If I believed that Christ died for everyone in the 'whole world' that would make His death a failure and make Him a liar, for you see He said that He would lay down His life for His sheep and that He would not lose one of them. It is taught through out scripture, this doctrine called election. If Christ Jesus died for every single soul then there would be no souls in hell and we know that the Word speaks of hell, it is a real and literal place.
One of the greatest books that teaches us about who Jesus Christ died for is the Gospel of John
If we read the 6th chapter of John we find that Jesus is teaching about who can come to Him and He says in verse 37: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” He goes on to say that He came from heaven to do the will of the Father, not His own will and what is the will of the Father? Verse 39: “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day”.
We ask ourselves, who is it that the Father gives to Jesus, His Son? Is it everyone in the whole wide world, for He has said He won’t lose a single one. Chapter 10 is perhaps one of the most comforting chapters in scripture to a Christian, for He tells us who it is.
Christ is the Good Shepherd and calls Himself thus in Chapter 10. It is such a rich explanation of the Shepherd and the sheep that I hope you will read the chapter with this in mind. We are told by a parable that Christ is the door and the Good Shepherd and there is no other way to enter into the sheepfold so consider the following: The sheep hear HIS voice, He calls HIS OWN sheep by name and leadeth them out, “I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd layeth down His life for the sheep”. Further, “I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine, As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep” and still further, “”But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you, MY SHEEP hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me, And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand”.
In the book of Romans, chapter 9 we are given a very vivid picture of the Sovereignty of God in election. Paul is explaining to the hearers that not all of Israel are truly of Israel, only the children of the promise. Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Is there unrighteousness with God??? God forbid!! For that Lord hath said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and compassion on whom I will have compassion. Verses 20, 21, 22, 23 show that God is the potter and has power over the clay….He makes one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour…..He does this and why???? “What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.
Oh what a glorious truth this Word of God. We are dead in sins and trespasses and by the Spirit of the Living God He hath quickened us together (made us alive) with Christ (by Grace ye have been saved), it is the gift of God.