SO GREAT A SALVATION
Hebrews 2:3
3. how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
In Hebrews 2:3 we are confronted first with the possibility of neglect. Most of the calamities of life are caused by simple neglect. By neglect of education, children grow up in ignorance; by neglect, a farm grows up to weeds and briars ; by neglect, a house goes to decay; by neglect of sowing, a man will have ho harvest; by neglect of reaping, the harvest would rot in the fields. No worldly interest can prosper where there is neglect; and why may it not be so in the spiritual.
Secondly, we are warned about the peril of neglect, “How shall we escape?” Neglect brings ruin. Ecclesiastes 10:18 states, 18. Because of laziness the building decays, and through idleness of hands the house leaks. Neglect comes from disinterest and that leads to decay and destruction.
Thirdly, we observe the presumption of neglect - “great salvation.” Now the word great relates either to quality or quantity. When something is better than good it IS great. When something is better than big, it is great.
When God looked on His creation, He said it was “good.” When God refers to salvation, He calls it “great.”
Why is salvation great? I have looked at this and it is because of its availability, simplicity, and its productivity.
I. Salvation is great because of its PERSON
Salvation is not in a place. Salvation is not in a process (wafer, water, or works). It is the Word that became flesh [I John 1:14]. It is a person.
If someone is the best, we call them great. Babe Ruth was called the “The great bambino.” Salvation is great because Jesus is great.
A. Great high priest (Hebrews 4:14)
14. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
B. Great shepherd (Hebrews 13:20, 21)]
20. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21. make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
C. Great king (Matthew 12:42)
42. "The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.
Jesus was great:
• in His VIRGIN birth (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23)
14. "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
23. "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’’ which is translated, "God with us.’’
• in His VIRTUOUS life (I Peter 2:21, 22)
21. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
22. "Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth’’;
• in His VICARIOUS death (Romans 5:9-11)
9. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
10. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
11. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
• in His VICTORIOUS resurrection (Philippians 3:10)
(I Peter 3:21)
10. that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
21. There is also an antitype which now saves us, namely baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
• in His VISIBLE return (Titus 2:13)
13. looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
II. Salvation is great because of its POWER
A. Power to transform (2 Corinthians 5:17)
17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
An English Duke visited the Fiji Islands, and he remarked to the elderly chief. “It is a pity that you have been taken in by the foreign missionaries. Don’t you know that no one believes the Bible anymore.”
The old chief’s eyes flashed as he answered. “See that great rock over there. That is where we used to kill our victims. See that furnace next to it. That is where we roasted them. You had better thank God for the gospel because if it had not been for the Bible that told us about Jesus, you would be breakfast.”
B. Power to tranquilize (Micah 6:8)
8. He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
C. Power to teach (Titus 2:11-14)
11. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
12. teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
13. looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
14. who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
III. Salvation is great because of its PROVISION
Salvation is great because of what it provides.
A. Salvation provided a redemption from Satan’s grasp (Hebrews 2:14-15)
14. Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
15. and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
The only way to destroy Satan was to rob him of his weapon, death - physical, spiritual, eternal death. Satan knew that God required death for us because of sin. Death had become the most certain fact of life. Satan knew that men, if they remained as they were, would die and go out of God’s presence into hell forever. Satan wants to hold onto men until they die, because once they are dead the opportunity for salivation is gone forever. Men cannot escape after death. So God had to wrest from Satan the power of death. And for that purpose Jesus came.
If you have a more powerful weapon than your enemy, his weapons become useless. You cannot fight against a machine gun with a bow and arrow. Satan’s weapon is extremely powerful, but God has a weapon ever more powerful – eternal life - and with it Jesus destroyed death. The way to eternal life is through the resurrection, but the way to resurrection is through death. So Jesus had to experience death before He could be resurrected and thereby give us life. Jesus dying destroyed death. He went into death, through death, and came out on the other side, thereby conquering it.
Jesus did not come to make a way, He came to BE THE WAY. The salvation that is in Jesus sets the sinner free
The thing that terrifies people more than anything else is death. But when we receive Jesus Christ, death holds no more fear. Death no longer holds any more fear, for it simply release us into the presence of our Lord.
B. Salvation provides remission of sin’s guilt
Romans 3:23, 24
23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24. being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 1:7
7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
Jesus gave his body to bear our sins; His blood to blot our sins; and his being to banish our sins.
C. Salvation provides reconciliation to a sovereign God
Ephesians 2:13-16
13. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ.
14. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us,
15. having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16. and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
Reconciled means to bring together those who been estranged. Paul never speaks of God being reconciled to men, but always man being reconciled to God. The effect of the Cross was on man, and not on God. The effect of the cross changed, not the heart of God, but the heart of man.
The cross work of Jesus Christ is the heart of salvation, the total solution to the problem of man’s sinfulness. The only contribution man can make is his sinfulness; all else is solved by God in his death and resurrection of His son.
Reconciliation is objectively provided by the cross of Christ and is subjectively appropriated by faith.
IV. Salvation is great because of its POLICY
There are no exclusions! God’s policy of salvation is:
A. Free
B. Fast
Happens instantaneously. No waiting for the policy to take effect.
C. Full
Loaded with all kind of benefits (peace.....joy....love)
D. Forever
Benefits last a lifetime and go right into eternity
1. Work of the Son
2. Witness of the Spirit
3. Word of the Father
I John 5:10
10. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.
11. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
Salvation is good, it’s glorious, it’s grand, it’s GGGGGREAT!
Conclusion:
The greatest day of my life was the day God saved me, and the greatest day of your life was or will be the day of your salvation. There is nothing greater than being saved!
