Hebrews 2:3 So great salvation!
Salvation
What do we mean when we use the word salvation? We use it frequently, but what does it really mean? In normal English we might say Barney saved Fred when his yacht overturned. We mean that Barney rescued Fred from drowning. The way that it is used in the Bible is similar, but it is used in 3 slightly different ways 3 tenses:
Firstly, for Christians salvation is an accomplished fact:
Your faith has saved you - Luke 7:50;
by grace you have been saved - Ephesians 2:8;
according to his mercy he saved us - Titus 3:5.
This refers to the believer’s deliverance from God’s judgement, which awaits all who die in their sin. We enjoy this when we become a Christian.
How were we saved?
We were saved by obeying God, turning our back on our sin and placing our faith in Jesus Christ and acknowledging Him as our Lord.
Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out - Acts 3:19
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved - Acts 16:31
God … now commands all men everywhere to repent - Acts 17:30
Romans 10 sums up the way we are saved: 9 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. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
The first stage was to recognise our sin and then to confess and renounce it. It is a change inside that affects the way we behave.
Its basis
Eph.2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Tit.3:5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us
Scripture could not make it any plainer that we cannot save ourselves. All that we contribute is our sin. God planned our salvation, made it possible, sought us out and drew us to Himself.
Two teenagers were in a boat on Long Island Sound when suddenly a storm came up. As the waves grew larger, the craft was tossed about and the boys could no longer control it. Finally it capsized, and they were thrown into the water. One of them could swim very well, but the other could not. When the good swimmer came to the surface, he immediately looked for his buddy. Seeing him floundering nearby, he rushed to his aid. But before reaching out to rescue him, he shouted, "I can’t help you until you stop kicking and thrashing around. Just trust me, and let me save you! Otherwise you’ll drown!" The sinking boy understood. Ceasing all efforts of his own, he allowed his companion to bring him safely to shore.
Those who try to make it to heaven in their own strength will find their struggle sinks them! We must trust ourselves completely and utterly to the mercy and power of the one who died to save us.
Secondly salvation is a continuing process to us who are being saved (1 Cor.1:18)
God does not zap us with His wand instantly making us into perfect Christians. You may have spotted this yourself! We need the power of God day by day to change us into the people He wants us to be. It is similar to the idea of sanctification and is the work of a lifetime, or even longer!
An old Christian farmer frequently admitted: "I’m not making much progress, but I’m established." One spring when he was hauling some logs, his wheels sank down to the axles in mud. Try as he would. he couldn’t get the trailer out. As he sat gloomily on the logs a neighbour, who had always felt uncomfortable with the farmer’s worn out testimony, clled over to him, `Well, brother you’re not making much progress, but you’re certainly well established!"
Are we making progress, spiritually speaking or are we just stuck in the mud?
12 Therefore, my beloved,… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. - Philipians 2
Thirdly salvation is something for the future: In this it refers to the future deliverance of believers from the presence of sin at the Lords return for the Church.
now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed - Rom.13:11
To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation Heb 9:28
who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time - 1 Peter 1:5
At dusk, a little girl entered a cemetery. An old man who sat at the gate said to her, ’Aren’t you afraid to go through the cemetery in the dark! ’Oh, no,’ she replied, ’my home is just on the other side.` Durbanville was reminded of an inscription on a tombstone: "Gone home with a Friend.’
Are you looking forward to the completion of your salvation?
Putting together these different aspects of salvation we see that every genuine Christian has been saved, is being saved, and will yet be saved. Is that true of you?
So great Salvation
This passage doesn’t just talk about salvation; it calls it so great Salvation. In what way is it so great? In many ways:
• Originator:
First and foremost it is great because our Saviour is great! This is the thrust of Hebrews 1 and much of what follows in the book. The Saviour is Jesus Christ the Son of God, the creator and sustainer of the universe ¬ infinitely better than the angels and prophets of the Old Testament v2
Mt 3:17 suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Mt 17:5 behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!"
• Love
Secondly in the love that was involved. John 3:16 reminds us:
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. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
A little girl was rescued from a burning house by her mother. The flames came so close that the very hands and arms that shielded the baby from the deadly fire were permanently scarred in the process. As the girl grew older, she became conscious of the fact that her mother’s hands and arms didn’t look like those of other women. She thought they were ugly. She was so ashamed of her mother’s appearance that she didn’t want to be seen with her in public. One day the mother told her daughter about the fire. When the daughter realized that her own life had been spared because her mother sacrificed the beauty of her hands and arms, she said, "Mother you have the most beautiful hands in the world." Her perspective changed when she understood the effect of the sacrifice.
What wonderful love the Father gave His Son and the Son gave Himself willingly, for me!
• Cost - Then, of course, this salvation cost the humiliation and death of the Son of God.
You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1 Pet.1:18-19
A missionary was trying to explain the message of salvation to some fishermen. He wondered if the men understood him, so he asked them to tell him in their own words what Christ did when He died upon the cross. A weather-beaten fisherman, tears coursing down his face, told him: "I just saw what He did. He swapped places with me. He took my place on the cross and left me here in his place, a man without sin in God’s sight. Oh praise His name!"
• Price: But though the cost was so enormous the price to us is nothing, salvation is God’s gift
the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ro 6:23
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God Eph 2:8
We find it so hard to understand that there is nothing for us to pay. Jesus paid the price of our salvation completely Himself. Our pride rebels. We want to contribute something, so people give money to charity or go on pilgrimages on their knees thinking that this will make God favourably disposed. How sad! Christ paid all of the penalty. There is nothing left for us to pay and our foolish and pointless efforts are an insult to Him who gave His only Son to die for us.
• Scope: whosoever Jn.3:16, from the greatest to the vilest. Jesus can save from all sins, no matter how terrible. He can save all sinners, no matter how respectable or vile. The aristocrat, adulterer, murderer, blasphemer, may and must all come and be saved in the same way.
the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. Jn 6:37 37
The pastor of a church watched a former burglar kneeling beside a High Court judge the judge who had sent him to jail where he had served seven years. After his release this burglar was converted and became a Christian worker. After the service, the judge was walking home with the pastor and said: "Did you notice who was kneeling beside me at the Communion rail this morning?"
The pastor replied, "Yes, but I didn’t realise that you had noticed." After a few moments the judge said, "What a miracle of grace." The pastor nodded. "But to whom do you refer?" asked the judge. "Why, to the conversion of that convict." replied the pastor. “I was not referring to him. I was thinking of myself," said the judge. "It did not cost that burglar much to be saved. He had nothing but a history of crime, and when he saw Jesus he knew that in Him was salvation, hope and joy. He knew how much he needed help. But look at me. I was taught from childhood to live as a gentleman; to say my prayers, to go to church, and so on. I studied hard, was called to the bar and eventually became a judge. Nothing but the grace of God could have caused me to admit that I was a sinner on level with that burglar. It took much more grace to forgive me for all my pride and self deception, to get me to admit that I was no better in the eyes of God than that convict that I sent to prison.
• Result:
Forgiveness There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus Rom 8:1
We are saved from eternal separation from God in hell. We have also been saved from slavery to sin and its misery, and brought into great holiness and joy. Even more wonderful He has Adopted us into His own family He is not ashamed to call them brethren Heb.2:11
And this gives us the hope that He will also take us home to heaven. We have been given infinite honours and an eternal crown because we are joint heirs with Christ.
Re 7:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands
• Complete Our salvation is complete in its degree
He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. Heb.7:25
He saves completely, perfectly, finally. It is also complete in its duration. We may save someone and extend their life for a few years, but only God can save for eternity!
He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb 5:9 + Jn.3:16.
Harry Ironside told this story:
One day as American pioneers travelled in their wagon train they noticed a long line of smoke that stretched for miles across the prairie. Soon it was evident that the dry grass was burning fiercely, and the fire was moving toward them rapidly. They had crossed a river the day before but they could never get back before the flames caught them. One of them told the others told them to set fire to the grass behind them. Then when a space was burned over, the whole company moved back upon it. As the flames roared towards them a little girl cried out in terror. "We’ll all be burned up!" The leader replied, "Don’t worry my child; the flames can’t reach us here, for we are standing where the fire has been!"
Ironside then went on “The fires of God’s judgment burned themselves out on Jesus, and all who are in Christ are safe forever, for they are now standing where the fire has been.”
• Glory
The outcome of all these truths has been and will be great glory and honour to God. His plan of salvation God satisfied both His love and His holiness. Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed Ps 85:10. No wonder at Christ’s incarnation the angels sang, Glory to God in the highest. Indeed it is so great that none can fully express, no, nor yet conceive, how great it is.
Conclusion
Are you inside or outside? Christ became a man and died to save such as you and me.
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - 1Tim 1:15.
Have you entrusted yourself to Him?
