A CLEAN SWEEP

THE GOOD NEWS BULLETIN

The Five All’s of the Bible

Dr. Oliver B. Green

“All grace … always … all sufficiency … all things … all good work … “2 CO.9:8.

In the original Greek, “every” is the word from which we get “all.” There are many “alls” in the Scriptures, five of which embody the message of the Gospel.

First: The “ALL” of sin:

“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” RO. 3:23. We are ALL in the same category. No person is without sin, nor has there ever been one who was free from sin. In Adam, all are born sinners. Isaiah declares, “All we like sheep have gone astray … and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” IS. 53:6.

Whether we study the Old Testament or the New; whether we study Genesis or Revaluation, the Psalms or Mathew, we find the same grim picture: Man – born in sin, shapen in iniquity, wicked in his heart. “there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable … “ RO. 3:11, 12. Without God, man is helpless, hopeless, hell-bound – and that includes ALL men!

Since all have sinned, what is sin? You may rest assured that you will never get the correct answer to this question by asking preachers or religionists. Preachers do not agree on the subject, religionists do not agree on it. But the Word of God has the correct answer: ‘whosoever committeth sin trangresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” 1 JN. 3:4.

Almighty God has not changed His mind about His law. Heaven and earth may pass away, but not one jot or tittle of the law will ever fail. God thundered out, “Thou shalt NOT … !” and then, “Thou shalt!” and He has not changed His mind. But what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh RO. 8:1-3 God sent His only begotten son into the world in a body like unto sinful fleas; and in that body Jesus did what the law could never have done: He fulfilled every jot and tittle of God’s law MT. 5:17. Therefore, “CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVETH” RO. 10:4.

The definition of sin according to the Bible is “the transgression of the law.” Who would dare say he has never broken one of the commandments? And if we are guilty of the least, we are guilty of all. “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified.” According to the Scriptures, we are justified by faith, without the deeds of the law, and it is God’s grace (through faith, not works) that saves and makes men fit for the kingdom of God.

Christ is God’s ideal of what man should be. Jesus came into the world on a singular mission: To do the will of God; and He is the only one that ever did God’s will perfectly. Just before He was crucified He lifted His eyes to heaven and said, “father … I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” JN. 17:4 In every minute detail of His life, ministry, and miracles; whatever, whenever, wherever Jesus was, His eye was single, looking to the Father – and His heart was set on doing the will of the one who sent Him.

He finished the work He came to do. He purchased redemption, He fulfilled the law. He laid down His life, He bore our sins in His own body on the cross – and he did it willingly: “No man taketh (my life) from me, but I lay it down myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father” JN. 10:18. Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye are healed 1 PE. 2:24.

There are those who claim that they do not need this bloody, “slaughterhouse” Gospel that talks of a Lamb on a cross and blood covering sin; but we are taught in the Word that “without shedding of blood is no remission” HE. 9:22. Since all have sinned, and since there is no remission apart from blood, then I declare without apology that each and every one of us must be covered by the blood – or burn in the pits of Hell! Why? Because all have sinned, “the wages of sin is death,” and without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin! It is the blood of Jesus that cleanses from all sin, and through His blood we have redemption – the forgiveness of sin.

Yes, ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God. ALL we like sheep have gone astray – but God placed on Jesus the inequity of us ALL. Therefore, “Thou art inexcusable, O man!? RO. 2:1.

Second. The “ALL” of sacrifice:

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for ALL, to be testified in due time” 1 TI. 2:5,6.

“A ransom for all” literally means “a procuring price.” Jesus paid the price sin demanded, and the price sin demanded is always singular: Whether it be a king or peasant, elite or scum-bum, the wages of sin is death! RO. 6:23. And when sin is finished, it brings forth death! JA. 1:15.

No one but “Himself” could pay the price. Nothing less could have satisfied God; and just as truly as nothing else could have satisfied God, nothing else is needed to satisfy God; for in Jesus, God provided what God demanded: ONLY God could have provided the sacrifice for sin.

God demands righteousness and holiness. God is God, and the very essence of God is holiness. God cannot condone sin; He cannot acquit the wicked; He cannot look upon sin. God literally turned His head while Jesus died for the sins of the whole wide world and “gave Himself a ransom for ALL.”

I am so thankful for those last words: “ … for ALL!” Why? If you will read some of the literature being published today, listen to some of the radio preachers who preach today, and listen to some of our present day churches, you will find the answer to that question. There are many who are preaching a limited atonement – known as hyper-Calvinism (fatalism) or ultra-Predestination. Some preach that if you are elected to be saved you WILL be saved; and if you are not elected, you cannot be saved. I believe in the sovereignty of God’ God knows the ends from the beginning. He is an Eternal Spirit, He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent; but that does not change the free will of man. In JN. 5:40 Jesus said to His own people, “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life!”

My dear reader, if you burn in Hell it will be your own fault – Not God’s. It is not God’s will that any should perish, but that all come to repentance 2 PE. 3:9. It is not God’s will that any poor sinner die in sin and be dammed for eternity in the lake of fire. JN. 3:16 is often refereed to as “the Gospel in a nutshell”: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (Whosoever includes everyone and excludes no one!)

JN. 3:17 is just as precious: “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” And in 1 JN. 2:1,2 we read, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

The devil kidnapped the entire human race in the Garden of Eden. Adam sinned, although God had clearly instructed him, “The day you eat thereof, YOU DIE!” By one man sin entered into the world – and death by sin. So death passed upon all men, because all have sinned. However Jesus (the second Adam) took man’s place and, at the tremendous price of His blood on the cross, purchased back all that the first Adam lost in the Garden of Eden.

The devil kidnapped the entire human race in the Garden of Eden. Adam sinned, although God gad clearly instructed him, “The day you eat thereof, YOU DIE!” By one man sin entered into the world – and death by sin. So death passed upon all men, because all have sinned. However, Jesus (the second Adam) took man’s place and, at the tremendous price of His own blood on the cross, purchased back all that the first Adam lost in the Garden of Eden.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus fought and conquered the foe that caused Adam to sell out in the Garden of Eden. Through the disobedience of Adam, the entire human race was kidnapped and held captive until Jesus paid the ransom with His own precious blood!

“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” RO. 10:13. Never let anyone tell you that Jesus did not die for all sinners, or that He did not shed enough blood to pay he ransom for every sinner on the face of the earth! Jesus died for sinners – not for a specific group of sinners, but for ALL. Luke tells us, “For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost” LK. 19:10. If you are lost, Jesus is seeking YOU, and He will save you if you will only hear the voice of the Spirit as He calls to you through this message.

Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest … Him that cometh unto me I will in no way cast out” MT. 11:28 and JN. 6:37. His sacrifice is not just for a select, elect group, but for all. Come, believe, receive – and Jesus will save you by His marvelous grace.

Third: The ‘ALL’ of supply:

“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall we not with Him also FREELY give us all things” RO. 8:31.

Since God so loved the world that He spared not His only begotten Son – the most precious Jewel in Heaven – He (God) will not spare US anything. Those of us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and come to God in the name of Jesus, God will save us for the sake of the Son of His love: “And be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven you” EP. 4:32.

Some have the idea that God is a monster that enjoys damning souls and seeing people fry in Hell, but nothing could be further from the truth. God is love – God SO loved _ and only God could have so loved. Man could never do what God did: “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die” yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!” RO. 5:6-8.

Only God could love sinners enough to allow His Son to die on the cross in the sinner’s place – and that is exactly what God did. Jesus paid the sin-debt with His own blood – freely and willingly – that we might be set free; and since God spared not His own Son, He will not spare any blessing which we will receive with thanksgiving and use to the glory of God.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” EP. 1:3.

The fifth chapter of Romans is one of my favorite portions of God’s Word. In the first eleven verses of that chapter we find the seven fruits of justification – peace with God, access into His grace, glory in tribulation, etc. these eleven verses with these tremendous words: “And only so, BUR WE ALSO JOY IN TRIBULATION THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, BY WHOM WE HAVE NOW RECEIVED THE ATONEMENT” RO. 5: 1.

It is wonderful to sing about Jesus, it is wonderful to praise His name in testimony; but we should stop occasionally and bow our heads to thank God for Himself; because it was He who spared not His own Son. It was God who turned His head when the Son of His love cried out, My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?” It was an absolute necessity that God forsake His Son because Jesus was paying a sin-debt. Since God loved us so much, since God spared not His Son, He will not spare us any blessing that will make us rejoice and cause us to serve Him with thanksgiving.

God is the giver of ever good and perfect gift: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” JA. 1:17.

“And God is able to make ALL GRACE abound toward you; that ye, ALWAYS having ALL SUFFICIENCY in ALL THINGS, may abound to ALL GOOD WORKS” 2 CO. 9:8.

Yes, God’s grace is sufficient! Anything, everything, ALL things of which we have need, we find in His sufficiency – grace, strength, courage, temporal needs, spiritual needs – ALL are in Him.

To the Colossian believers Paul wrote that they should “walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with ALL MIGHT, according to HIS glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto THE FATHER, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who (the Father) hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins COL. 1:10-14.

To the believers in the church at Corenth he said,
For the Son of God, jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Sylvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea. For all the rpomises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ hath anointed us, in God; Who hath sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.