For God so loved the world, that He gave his only (unique) Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16
Can we blindly walk up to anyone on the street and say “God loves you”? What do we do will all these verses? How can a person be convicted to repentance if they only are told of God’s love? Did the Apostles ever use this method of evangelism? What is the Bible’s pattern of sharing the message of God’s Salvation? And finally, what are they being saved from?
Those who want to push the idea that we need to tell every person that God loves them and has a great plan for them, also promote the belief salvation is an offer for them to decide upon, for the unsaved person to ponder and choose of their own free accord. Much like presenting the pros and cons to switching political parties or choosing a new career. But is this the message Christ and the Apostles offered?
Peter, in Acts 2 on Pentecost preached to the people about their sin and their actions and how they failed before God Acts 2:22-41
(Act 2:36-39) Let all the house of Israel, therefore, know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Notice the continual message delivered by Christ and the Apostles. Repentance, NEVER “Jesus Loves you”, or that Jesus loves every person. Never did anyone in scripture present salvation as universal love, rather, repentance is the biblical message, and repentance assumes you need to repent or turn from something due to a violation. It assumes the message of sin and God’s judgment has been presented. The Holy Spirit convicts and reveals our sin, He does not give us loving hugs. He drives home in the heart of the sinner that they are a sinner a deserves eternity of hell for their violations against God’s holiness.
This idea that we can openly begin evangelism with dialogue such as Jesus Loves you, leads to an unbiblical salvation presentation of the gospel and a view of the work of the atonement that never leads people to repentance. I am afraid too many people have “asked Jesus into the hearts” and are unsaved because they never repented and have been washed in the blood of Christ. But they think they are Christians, and they become leaders in the church but they are still carnal people, lost with false hope not knowing the real love of Christ towards His church.
Listen to the sermon by Johnathan Edwards that we rerecorded and ask yourself when was this biblical message last heard?
Also, read my post on “Does the word WORLD mean every person on earth in the scriptures?”