Does God Love the World Outside of Jesus Christ? — Alan Martin

Let's acknowledge the Lord as we have already today, but again, that apart from Him giving us understanding, it's not going to happen. Father, we do acknowledge this is Your Word. It's not given to us so we could privately interpret it to our own selfish benefit.

And we're not seeking from it something that only saves us and gives you nothing. We desire to receive the kind of salvation from sin unto righteousness that brings you glory. That brings honor to Your name.

That as we are conformed by the power of the abundant grace given us in Christ Jesus, as we're conformed to the image that You design men to be Your likeness, You receive honor from men recognizing Your holiness, Your righteousness, Your goodness in Your sons and Your daughters.

We desire the effect of that. We desire to be transformed through the renewing of our mind. And we acknowledge that that can only happen by Your spiritual wisdom and understanding being imparted to us through the gift of teaching, preaching.

Through that which every joint supplies would Your favor and Your kindness, the grace that You have given us in Christ Jesus, be imparted to myself and to the hearer so that Your will may be accomplished and that we would know You, knowing You that we may walk in obedience to Your ways, pleasing You in everything we do, that we might participate and cooperate with You in Your kingdom coming, in Your will being done upon the earth, we ask in Jesus' name.

God's Kindness and Love Appearing in Christ

Amen. Here in Titus chapter 3, Paul, in his letter to Titus, answers a question that I've been a little bit wrestling with myself. How does God view the world? I didn't get it several weeks ago. I spoke something to this effect and it's still been a continuing thought in my own heart.

And I'd like to speak a little bit more to this. A question for you. Does God love the world outside of Jesus Christ? Is there a love for God that you can have outside of Christ? I can see how sound we are on this.

That's right, you guys are right where I'm at. Let's look and see what the scripture has to say about this. If I'll let you read, would you read in this chapter 3 of Titus, read there verses 3 through 6 and tell me when God's kindness and love for mankind appeared.

Has it always been there? Yes, in one sense. But tell me when Paul says it appeared. What is he speaking about here? Well, who appeared to men to be seen by them? Jesus is the one who appeared to men.

He came to make the Father known. And the Word that was with God in the beginning, what did He do? He became flesh. He appeared. And John and the other apostles said, and we beheld His glory. Christ Jesus is God's kindness to men.

Christ Jesus is God's love for mankind. And outside of Him there is no love for mankind. If you're going to experience God's love, you are going to experience it through Jesus Christ. That's where the grace of God is.

Grace Given in Christ Jesus

As a matter of fact, if you look with me, 2 Timothy, just one book back, the book in front of Titus, 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9. Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us, where?

In Christ Jesus, before time began. Even before time began, God's grace was toward the world and us in Christ. That's why He is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. From the foundation of the world, God's love for mankind was channeled through Jesus Christ.

And outside of Jesus Christ there is no love of God for the world. The grace of God is in Christ. That's where it must be found. It also says that, look, if you will, same book, chapter 2 verse 1. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1.

You therefore, my son, Paul speaking to Timothy, be strong in the grace that is where? It's in Christ Jesus. Flip back several books back toward the front to Ephesians, Paul's letter to the church of Ephesus.

Find chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 7. I'll start with verse 4. Okay? But God who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us. And what did He do with that great love with which He loved us?

He sent forth His Son. That's how He showed His love to the world. With which He loved us even when we were dead and trespassed and made us alive together with Christ. For by grace you have been saved and He raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ.

God's grace is in Christ and God's kindness towards the world is through Christ. And if you're not in Christ you're not going to experience either His kindness or His grace. He's merciful. Mercy means He will not cause you to reap all the consequences of your sin.

But you will not find grace outside of Jesus Christ with God. Matter of fact, how do we know that in Paul's... I jotted these interesting facts down on the back of a... The first thing I could grab this morning as I was looking at this.

Paul wrote 13 epistles. In 8 of the 13 he ends the epistle with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. That's where it is. That's where the grace of God is. It's in our Lord Jesus Christ. In one of them he says the grace be with all the ones loving our Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace be with all the ones loving our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you realize at the end of 1 Corinthians what he says? He says if anyone does not love the Lord let him be accursed. That's from Paul. That's the same person who wrote the love chapter in the Bible.

It's in the same book. That's chapter 13. The love chapter is chapter 13. In chapter 16 Paul says if anyone does not love the Lord Jesus let him be accursed. Because the grace of God is in Christ. In 3 of his 13 epistles he just says grace be with you.

But of course who is he writing to? The church. And in 1 he says actually the Lord Jesus Christ be with you, grace be with you. There is no grace from God outside of Jesus Christ. There's none. And we need to have that crystal clear in our minds.

Grace and Truth Came Through Jesus Christ

Turn to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. Let's find verse 14 and begin reading with me. John chapter 1 verse 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. That's where it appeared. That's when the kindness and the love of God for mankind appeared.

Right here. When the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. See where grace and truth is? It's in the one who was with the Father.

Who appeared. It's in Christ. Verse 15. John bore witness of Him and cried out saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me. For He was before me from the very foundation of the earth.

And of His fullness we have all received grace. Grace upon grace. You don't have grace outside of Him. It's from His fullness anyone experiences grace after grace. For the law was given through Moses.

Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. What was the purpose of the law which came through Moses? The Bible says that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable. That's what the law did.

Grace and truth came in Jesus Christ. And there is no mercy or grace from God outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are we clear on that? Okay. I hope we are. Now, just to show you how clear this is. Same book.

Condemnation for Rejecting the Son

John chapter 3. One of the most common, most familiar passages in the scripture. Let's look at it closely from verse 14 on. Actually we'll start with verse 13. Has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven.

What does that tell you right there? No one has ascended to heaven. No one went to heaven before Christ. Men didn't die and go to heaven before Jesus Christ came. No one went there. Now it says God sent a fiery flaming chariot and took off Elijah.

He was snatched away. It didn't say where he went. Christ says no one went to heaven. No one has gone to heaven except He who ascended from heaven. Now after Christ Jesus died, what it says, even at the crucifixion, it says there was a great earthquake and the body of many righteous people came up out of the grave and were seen walking around.

And afterwards, after Christ ascended, they ascended. Even they didn't go to heaven before He did. Because no one goes to heaven outside of Jesus Christ. He is the first fruit of the resurrection. Verse 14.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but should have everlasting life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, because the law had already done that. The law had all men under condemnation, under guilt. But that the world through Him might be saved.

He who believes in Him is not condemned. If He who believes in Him is not condemned, what's the next statement going to be? What if you don't believe in Him? What if you don't believe in Him? You're already condemned.

And that's what He says. He that believes in Him is not condemned, and he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now, let's make this clear.

This was not the case before. Why is a person condemned now? Well, here it clearly says, because they have not believed. So there is a different relationship with those who have not heard and those who have heard but chosen not to believe.

If someone has heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and chosen not to believe it, that person is worse off than Sodom and Gomorrah ever was. That person stands under the wrath of God, under the judgment of God, for refusing to believe that kindness of God that had appeared to the world, God's love for mankind, the grace He's given in Christ.

When you refuse to believe that that's how God loves the world, you are lost. And there is no grace, no mercy, no hope left for you. It wasn't always that way. In Acts, when Paul was speaking to the philosophers who had gathered up on Mars Hill, Acts chapter 17.

Is that right? Yeah, Acts chapter 17. I'll just quote from there. If you want to find it, I'll be starting in verse 29. Acts 17, 29. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone or something shaped by art and man's devising.

The Command for All People to Repent

Truly, these times of ignorance God did what? There was a time God overlooked such ignorant views about God from people. There was a time when He did that. But it says, what about now? But now He commands all men everywhere to do what?

To repent. It might have been different with God before, but now all men everywhere are commanded to repent and not only to repent, it is verse 31, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained and He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead.

All men now are required to repent, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Anyone who does not repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will not be saved. There is no salvation outside the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now that sounds kind of controversial, doesn't it? That kind of sounds like narrow-minded. Are you saying only people in our day, since the time of Christ, only people who hear, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are going to heaven?

Yes. Yes. Only them. Only. And this is why men take issue with faithful Christians. Because faithful Christians do not allow that anyone can go to heaven, experience God's love, experience His mercy outside of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Judgment of Those Who Reject the Gospel

And just to underscore this and wrap this up, look in 2 Thessalonians, and we'll try to wrap this up early. Actually, I'm always trying to wrap it up early. It just doesn't always happen. It's hard not to be passionate about the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scripture says, always be boiling in spirit. That's what the word fervent is. Always be boiling in your spirit. And look, it's a lot easier to cool down a zealot than to warm up a corpse. If you want to live cool, that's fine.

Just make sure it's not death. Make sure it's not the cool of death that's upon you. In 2 Thessalonians 1, there's a day when the righteous judgment of God is going to be revealed, and it's stated here.

2 Thessalonians 1, begin to read with me in verse 4. We ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith and all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer, since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels.

And when He's revealed, notice how He's going to be revealed. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on what? Those who do not know God. Jesus prayed in John 17, verse 3, Father, this is eternal life, that they may know Thee.

It is Jesus Christ who has come and made the Father known. And if you don't know the God that the Lord Jesus Christ has revealed, you don't have Him. And you don't have the life that must come through Him.

If you don't know God through the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ, you can expect flaming fire and vengeance upon those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. Shut out in some verses. Away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. Well, that should make sense.

Who was Jesus speaking to when He said, I go to prepare a place for you? Who? His disciples. People seem to get mad at me because when I preach the funeral, I don't send everybody to heaven. The funeral home may blister the wall with it, but if you died outside of Jesus Christ, you don't go to heaven.

What do you want me to be, a liar? To be true to the gospel, faithful Christians go to heaven. Everyone else is going to be shut out from the presence of the Lord, from the majesty of His power, because when He comes to be glorified, who is He going to be glorified among according to this verse?

In verse 10, when He comes in that day to be glorified in His saints, He is only going to be glorified in those who have been set apart as His disciples. In all them that believe. Those who have genuinely believed in Christ are set apart.

They become those who are called out of the world, the ecclesia, the church. They are set apart ones, holy ones, saints. They are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He comes, only those will rejoice to see Him.

Everyone else will call for the rocks and the hills to fall upon them and to save them from the wrath of the L-A-M-B. That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

And when the Lamb comes back the second time, He'll have such a fire in His eyes that the people that did not believe will call for the rocks to cover them. This is the true gospel. One last verse, one last reference.

Deception, False Religions, and the Only Saving Name

Chapter 3, same book, 2 Thessalonians. Actually chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Again, reading with me in verse 9. The coming of the lawless one is in accordance to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders.

You know where all these power signs and lying wonders are displayed? In religions that do not give glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah, sure, they're valid. If you're wondering out there, what about other religions?

There's power in them. There's wonders in them. There's signs in them. You can believe those if you want to. But if you do, you will do so to the damnation of your own soul. The apostles testified clearly that for there is no other name given under heaven whereby men must be saved.

And you cannot be a faithful Christian and hold that these others are the same. You cannot be a faithful Christian. You cannot be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. And hold a contrary opinion. But there are lying powers and signs and wonders.

And verse 10,. And with all unrighteous deception or the deceivableness of unrighteousness among those who perish, and why are they perishing? Because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.

If who is the way, the truth, and the life? Jesus Christ is. And if you do not receive Him, you have refused the love of the truth. And for this reason, when they refuse the love of the truth, God sends them a working delusion so that they will believe the lie.

And the lie hasn't changed. The lie says, you won't die. Oh, God won't send you to hell. God won't do that. There's no way that God would require the only ones who are going to heaven are those who are faithful to Jesus Christ.

Okay, you take a chance. The scripture says, Any gospel that does not claim that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, that God was in Him, that He was risen from the dead to give proof to all men that He was the Son of God and that He made atonement for sin, we're not to even welcome them.

We're not to even receive their message. And if you do, if you choose, if you want to believe you're more, you're inclusive, you won't get quarrel from us, but you won't give assurance that you could be saved in doing so.

God's Love Is Channeled Through Christ

I just wanted to simply state, because it became clear to me, that God does love the world. Clearly. And He desires all men to be saved. Clearly. Clearly. But from the beginning, that love and His desire has all been channeled through the Lord Jesus Christ.

And outside of it, there is no hope. Outside of Him, there is no peace. Outside of Him, there is no grace. And so if you know someone who is not walking in faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, let me tell you something about them.

They are lost. And especially if they have heard the gospel and chosen, chosen to not walk in obedience to Jesus Christ and His commandments, you had better be very concerned for their soul. And you had better not make up something in your mind that is okay and create some idol that in your mind will make them okay with God because they're some kind of good person.

The scripture says there is none good. No, not one. Descendants on every man outside of Jesus Christ is death. In Him is life. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath not life. That's the gospel.

Prayer for Faithfulness Through Christ

Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your truth, even its narrowness. Thank You. You chose to clear up all the confusion about who You are through sending Your own Son who was the radiance of Your glory, the exact representation of Your being, the one who sustained all things by the word of Your power, who is the very image of You.

And we receive, we believe as a people, Your testimony that You gave through Your Son. And we want You through Your Son. We want to be in fellowship with You. We want the same oneness our Lord Jesus Christ had with You.

Through Him we draw near to You. We acknowledge He has made it possible for us. He has become the living way through the tent of His body so that we can actually know You. And we don't want to make up our own definition and understanding creating an internal idol.

We believe Your testimony. And that's what we want. And Father, if it brings us difficulty with the world, we just ask that You continue to perfect Your love in us and that You strengthen us so that we might be found faithful unto death.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Alright, we're going to have our announcements and our prayer list for just a moment or two.