The Greatness Of Salvation
The writer of Hebrews warns his readers against the dangers of taking for granted what God has said and done in and through his Son Jesus Christ having begun in the first chapter to show that Gods message to us through Jesus Christ is superior to any way that God has ever spoken to man kind and so we find the warning:
Hebrews 2:1, 3
1For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
And as if to place an exclamation point on his warning the writer goes on to say in verse 3:
3how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
The issue that we not slip – or drift away from our understanding and appreciation for the salvation that God offers to those who believe in His Son – Jesus Christ
I want to talk to you today about The Greatness Of Salvation and challenge you to pay closer attention to what God has said.
Now God has said in the most dramatic way – I love you more than you can imagine – and this love is demonstrated in “so great a salvation.”
Salvation Is Great In Its Plan And Implementation
Salvation planned before the beginning – from eternity past—
Ephesians 1:3-4
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him
2 Timothy 1:9
9who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,
God planned our salvation before the foundation of the world – from eternity past this plan began to unfold.
And then at the right time – when it was perfectly ordained and established to happen
Jesus Christ – God’s Son came into this world and purchased our salvation giving His life as a ransom for many
Salvation Purchased By Christ
Matthew 1:21
And she will bear a Son and you shall call His name Jesus for it is He who will save His people from their sins.
Matthew 20:28
the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many
Romans 5:6
For while we were still helpless at the right time Christ died for the ungodly
Galatians 4:4-5
But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Salvation Implemented By The Holy Spirit
John 3:5-6
5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
1 Peter 1:1-2
To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood:
Titus 3:5
5He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
The salvation that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ is great in its plan – great in its purchase – and great in its application
But we can not consider the greatness of salvation with dealing with the fact
Salvation Is Great In Its Price
Salvation cost the body and blood of God’s Son.
1 Peter 1:18-19
18knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
1 Peter 2:24
24and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
Salvation Is Great In Its Provision
Life that is NEW – ABUNDANT and EVERLASTING
2 Corinthians 5:17
17Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
John 10:10
10“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
John 11:25-26
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.
Salvation Is Great In Its Process
There is a process that takes place in salvation that is so radical that the Bible describes it in terms of being born again – born of the Spirit
Realize you are a sinner.
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God
Realize the result is death.
Romans 6:23
the wages of sin is death
Realize you can not save yourself.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Realize Christ died to save you.
1 Corinthians 15:3
3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
Realize that you must receive Jesus into your life.
John 1:12
12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
Realize the you must tell others.
Romans 10:9-10
9that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Romans 10:13-
13for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
14How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”
