Does God love everyone in the world? Modern day religion says that he does. All men like to think that he does. But what does the Word of God say? Does God really love all people? This is what God says in Romans 9:13 -- "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Language could not be more emphatically clear. God never loved Esau at all; but he always did love Jacob. Is it possible that there are other people in the world whom God does not love? Ask the men and women who perished in the flood if God loved them. Ask the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if God loved them. Ask Korah, Ephraim, and Judas if God loved them. Go to the unnamed multitudes suffering the wrath of God in hell and tell them, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!" That would be a strange kind of love that shows itself by the fires of infinite torment in hell. No. God does not love everyone in the world.

But, blessed be his name, there are some men in this world whom God does love. Among the fallen mass of humanity, there are many Jacobs, an untold number of men and women upon whom the eternal God has set his heart. Concerning all who call upon Christ in faith, all who are saved by his grace, all who are drawn to him by the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jehovah says, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee" (Jer.31:3). God's love for his own elect is special, particular and saving. The eternal God will not allow one of those whom he loves to perish in hell. He will save them everyone. It is written, "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee" (Psalm 65:4).

This love of which I am speaking is revealed only in Christ. "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). "Hereby, perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us" (1 John 3:16). "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him" (1 John 4:9). If you are united to Christ by faith, God loves you, and your faith is the result of God's love. If you refuse to believe on Christ, you need not think that God loves you. "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36). But, if you trust Christ, and love Christ, it is because he first loved you. Our love for the Lord arises from and is caused by his love for us. "We love him because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

God's love for his own is without cause. He loved us freely. The love of God is without beginning. He loves us with an everlasting love. God's love is without change. He loves us perfectly. And the love of God for his own is without end. He will never cease his own to cherish. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us!" May the love of God in Christ comfort and cheer your heart today. Amen.