It would be good to preach on
these questions I have this morning. But somebody had the question
about God's love and about God's will. And they asked, does God
love everyone in the world? And isn't God trying to save
everybody in the world? And of course, When you hear
a question like that, you know that's coming from, it's coming
from what folks have heard men say in religion, been taught
in religion. And most everybody thinks that's
true. Most everybody thinks that God
loves everybody and God's trying to save everybody. Well, the word of God is going to humble us when we
first begin to hear the word. It's going to continue to humble
us because God is going to get all the glory. All the glory. And the sinner's not going to
get any glory. We're not going to have anything
to praise ourselves about And that's why God saves through
Christ, through the cross, through the preaching of the gospel.
That's why he uses nobodies. That's why he often puts us in
just very dismal circumstances and makes us continually see
that we are nothing and have nothing and can contribute nothing. He said in 1 Corinthians 1 29
that no flesh should glory in his presence. And he said, but
he that glories, let him glory in the Lord. And when I get a
question like this, it really It really is good because it's
a reminder not to take for granted that everybody that's hearing
understands what you're saying. And that just because you've
said something, that you shouldn't repeat it. It makes you want
to get simple. It makes you want to get in the
word and show everything from the word. because you want those
that are having these questions to see what God says. And so
that's what I'm asking this morning. I want us to get the answer from
God's word. I want to ask four questions.
I've asked these before. They're really good to think
about. And I want to ask these four
questions and I want us to get the answer from the word of God.
It doesn't matter what the world says, it doesn't matter what
anybody else says, what does God say? That's what we want
to know, what does God say? And what God says settles it.
So let's see what God says. So four important questions.
Now Romans 9, here's the first question. Now if God loves all
sinners without exception, and some perish in their sins, then
what does the love of God have to do with salvation? If God
loves everybody and some perish, then what does the love of God
have to do with anything? Why even speak of the love of
God if it's not saving love? Now, most are taught that God
loves all sinners. But what does the Bible say?
Well, the Bible says God hates some. Look here in Romans 9 and
verse 10, and it says, when Rebekah, Romans 9 verse 10, it says, when
Rebekah had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, you
have the same father, same mother, same conception, but you got
twins. There's no difference in the
father and the mother here, twins, conceived at the same time. The
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said to
her, the elder shall serve the younger. It is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, do you see that if this
was the only person in the scripture it says this about, then that
tells us God does not love everybody without exception. Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. They're not born yet. They have
not done any good or evil. What's the purpose? What's the
purpose of God electing one of these children? Why did he love
one of these and choose one of these? What's the purpose? He
says that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
not of works, not of anything in the center, but of God that
calleth. God loved Jacob. God chose Jacob,
not because of anything in Jacob. He chose Jacob because he loved
him, because he would. He chose him. He said, Jacob
have I loved. You see, God's love, God's love
did something. God's love chose him. God's love
chose him. Sinners say, well, that's not
fair. Look at verse 14. What shall we say then? Is that
not fair? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. For he said to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, it's not of a man's will, it's not of him that runneth,
not of a man's words, it's of God that shows mercy. Now God didn't love his elect
because we loved him. He didn't choose Jacob because
Jacob loved him. Jacob hadn't done anything. And
when they got older, Jacob was no different than Esau. Jacob
was a sinner. Jacob was a supplanter. He was
a trickster. He was a conniving Jacob. There wasn't anything different
about him than Esau. Psalm 14.2 says, the Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside. They're all together become filthy.
There's none that do it good. No, not one. Where would we have been if God
had just left us there? If God had just, all humanity
fell in Adam. If God had just left it there,
where would we have been? That would have been it. That
would have been the end of us right there. We're all together
filthy, all together going aside, none doing good, not one. That
would have been the end of it. So you see, God loving whom he
will and having mercy on whom he will and choosing whom he
will, this is salvation. This is salvation. This is God
loving a people and choosing to save that people. This is
salvation. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us. The us is speaking of those that
he loved just like he loved Jacob. Not because of any good or evil
in us. We didn't love him. But he loved
us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. That
tells you who he loved. Propitiation means he accomplished
atoning for their sins. We love him because he first
loved us. God's love has always been in
Christ. It's always, he chose his son. He loves his son. He gonna exalt
his son to the highest. And he loved the people in his
son. And his love has always been in Christ, in his son. This was before he ever even
made the world. We had not done any good or evil,
period. Adam had not even been made yet.
and God chose a people in His Son in Christ. Look at Romans
8 and look at verse 38. Paul said, I am persuaded neither
death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor
things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor
any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's where the love
of God is. It's in Christ. God loves his
son. God purposed for his son to have
all the glory, all the preeminence in saving his people and manifesting
his glory in his name. And he loved his people in him,
so nothing can separate the child of God from God's love. Nothing
can separate us from God's love. Nothing. We try. We tried in Adam. We tried as
soon as we were born. We've tried a thousand times
a day since he called us. Nothing can separate us. None
of those things he listed there can separate you, child of God,
from the love of God in Christ. That's not of us. That's of him.
God never ceases loving his child. When he said, appeared to Jeremiah
and he said, I've loved thee with an everlasting love. Really
that word everlasting means there's no beginning and no end to it.
It's eternal as God is. We can't hardly grasp that because
we don't know anything about not having time, but it's eternal. Always has been, always will
be, everlasting. And therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. And proof of this is when we
were children of wrath and hated God, yet God, for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us
together with Christ and raised us up together with Christ. By
grace are you saved. Remember what we saw in Isaiah
43, 4? He said, since you were precious
in my sight, We weren't, it wasn't that we did something to be,
but just he as the beholder looked upon us and said, you're precious
to me. You're precious to me. You've
been honorable, I've loved thee, and therefore I'll give men for
thee. I'll give people for your life. That's love. Well, You know, you say this,
and somebody's gonna hear this, and people are gonna say, well,
what about John 3.16? 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. Well, for one, that word
so means after this manner. God, after this manner, loved. He gave his son. that his son be lifted up, that
it be in his son through what his son accomplished, that's
how he's gonna bring us to him. It's gonna be through faith,
apart from my words, this is the manner in which God loved
his people. What about the word world? What does that word world
mean? He's talking to a Jew, Nicodemus,
who thought only the Jews were the elect, and he's declaring
the good news for you and I who are Gentiles. God has a people
who are not just elect Jews, but who are elect Gentiles. And they're scattered all over
the world throughout all the ages of time, and that's who
he loved. And if he sent his son to save
us, then he's gonna save his people. He's gonna save us. John
17, nine, the Lord said, I pray not for the world. I pray for
them which thou has given me. That's who That's who He's praying
for. That's who He came to save. Those
the Father gave to Him. Now you think on this question.
Now, isn't it better, isn't it more comforting to know that
God loves a people, He sent His Son to save that people, and
that love will never change, and that love will save. That
love will save His people. Does that not bring you more
comfort than to say, well, He just loves everybody, but now
That doesn't mean anything. There's going to be a lot of
people die in their sin. It brings more comfort to know
those he loves, he saves them. And nothing's going to separate
them from his love. Nothing. Well, here's the second question. If Christ laid down his life
for all sinners without exception, if he shed his blood for all
sinners without exception, and some perish under God's wrath,
what does the blood of Christ have to do with salvation? If he just died for everybody
without exception and some perish anyway under the wrath and justice
of God poured out a second time on them, what does the blood
of Christ have to do with anything? Why did Christ come? Christ laid down his life and
justified each one for whom he died. Those that the father gave
him, those that he chose in Christ, he came and laid down his life
for them. He said in Isaiah 53, eight,
for the transgression of my people was he stricken. These are that
people that the father loved, that he chose and he gave to
Christ. And he said, for this people, he was stricken. That's
who he came to die for. Look at Matthew 1, 21. He shall bring forth, or she
shall bring forth a son, and thou should call his name Jesus,
Savior, and here's why. For he shall save his people
from their sins. There's no possibility, there's
no chance, there's no maybe. He shall save his people from
their sins. Now, It all comes down to this. What was Christ doing on the
cross? What was he doing on that cross? Was if he died for everybody,
and all the sin of every person on this planet was laid on him
throughout all time, then when he bore the wrath of God in their
place and said, it is finished, that means their sin is put away
forever. And that means every single person
who ever walked this earth must be saved. They must be called
to faith in Christ. They must be in glory. Now, is
that so? Does everybody come to faith
in Him? Or is everybody brought to believe
on Him? Not everybody is. What did He do on that cross?
He died for a people. He certainly did die for a people.
Did He die for all people without exception just to give people
a chance, just to leave it up to people if they want to avail
themselves of it or not. That's what sinners are being
told, that Christ came and he did all he could do, he made
it available for you, now it's up to you. Is this why the apostles
were, is this why they were martyred? For preaching that message? Were
they martyred for saying, now you're mightier than God, He
really didn't accomplish anything except you let him accomplish
it. Would they have been killed for that message? That's the
exact principle that the Pharisees were declaring. Salvation's up
to us and what we do. They were martyred, they were
slain, they were killed because they preached the offense of
the cross. They declared the message Christ declared. Christ
said, I know my sheep and I lay down my life for the sheep. The
issue here is God's justice, the issue is holiness, the issue
is, is God satisfying his own justice manifesting that he's
righteous, that he will always do right, that he's the judge
of all the earth and he only saves imperfect righteousness.
That's the issue. He sent his son to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sin. He sent his son to declare
how God can be just to save a sinner. How is it? Perfectly satisfying
his whole of justice. Perfectly answering righteousness
and every jot and tittle. Fulfilling the law perfectly
for his people. This is what Christ did. And
he accomplished that. When he said it's finished, that's
what he meant. He accomplished that. He did it. He by himself
purged our sins. He put them away by himself. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. That's what he did. He obtained
it. He paid the price. He paid the debt. He settled
the account for his people. So that there's nothing else
owed. Now, if you stood before a judge
and the judge The judge pronounced you guilty and you went to prison
and you paid the crime, you served the time and you get out of prison
and you served for that offense. If the judge finds you guilty
of that same offense again, you haven't done it, he discharges
you for that same offense again, puts you back in prison, is that
justice? Well, the Lord Jesus satisfied
the justice of God for his people. And as Top Lady said, payment
God will not twice demand, first at my bleeding surety's hand
and then again at mine. He accomplished it. He accomplished
it. So if Christ died for everybody,
as being said, and just one perishes, that's saying the blood of Christ
was shed in vain. Christ shall not fail. He did
not fail. He shed his blood and accomplished
the redemption of his people. That's what he accomplished.
Now, that's good news, brethren. This love we're talking about
really saves. If you're a sinner, knowing that
from your womb you were a sinner, you came forth a sinner, you
never loved God and would never love God, and yet he loved you
even when you didn't love him, If he ever makes you know that,
a man will quit arguing against that. You'll be thankful God
loved him and chose him. And this good news, if he makes
you know he came and Christ came and he had you on his heart when
he came, he came for his particular people and he accomplished satisfying
justice for us so that now we are risen in him and accepted
of God in him and he makes you know that that's settled. Past,
present, and future, your sins are dealt with. God's not going
to condemn you anymore. If he let you know that he did
that, that's going to be the best news you ever heard. Well, here's the next question.
If it's the will of God, let all sinners be saved. And yet some perish. What does the will of God have
to do with salvation? That's what men are being told.
God wants to save you. He wants to save you. And they're telling sinners,
they're telling a sinner your will is more powerful than God's
will. If you don't let God do what
he wills to do, God can't do what he wills to do. That's what
sinners are being made to think. God's not going to offend my
will. Listen, God spoke heaven and earth into existence. God
spoke light into existence. God created man of the dust to
the ground. We've never We can't even figure
out the human body for the most part. God made us out of the
dust of the ground and formed our body and breathed into us
the breath of life. We can't keep that life going.
God does. He set the time and the place
and the bounds when we're going to draw the last breath and we're
going to make that appointment. We're not going to be late for
it. God did, this is the will of
God. He keeps this world turning. He keeps the sun coming up, the
sun going down. He keeps everything held in store
by the word of his power. And you mean to tell me a sinner
is going to have to give him permission to work his will? Here's where it comes from, 2
Peter 3 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. And in verse 15, he says, and
account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. He's longsuffering, he's not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,
and it says, account then that the long suffering of God is
going to result in him saving. It's going to result in salvation.
Now, of course, God takes no pleasure in the death of the
wicked. Of course, God's not taking pleasure in people dying
and dishonoring him. But when he says he's not willing,
Whatever God's willing to do or not willing to do, that's
what's going to happen because He's God. Here's another place.
Let me read this to you. Paul said in 1 Timothy 2.1, he
said, I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers,
intercessions, giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings,
for all that are in authority. that we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness and honesty for this is good
and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who will have
all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Does that mean he's willing for all men to be saved? He said
pray for your kings. Pray for those that he's put
in authority. And probably in that day, it
would be like in our day, somebody would sit there and think, you mean God's going to save
some of our politicians? He says God is willing to save
all kinds of men in all stations in life, in poor and rich, some
that are in obscurity, some that are in power. a King David and
sinners in Israel that nobody knows that were never even named
in the scripture. All sorts of men, male, female,
Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, he will have all kinds of men to
be saved. But that doesn't mean all men
without exception. And here's the reason. Go to
Daniel 4. Here's why we say this. We just
you see the difference in how the gospel is preached and how
the world declares things is the gospel is going from God
down to man. And the world goes from man up
to God and tries to make man to be the final say and give
man the glory. but the gospel gives God the
glory. He says he arranged all this, set it all in order, works
it all, brings it all to pass, and works his sovereign will
and gets all the glory and salvation. Look here. Ask Nebuchadnezzar
if he understands this about God's will. Daniel 4 and verse
30. Well, let's read verse 28. This
came upon the king, Nebuchadnezzar, most powerful king in all Babylon. It says at the end of 12 months
he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king
spake and said it's not this great Babylon that I have built
for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and
for the honor of my majesty. Now, this man, as far as men
go, he was a mighty powerful man. He's the king of Babylon,
the most powerful nation in the world at that time, and he had
men at his beck and call, and if you'd have seen him, he was
rich and had some power. Well, verse 31 says, while the word was in the king's mouth,
there fell a voice from heaven saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar,
to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee. And they
shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the
beasts of the field. They shall make thee to eat grass
as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know,
listen, that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth
it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled
upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and did eat
grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till
his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like
bird claws. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes to heaven, and mine understanding
returned to me." God took it from him, and God gave it back
to him. And I blessed the most high,
and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? This is the will of God that
saves. Nothing's frustrating God's will at any time. Nothing ever is frustrating God's
will. Job 12, 18 says, he looses the
bond of kings, he girdeth their loins with a girdle. He leads
princes away spoiled, and he overthroweth the mighty. He removes
away the speech of the trusty, he takes away the understanding
of the aged. He pours contempt upon princes,
he weakens the strength of the mighty. This is God. The Lord of hosts is sworn, saying,
surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as
I have thought, so shall it stand. Does that sound like he's wanting
our permission to do anything? Does that sound like he needs
us to let him have his will? Paul said this, and we're thankful
for this. The us word that he's not willing
should perish. That's those he chose. That's
those Christ redeemed and shed his blood for. And because he's
not willing that we perish, because he's willing that they come to
repentance, they're coming to repentance. And he gonna continue
to keep his people. Just go read David's life. He
gonna keep his people. He gonna keep his people. In
whom also we've obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. All things. After the counsel
of his own will. Sinners like to hear their will
exalted over God. This is what Satan's whole pride
was. I will. I will ascend up on high. I will do this. I will do that.
I will. I'll exalt my throne. You and I have a will that the
only time you do anything good and pleasing to God, God gets
all the glory for it. Every bit of it. All, every bit
of it. And everything that we do that's
sinful, we can get all the praise for that. Every bit of it. But He works His will. He works
His will. And He's going to save His people.
There's none that seeks after Him, not even one. He said, My
people shall be willing in the day of Thy power. They're born
again, not of flesh, and not of the will of the flesh, or
the will of man, or of blood, but of God. Of God. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth, that we should be kind of first fruits of his
creature. So, if this thing's hinging on
man's will, why even mention God's will? But if it's God's
will, And He's willing that those that He chose and those Christ
redeemed come to repent us. That's salvation. That's salvation. All right, let's look at this
last question. If God's trying to call all sinners to faith
in Christ, He's trying to call all sinners to faith in Christ
and He fails. He just fails. He doesn't call
them all. What does the Holy Spirit of
God have to do with salvation? What does the Spirit of God have?
Why speak of the new birth? Why speak of the necessity of
being born again if He's trying and failing? What does it have
to do with it? Look at John 3 and look at chapter
3. Our Lord Jesus said plainly right
here, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and the
spirit of God, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which
is born of flesh is flesh. It never is amended, it's never
changed, it's never done anything to it. That flesh is gonna be
flesh. But if you're born of the spirit,
there's a spirit in you too. And that spirit, there's an old
man of flesh, it never changes, it's just full of enmity and
rebellion as ever. But there's a new spirit in you
that's born of the spirit of God, and that's how you worship
God. And it's that Christ in you that's
gonna keep you worshiping God, keep you coming to him in the
first hour, and keep you believing on him. And he's gonna get all
the glory. We're the dry bones in the valley.
He says, I'll cause my spirit to enter into you, and I'll give
you life, and I'll raise you up, and you'll know I'm the Lord.
That's the only time we're gonna know He's really God working
is when we point at His spirit and know it's His power, not
ours. It's His power, not ours. He
sends the gospel to each one he redeemed, and he gonna regenerate
each one. Paul, he was like Nebuchadnezzar.
He's on his horse, and he's got his letters, and he's going to
Damascus, and he's building a church for God. And so he's gonna go
persecute everybody that don't act like he thinks they ought
to act. Christ put him in the dirt. You know when he did that? Paul
said, when it pleased God, when it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal
his son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen. And immediately,
I stopped worrying about what men thought. I quit following
men after that. I started following Christ. And this is the thing, when he
begins this work, he's not going to stop it. You're not gonna
stop it. Having begun a good work in you,
he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He will
confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the word of God. Salvation
is of the Lord. It began with God loving a people
and choosing to save them in his son, simply because he would. Grace. Grace. He sent his son and his son came
and laid down his life for that particular people and made them
the righteousness of God in him. And by God's sovereign will,
he's ruling everything in heaven and earth. at all times to bring
the gospel to those that He chose, that He everlastingly loved,
that He redeemed with His blood. He's bringing the gospel to them.
And the Spirit of God's entering in and giving them life and making
them believe on Christ and rest in Him. And the rest of their
days, this is how He's saving us through the same message of
the same gospel. And He's gonna keep us going.
We're just, we're like a caravan of sheep, a flock of sheep. that the shepherd's leading.
He's going before us and he's going behind us. And there's
wolves constantly trying to run in and out, run in and out, and
try to kill us. The devil's sending, he's firing
his fiery darts at us. He's firing his fiery darts,
trying his best to break it all up and stop the caravan. And
then we're constantly going astray, trying to wander off, aimlessly
wander off from the fold. And our great shepherd, is a
wall of fire around about to protect us. He's a cloud protecting
us from the heat of the sun. He's a fire between us and our
enemies. He's the great shepherd. Sometimes
he goes out and, you know, a shepherd will take a little lamb that's
trying to walk before it has the ability to walk and it's
trying to go out and being rebellious. He'll take that lamb and break
its bone so it can't walk. And he'll carry it a little while.
And then he'll put his shoulder back in joint and let it back
down, and now it'll follow along and follow the shepherd. So he
breaks our bones sometime. And he's just gonna keep leading.
And the wolves, you know what they're for? Show us how mighty
our shepherd is. You know what the enemies are
for? Show us how well protected we are by our savior. You know
what, every hill and valley and green pasture and mountaintop
and river is to show us how wise he is in leading us the whole
way. And when he brings you there to glory, and there's not a one
missing, not a one missing. You think about David, I was
thinking about this. David's in the wilderness, he's
going through all these troubles and trials he has to go through.
because he's going to be the king and he's going to wear a
crown one day. Well we're going through all
this because we're going to wear a crown one day. He's going to
give us a crown one day. But David's going through all
that he's going through to get to the throne and he's falling
over and over and over. One minute he acts like he's
a noble character, because God's working in his heart. Next minute,
the Lord lets him see what he is, and he falls. Why is he doing
all that? The Lord is endearing himself
to David, so that when David gets the crown, David's going
to do what you and me are going to do when he gives us the crown.
We're going to throw it down at his feet and say, Lord, you're
the one that wears the crown. The honor and the praise goes
to you, it don't go to others. That's what he's teaching us.
He said, Jonah said, he found out, when he was whale vomit,
he found out, salvation's of the Lord. Salvation's of the
Lord. We gotta be, we gotta be whale
refuges where we gotta be. Salvation's of the Lord, amen.