Does God Love Everyone?

“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:44-45

Does God Love Everyone? Most people would answer yes,  and they would not be entirely correct. In one sense, God   loves everyone through His merciful love. What I mean by this is that God does not immediately punish unbelievers for their sins. When God blesses His people, unbelievers can be blessed as well. The passage above is another example of His merciful love.

However, when it comes to evangelizing the lost, many people will tell them that God loves them and has a better    plan for them. Paul Washer commented on this type of false evangelism. “So you walk up to this man [sinner], and you say, “God loves you, and He has a wonderful plan for your life!” and he goes, “What? God loves me? That’s fantastic. I LOVE ME, TOO! And He loves me more than I love me? Well, that’s hard to imagine. I’ll take a God like that.” The truth is that before    we are saved we are at enmity with God. James writes, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4).” Did you catch that? If you love the world, God declares you His enemy. Does not sound like He loves you the way the progressive preachers proclaim the Gospel.

Joel Osteen’s wife, Victoria, declared one day from their church pulpit that God loves you just the way you are. Rick Warren proclaimed that God would never stop loving you even if you reject Him and go to hell. The truth is that God loves those who repent of their sin and trust in His Son, Jesus, as Lord and Savior.

Michael Houdmann explains Gods love this way, “The love of God that justifies sinners is not extended to everyone, only to those who have faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). The love of God that brings people into intimacy with Himself is not extended to everyone, only to those who love the Son of God (John 14:21).

This love could be thought of as God’s “covenant love,” and it is conditional, given only to those who place their faith in Jesus for salvation (John 3:36). Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are loved unconditionally, securely, forever.”

The Gospel is offensive to the lost, but it does no good to water it down to try to convince someone to come to saving faith. Without transformation, there  is no salvation.

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark