personally hate.”  I have never heard any free will preacher ever refer to this verse simply because they don’t want to offend their listeners.  The reality is that the unsaved person who is in rebellion to God is the enemy of God.  One of the biggest mistakes Christians make is to believe that just because an unbeliever has much money or is very handsome or beautiful that they are somehow in favor with God.  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.  (Matthew 5:45)  The reality is that the more God has given to an individual, the more they are accountable to him.  This applies to both believers and unbelievers.  This also includes the gospel message. An unbeliever who physically hears the gospel and keeps snubbing it will be held accountable for what they heard and their actions afterward.

 

Here are some verses which show the condition of those who are unbelievers in which the Bible refers to them as sinners.  You will see that they are not loved by God but they are detested.

 

{5} Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.  {6} For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.  (Psalm 1:5-6)

 

God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.  (Psalm 7:11)

 

{8} The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.  {9} The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.  (Proverbs 15:8-9)

 

For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.  (Psalm 10:3)

 

The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.  (Psalm 11:5)

 

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.  (Isaiah 1:14)  This was told to ancient Israel.

 

He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.  (Proverbs 28:9)

 

I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.  (Amos 5:21)

 

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.  (Proverbs 8:13)

 

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.  (Matthew 7:23)

 

These twelve verses alone show that God’s anger is kindled against all those who are unbelievers because they are enemies of God.  This message needs to be preached not only from the pulpits but also Christians must tell it to those whom they come in contact with.  Preaching God loves you is false teaching to the unbeliever while it is correct teaching for the true believer.  Many Bible tracts that are passed out by Christians do not have the truth of scripture on them and are just cute little stories.  We must get back to “Thus Saith the Lord” and preach the reality of the fact that the unbeliever is an enemy of God.

 

Then the question remains, “how do I experience the love of God?”  First we must realize that as an enemy of God the war must end between us and we must have peace.  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:  (Romans 5:1)  Once a person becomes saved the war with God is over and we have peace and a new eternal relationship with him.  God’s love is qualified and is only for the believer in Christ.  In scripture, God is never stated as loving the unbeliever but only loving the true believer as these verses show that truth.

 

Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.  (John 13:1)

 

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.  (John 14:21)

 

For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.  (John 16:27)

 

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8)

 

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,  (Ephesians 2:4)

 

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,  (2 Thessalonians 2:16)

 

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  (1 John 4:10)

 

We love him, because he first loved us.  (1 John 4:19)

 

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,  (Revelation 1:5)

 

As you can easily see directly from the scriptures that the love of God is only for the true believer.  When a person becomes saved, they have both the love of the Father and the Son.  This is never said about the unbeliever.  The only two major promises for the unbeliever are the two verses below:

 

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  (John 3:18)

 

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.  (John 3:36)

 

As we plainly see in these two verses the stark contrast in the condition of the believer and that of the unbeliever.  For the believer it is no condemnation and eternal life.  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  (Romans 8:1)  For the unbeliever it is condemnation and the wrath of God.  What the scripture is saying is that God hates the sin and the sinner because he is sending the sinner to hell on Judgment Day and not just the sin.  Let’s start teaching the truth about the condition of unsaved man and leave the results to God.

 

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