Why Doesn’t God Save Everyone?

Is it God’s desire that everyone be saved? Or does God elect some people to hell and others to heaven?
The Bible indeed reveals that it is God’s desire that everyone be saved. God is not deliberately electing various people to go to hell, instead His invitation for salvation is extended to everyone in the world without discrimination.

1 Timothy 2:3-4 says: This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. [emphasis added]

2 Peter 3:9 says: The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance [emphasis added]

Isaiah 45:22 says: “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.” [emphasis added]

John 3:16-17 says “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” [emphasis added]

However if God desires that nobody should perish, then why doesn’t God save everyone? Why do people go to hell? Why doesn’t God force everyone into heaven? 

The answer to these questions is found in the simple fact that God has given every human the ability to make free will choices.

Free will is the power or capacity to choose among alternatives or to act in certain situations independently of natural, social, or divine restraints.

Therefore despite salvation being extended to the whole world, God gave everyone the free will to either choose or reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
A rejection of the gospel is a rejection of salvation through Christ. However belief in Jesus Christ and the finished work He completed on the cross will lead to eternal life.
One of the reasons why the gospel is preached is because an unbeliever must ultimately be challenged with the choice or decision to either believe in Christ – or reject Jesus Christ after hearing the gospel.

So we can either choose blessing or cursing. We can either choose life or death.
Furthermore, we cannot separate free will from human responsibility. There are good or bad outcomes to the free will choices we make.

The Bible is also filled with situations where God Himself encouraged people to exercise their free will by choosing among alternatives. However God would also remind people regarding the repercussions or human accountability for the choices they made.

For example in Deuteronomy 30:15-18 God says the following: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in His ways, and by keeping His commandments and His statutes and His rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.”

Furthermore free will cannot exist without the ability to demonstrate love. We can either choose to love the light or choose to love darkness. We can either choose to respond to the love of God who sent Christ to pay for our sins – or we can reject His love. In the end God holds humanity responsible for its own free will choices and He will make the appropriate judgment.

John 3:18-21 Jesus says: Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  19  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.  20  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.” [emphasis added]

Therefore if people love darkness then God will not force people to enter heaven. People enter hell on account of the free will choices they made by rejecting God, even though God indeed desires and invites everyone to receive salvation. This is why God cannot save everyone.

Just as in the Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14), one of the lessons is that the invitation to salvation is eventually sent to everyone, but there will always be people who will make excuses and reject God’s invitation according to their own free will.

Conclusion

We should be encouraged to respond positively to the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we are seeking salvation then we must respond to God’s love and invitation to receive and believe in Christ.

John 1:12 says: But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God

God loves us and He desires to save us. 1 John 4:9-10 NLT says: God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Romans 10:9-10 says: Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

DO YOU WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN or A FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST?

1. ACKNOWLEDGE: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
This means that we have all broken God’s laws and God’s 10 Commandments like those mentioned in Exodus 20:1-17. For example, if you have told a lie; if you have stolen something; if you have lusted after somebody or if you have coveted. This means you are guilty of breaking at least one or more of God’s 10 Commandments. Breaking God’s commandments makes us sinners. The fact that we are sinners who have broken God’s law means that we are accountable to God who is the Lawgiver. Romans 6:23 says that “the wages of sin is death BUT the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
You must acknowledge that you are a sinner who has broken God’s commandments and that you therefore need Jesus in your life.

2. REPENT: “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3), “Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19)
Repenting means: to change your mind; a sincere turning away, in heart, mind and action;
Therefore God wants you to change your mind about sinful values and of sinful living. God wants you to decide to follow Him and to make Jesus the Lord of your life.

3. CONFESSION: “If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9)
God is a forgiving God. God will forgive any sin that you have done because Jesus died for ALL your sins and to set you free from the bondage of all types of sin in your life.

4. BELIEVE: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
You must believe that ONLY Jesus can save you and restore your relationship with God. You must believe that Jesus is the ONLY way by which you can have everlasting life and escape from eternal separation from God. You must believe that Jesus died on the cross for you and resurrected from the grave.
“He came to His own, and His own did not receive him, But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:11-12)
Through faith, You must receive Jesus as Your Lord & Savior and therefore; you become a child of God; you become born again; you become a Christian; you restore your broken relationship with God

Why Not Make Your Eternal Decision NOW?

We become born again Christians by GRACE through FAITH or TOTAL TRUST in Jesus Christ as our Lord & Savior (Galatians 3:26) & (Ephesians 2:8,9). Salvation is a FREE gift received through FAITH in Christ.

PLEASE NOTE: You can choose to pray in your own words. This prayer is a sample prayer and it is only an EXPRESSION of your faith, belief & trust in Jesus. Salvation is by GRACE through FAITH or BELIEVING in Christ Jesus as your Lord & Saviour.

“Lord Jesus, I thank You for Your love. I thank You that You died on the cross for me and resurrected so that I may have life through You.
I confess Lord that I have sinned against You and today I ask You to forgive me of all of my sins, past present and future.
Today I repent and have decided to follow you. Thank you for forgiving all my sins.
From this moment, come into my life Lord Jesus & take full control of my life. I want to follow You Jesus and I want to follow Your ways. Save me and from today, make me the person You want me to be.
I receive You Lord Jesus right now by faith. I trust You as my Lord and Savior – Amen”

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