Is God's Love Really Unconditional?

I heard a preacher recently say "God's love is unconditional" and I thought to myself, is it?  For some reason that didn't really ring true to me so I decided to take a look at what Scripture had to say on the issue.  Here is the conclusion that I came to.

John 3:16-19(NKJV)

16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

19And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 

So in the big general sense I believe it is correct to say that God's love is unconditional.  From the standpoint that God sacrificed His own son for the good of all future mankind, that to me demonstrates unconditional love. 

But on the other hand, on an individual basis, no I don't believe God's love is unconditional.  I think Scripture very clearly tells us that.  Now there are many that will say "how can that be, look at I John 4:8."

1 John 4:8(NKJV)

8He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

There are a lot of people that take that simple verse and extrapolate it to mean that God is so loving that He will always love us know matter what we do.  That God is so loving that He would never really condemn anyone to hell, He loves us too much.

I believe  this is false.  While I agree that God is love, God is also much more than that.  One of the other things that God is, is a Just God.  The whole point of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection was that there was still a blood price that had to be paid for our sins before we could be given eternal life.  That blood price had to be paid to satisfy God's sense of justice. 

Now think about it, if God would subject His only son Jesus, who I think God might love just a little bit more that the rest of us, to pay that price, what makes you think that God loves everyone else so much that He will let them skip out on the whole deal and give them eternal life any way.  That would mean the death of His own son would have been totally in vain.  Does that seem like something a Just God would accept?

Of course not.  Contrary to the God loves everyone unconditionally concept let me share some scriptures with you that tell us that there are people that God actually hates.    

• Psalm 5:5, "The boastful shall not stand before Thine eyes; Thou dost hate all who do iniquity,"

• Psalm 11:5, "The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates."

• Lev. 20:23, "Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I shall drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them."

• Prov. 6:16-19, "There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers."
• Hosea 9:15, "All their evil is at Gilgal; indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will love them no more; All their princes are rebels."

For those that might be inclined to say "yeah but God loves them at the same time" I suggest you re-read Hosea 9:15.

So if on an individual basis God's love is conditional, what is it conditional on?

Accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  Take a look at John 3:16-19 again.

John 3:16-19(NKJV)

16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

19And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 

At the point that you reject God's son Jesus, you have rejected God.  You have chosen to be against God.  Do you really think God loves you after you have just called Him a liar?  Do you really think God loves you after you reject what His son did for you before you were even born?  Read John 17:6-9 and then I'll make another point.

John 17:6-9(NKJV)

6“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 

7Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 

8For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.

9“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 

Here we have Jesus speaking and He is telling us who He is praying for and why He is praying for them.  Is Jesus praying for everybody?  No.  Jesus is only praying for those that "have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. " Those that have rejected Jesus are known as the world and Jesus says specifically that He isn't praying for them. 

Here is my question,  if God loved every individual unconditionally, why would He allow Jesus to exclude them from His prayers? 

Now here is the good news.  You get to chose whether you experience God's love or not.  If you deny God then you have turned off the switch to God's love.  But the cool thing is that God let's you control that switch.  You can turn it right back on by admitting to God that you made a mistake in rejecting Jesus.

God will never deny His love to anyone who asks, unless they have blasphemed the Holy Spirit.  Other than that, no matter what you may have done, no matter what sins you may have committed, as long as you believe that Jesus is God's son, that God sent Jesus to pay the price of sin for all mankind, and you ask Jesus into your life, you will experience God's love in ways you could never imagine. 

So what are you waiting for?  Flip that switch.  Experience all of the love that God has to offer.  It's as simple as saying this prayer: "Dear Jesus, I don't really get all of the details, all of the ins and outs yet but the one thing I do get is that you are God's son and you paid the price for my sin.  Please come into my life and lead me, help me to discover God's love.  Thank you so much!  Amen."