One interesting question that
is often emailed to me, or particularly I get it at conferences and seminars,
is a question That is very shallow, very inept, not really thought
through. But the question generally, does
God love everybody? When you think about it, the
question is sort of vague and vacuous because it doesn't complete
things. To fill out the question, you
have to ask this, does the Bible anywhere teach that God loves
every human being from Adam to the last human being ever born,
or does the Bible teach that God hates some people as well
as loves some other people. One way to catch a humanist is
to ask, does God love everybody? The humanist would say, oh, well,
I think he does. See, that's a rationalist. Oh,
I feel in my heart that he does. There's the mystic. Well, in
my experience, there's the empiricist. Well, my church teaches that
that's the feteist. Reason, experience, feelings,
faith, these are the four sources of origin for the humanist. But see, I'm not a humanist.
I don't believe man is the measure of all things. I believe God
is the measure of all things. Because God is the measure of
all things, and He has revealed Himself in Scripture because
He's not silent, but He has spoken in the Word of God. The question
has to be asked, Are we ever told in the Bible that God loves
anybody? See, they begin with the wrong,
does God love everybody? No, you got to begin, does God
love anybody? I mean, why assume that he should
or ought? Matter of fact, looking around,
I would think God should hate everybody. If he loves anybody,
that's a shock. No one deserves the love of God.
Nobody. The question, does God love everybody,
assumes a lot of things. So I'd like to start in the Bible,
does God ever love anybody? Well, you find here in Romans
9, it says in verse 13, Jacob I loved. Now there's a specific
name, Jacob Iacob. God says, I loved Jacob. So in answer to the question,
does the Bible ever say that God loved anybody at any time,
the answer is he loved Jacob. Second question, does the same
Bible ever say that God hates people? Same verse. Jacob, I loved. Esau, I hated. Well, then evidently, there are
those whom God loves. And there are those whom God
hates. Obviously! Hello? Matter of fact,
if you then look for all the verses that talk about the wrath
of God, the anger of God, God is angry with the sinner every
day. The wrath of God abides upon
them. If you go, for example, to the
Gospel of John, we go to Jesus Christ, who, of course, was the
Son of Love. And in John 3, verse 36, he who does not obey the
Son will not see life, but the wrath of God continues to abide
on him. Now, Jesus said there are two
kinds of people. He who believes in the Son has
eternal life. So believers have eternal life. Unbelievers will not see life,
but the wrath of God abides on them. So there's two classes
of people, those who believe and those who don't believe.
Those who are no longer under the wrath of God, and that's
buttressed by Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 5, where Paul
said, God has not destined us to wrath, but to receive salvation.
There's a class of people that the wrath of God is not hanging
over their heads. He's no longer angry with them,
but there are those who are exposed to the anger and wrath of God. And see, right from the book
of Genesis, all the way through the book of Revelation, you have
two groups of people. Jacob and Esau are just the tip
of the iceberg. They're those whom God loves,
and they're those whom God hates, and He's angry with. Now, some
little cliches, if you're dealing with a humanist, they say, hates
the sin, but loves the sinner. And they'll have these little
cliches. They're like little flags that people wave at football
games. The scripture says, God is angry
with sinners. You can't get any clearer than
that. So, who gets thrown into hell? People or just their sin? What happened on the cross? Well,
sin was crucified, but not Jesus. Jesus said, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken my sin or me? See, the fact that sinners
are thrown into hell reveals that God is angry at sinners
because of their sin. That little cliche, God loves
his sinner but hates his sin, where is that taught in the Bible?
Nowhere. It blurs the distinction. Now,
Once you begin to talk about the fact there's the elect of
God, whom God has loved from all eternity and sent Christ
to be their Savior, sent the Holy Spirit to apply redemption
so salvation is planned by the Father, purchased by the Son,
sealed by the Spirit, blessed God through Him, then there are
the reprobates for whom There's nothing but blackness and damnation
ahead. The moment you say this, immediately
the mystics arise, and they give you all this emotional vomiting. I call it emotional vomiting,
an emotional response. But you see, you have to tie
them down to specific verses, such as in Hebrews, where it
says, those whom I love I chasten and receive as sons." Despise
not the chastening of the Lord. Why? If He's chastening you,
it's because He loves you. You are His child. And He receives
you as His child. Did the author of Hebrews say
that God is chastening everybody? Not according to the Bible. Sometimes
His judgment comes upon people unto their damnation. It's not
chastening. Everybody's not a child of God.
God hates certain people, loves certain people. There are two
classes of people. Christ came for certain. He says,
I came to give my life for the sheep. There are those who are
not a sheep, and he didn't come for them. This is Christianity
for those who want the Bible. Now, in closing, I'm aware of
the fact, in the past, I've actually dealt with people, very sloppy
thinkers. The Bible says, for God so loved
the world, that in the context, it's the world of believers.
That whosoever believeth in him defines what the word world is. And they'll say, well, if this
is the God that is, I don't want him. And I'm happy with that.
I would rather you know the truth, stare it in the eye, and say,
I reject it, and walk away. Be an atheist. You want to be
an atheist? Be an honest one. I submit to the Word of God and
to the God of the Word and to Jesus Christ as my prophet, priest,
and king. And I submit to whatever the
scripture teaches. And the Bible teaches, Jacob
I love, Esau I hate. There's two classes of people.
And that's the way it is. So if you're not happy with biblical
teaching, fine. Go out and find your own religion.
Leave the Christian church. Go into the Unitarians of the
new age. Stop cluttering up the pews. We who remain will be in revival
the moment you hit the door, because the greatest hindrance
to revival and reformation are the deadbeat, unregenerate humanists
who clutter up the churches. Shouldn't be here. because you
don't submit to the scriptures. You shouldn't be here. You have
your own religion. Good. Go for it. Then you will
know that you are in need of a Satan.