So, all right, let's look at
Hebrews chapter two for a brief moment concerning the phrase
here that you find in verse three, so great salvation. So great salvation. When I read
that term, it reminds me of all the many years that I was under
the preaching of a salvation that looking back upon it just
wasn't that great. We talked about the power of
changed lives and things like that. And the gospel, this salvation
does change the life of a sinner saved by grace. It turns our
world upside down, literally, doesn't it? Changes our whole
worldview, our whole outlook on things. But sometimes I wonder, and I'm
talking to myself now, I don't just preach to you, I preach
to me too. Do we really understand the greatness
of this salvation that we have been blessed, so blessed to be
part of? It's an amazing thing. And why
is this salvation so great? Well, I'm gonna talk about that,
but the word therefore in verse one, look at it, therefore tells
you something about that. What is the therefore therefore?
Well, what's he been talking about? He's been talking about
the glorious person and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a great Savior. And I'll get into particulars
of that in just a moment. But this salvation that we hear
about, that we are brought into by the power of God, is great
because of the greatness of our Lord and Savior. Who is Jesus
Christ? He is God in human flesh without
sin. And His finished work, what did
He accomplish on the cross? That's the key. It's not just
that he died, that's a historical fact. It's not just that he was
buried in a rosary, but what did he accomplish? That's what
the gospel's about. It's about the finished work
of Christ. To put away my sins. To make
an end of sin, the scripture says. To finish the transgression
that was against me. to make reconciliation for iniquity,
bring peace between God and His people, and to bring in everlasting
righteousness, whereby God could look at a sinner like me and
say, justify, righteous, not guilty. And that's an amazing
thing. And for years, I bought into
a salvation that really didn't preach those things. But this
is Christ in whom we find God's final word. That's what he said
back over here in Hebrews chapter one. He said, God has spoken
to us by his son. What he's saying there literally
is this is the last word on the matter. Right here, this is it. You ever get your children wanna
do something, you say you can't do it and they keep at you and
at you and you say, this is my last word. Christ, crucified
and risen from the dead. Who He is and this is God's last
and final word. We're not really searching for
the answer of salvation. God's already spoken His final
word on the matter. It's not up for debate. And it
really doesn't, don't take this wrong, it really doesn't matter
how we feel about it or what we think about it, it's still
God's final word. Now, we're concerned with how
we think about it and how we feel about it because we want
people to be saved. We want them to come to faith
in Christ. But it's just like I've told
you several times about the marquee I saw outside of a church building
where it says God said it, I believe it, that settles it, that is
not true. God said it, and that settles it, whether I believe
it or not. Isn't that right? This is God's final word. And
listen to what he says here in verse one, therefore we ought.
Now that means that we're under obligation to give the more earnest
heed to those things which we have heard. Give the more earnest
heed. What does that mean? That means
to pay close attention. That means to hear, not just
physically, not just to hear a noise, but to hear and listen
for understanding. God give me understanding of
these things. Pray that God will reveal himself
in Christ and give us an understanding of these things, to know his
word, to think about it, to think about the implications of it,
And more importantly, to obey what he says. The true gospel
of our salvation, Paul puts it in Ephesians chapter one, the
gospel of your salvation. What is the gospel of your salvation? Now you want me to tell you what
the gospel of your salvation is and my salvation? It's whatever,
quote, gospel, unquote, we believe we were brought to faith in. And I can tell you right now,
God doesn't bring anybody to faith in Christ under the preaching
of a lie. And I'm gonna show you that in
just a moment. He says, listen to it, pay the
more earnest heed, sincere heed, listen to the things which what? Which we've heard. Let's consider
what we've heard. Bible says the gospel is the
power of God and salvation to everyone that believeth. to the
Jew first and the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just
shall live by faith. Is the gospel that I've heard,
is it the revelation of Christ as the righteousness of God?
The Bible says that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the
word of God. I noticed in, I was looking on the internet for churches
in a particular area that I didn't, wasn't familiar with, And I notice
that in some larger churches, they have their pastor, and they
have associate pastors, assistant pastors, and then they have a
worship leader. And I'm just curious, well, what
do they call a worship leader? Well, it's the song leader. And
I thought, well, what do they think? You're worshiping when
you're singing, then when you close the hymn book and they
open the Bible, you're not worshiping anymore? Is the worship just
the same? We worship God in our hymns,
don't we? We worship God in our... If you're not worshiping God
right now, you're not paying the more earnest heed to what
you... This is worship right here. When the word of God is
preached, that's worship. It's not just singing the hymns
and doing all the entertainment that they do. Listen to this. This is 1 Thessalonians
2.13. Let me just read it to you. It
says, for this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because
when you receive the word of God, this is Paul writing to
believers in Thessalonica, when you receive the word of God,
which you heard of us, you heard Paul preach it, you heard others
preach it, you received it not as the word of men, but as it
is in truth, the word of God. which effectually worketh also
in you that believe." This is the Word of God. Now how do you,
I'm up here talking to you, how do you know it's the Word of
God? Well, Isaiah said it in his day, there were many false
preachers, false prophets, seers, religious peepsiders. And he said in Isaiah 820, to
the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to
this word, what does that say? There's no light in them. And what have we heard? Well,
listen to this. Look here, he says, he says in
verse three, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? which at first began to be spoken
by the Lord, I believe that's speaking of his earthly ministry
when he began to publicly proclaim the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom
of God, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, the
apostles, the evangelists. Verse four, God also bearing
them witness, both with signs and wonders and with diverse
miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his will.
God gave testimony, he bore witness of the power of God with those
signs and wonders. And you know those signs and
wonders, what were they there for? Diverse miracles, various
miracles. They weren't there as an end
in and of themselves. They were there to support the
word of God, which was preached. How do we support that today?
With the Bible. We have the full measure of God's
word right here concerning salvation. So great salvation. What is that
word, salvation? I read back in Exodus 14, 13,
Moses said, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. That's
the second time that Hebrew word is used. In the Old Testament,
it was used first in Genesis 49, when Jacob was blessing his
sons on his deathbed. You've heard the name Yeshua.
In fact, if you follow some of the Jewish people who claim to be
Christian, they don't say Jesus, they say Yeshua. Well, that's
what the word is. It's transliterated into the
name Joshua. In the Old Testament, do you
remember Joshua who fought the battle of Jericho? He was a type
of Christ, but the name literally means God, our salvation. And who is our salvation? Well,
in the New Testament, Matthew 121, his name shall be called
Jesus, which is Yeshu, which simply means Jehovah is our salvation.
His name shall be called Jesus, which means he shall save his
people from their sins. Here the word is soterra. You
may have studied the study of soteriology, the study of salvation. And what it means is to be saved.
The context determines what kind of salvation. It means to be
delivered. It means to be preserved. It means to be safe and kept
saved. It means to be saved from our
enemies, who are our enemies. Satan is our enemy. Sin is our enemy. The world is
our enemy. The flesh is our enemy. That's
our sin. We're our own enemy. It's to be saved from sin, death,
and hell. This is a great salvation. Every
aspect of everything that we need to be saved from is considered
here in this great salvation. So in every sense of the word,
that ensures our preservation unto eternal life. That's what
it means. So therefore, those, for example, who would say, well,
now you can be saved, but then you could be lost again, they're
not talking about this great salvation. That's another salvation. That's a salvation that's conditioned
on man. But this salvation is conditioned
on Christ. And he fulfilled those conditions.
He secures the salvation of his people unto final glory. Now
doesn't that sound like the greatest thing you've ever heard? It does
to me. What news? Is it just a pipe
dream? Is it just wishful thinking?
Something we want to believe because it dulls the pain of
life in this fallen, sinful world where we find no ultimate purpose?
Is that what it is? Does this describe the nature
and substance of our message and our faith? Is that what it
is? Well, last week, I mentioned back in
the book of Esther, where Esther the queen wanted to approach
the king, but it was made known that you could not approach the
king until he held out his golden scepter. Remember that? Esther
chapter 4, 5, and 8. He had to hold out the gold.
That's the scepter of righteousness, which Hebrews mentions up here
in verse 8 as a prophecy of Christ. And when the king held out that
scepter, then it was okay for whoever he held it out to, to
approach him. If they approached him without
him holding out that scepter, the penalty was death. Now my
question is this, when does the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus
Christ, hold out the golden scepter? You wanna know when? When the
gospel is preached, wherein his righteousness is declared, because
remember what he says up there in Hebrews 1a? A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. You can't approach God without
that righteousness, without Christ. or it's death. And when the gospel,
we're in the righteousness of God, that's the scepter of righteousness
being held out. Now, if any other scepter is
held out that is not in line with this great salvation and
the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel, you're not approaching
the true king of kings. Well, why is this such a great
salvation? Well, number one, because of
the greatness of our God. Salvation's of the Lord. It's
a reflection and manifestation of His glory and His grace in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 48, one, great is the Lord
and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountains
of holiness. As I've said before, you cannot
preach God too high. That's an impossible, and you
can't preach man too low. He's great in His sovereignty.
in this great salvation. Think about it, Romans 9, 15,
for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion, so then it is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Now
why would God show mercy to me? Or to you? If you believe the
Bible, If you've been made a partaker of this great salvation, you'll
realize that there was absolutely no reason in us or anything done
by us or any decision made by us that would cause God to show
mercy on any of us. In fact, if you believe the Bible,
you would realize that If God ever gave any of us what we deserve
or what we've earned, it would be damnation forever. It's great in his wisdom and
power over in 1 Corinthians 1. I've been preaching on this on
our television program concerning the wisdom and the power of God.
And he says here in verse 22 of 1 Corinthians 1, for the Jews
require a sign. They think a sign would be great.
Oh, God, show me a sign. How many times have you ever
heard people say, Lord, just show me a sign? Well, the Jews
required a sign. He says the Greeks seek after
wisdom. That's human wisdom. But listen
to verse 23. But we preach Christ crucified,
unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called. Now how are you called when the
king holds out the scepter? That's the calling. And somebody
said, well, does he make you come against your will? No, he
changes your will. You see, that's the greatness
of this salvation. God has the ability to change
our will. How's he do it? Sends his spirit
under the gospel to give us a new heart, a new mind, new desires,
new wills. So he says, but unto them which
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and
the wisdom of God. Think about the power and the
wisdom of God. His wisdom. In the last couple of years,
I've heard preachers invoke a verse from Proverbs. That's Proverbs,
I think it's chapter 17 and verse 15. And it's speaking of judges
in court. And what it says, it says the
judge, or that person, who would condemn the righteous, and that
person who would justify the wicked, both of them are an abomination
unto God. Think about a judge who lets
a criminal go free, but who passes sentence on somebody who didn't
commit the crime, puts them in jail. Well, that's an abomination
to God. That's even an abomination to
us. And these preachers who I'm referring
to, they say, well, God cannot justify a sinner until he makes
that sinner just because he would be an abomination to himself.
And what I say is this, behold the wisdom of God. Why is it
that an earthly human judge cannot do that without being an abomination
to the Lord? I'll tell you why. Because he
cannot do it on a just, righteous, truthful ground. In other words,
if he does that, he's telling a lie. He's misrepresenting the
law and the state. He's dishonoring what is right. But behold the wisdom of God.
How can God justify a sinner like me and not be an abomination
to himself? Here's the answer, so great salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ, he was
set up to be my surety, my sins, the debt of my sins were imputed
to him. And the righteousness which he would come and work
out in time as my substitute and redeemer was imputed to me."
Now let me tell you something. No human being in the history
of all human beings has ever figured that one out. That's
why these preachers who say that cannot understand it. But that's
the wisdom of God. And it's the power of God to
save sinners in a way that honors Him. It honors God. It honors
His law. Human judges can't do that, but
God can. That's the mystery revealed.
That's the wisdom of God. That's the power of God to justify
and to give life to dead sinners. You know, if a human judge were
to justify a guilty person, some say, well, if he did that, that
might change that guilty person's heart and they might become a
model citizen instead of a criminal. What do you think? Knowing human nature. But you
know what? When God justifies the ungodly
based upon the righteousness of his son, it will all, every
time, lead, at some point in time, a changed heart. Life given
to that sinner. Faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works. You see? That's the wisdom of
God. What a great salvation. It's
great in His grace. As sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. It's great in His faithfulness.
I love this passage in Lamentations 3. Listen to it. I'll read it
to you. Verse 21. This I recall to my mind, Therefore
have I hope it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. Because his compassions fail
not. They're new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. This salvation is so great because
God has never gone back or failed to accomplish a promise that
he's made in Christ. For all the promises of God in
him are yea and amen. This salvation is so great because
of the greatness of our sins. Think about it. Think about our
sins and how the depravity of man. Think about Ephesians chapter
two. Describes it so vividly. And you know what most people
do with passages like this is they put them off onto somebody
else. But listen to this in verse one of Ephesians two. You hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. That's what
we were by nature. We fell in Adam. We're born dead,
spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. Verse two, wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
whether it be religion or not, according to the prince of the
power of the air, that's deception and darkness of Satan, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, unbelievers,
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature, as we are naturally born, the
children of wrath, deserving of wrath, even as others. And then in verse four, here's
what happens. But God, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us. Even when we were dead in
sins, he quickened us together with Christ by grace, are you
saved? And hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. What a great salvation. And as
we said, look at Hebrews chapter four just across the page from
our text. is so great because of the greatness of our Savior.
Look at verse 14, Hebrews 4. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest. How great is he? Well, he's passed
into the heavens, literally in the original land, passed through
into the heavens. He went to God. He approached
God the Father. You and I can't do that without
a mediator, without the blood. without His righteousness. But
He went unto the Father. Why? Because He finished the
work. He sat down at the right hand of the Father. Why? Because
He finished the work. That's how great our High Priest
is. Jesus, the Son of God, let's hold fast our profession. The price that He paid and the
product that resulted. What was the price He paid? He
paid the price of His own precious blood. for the salvation of his
people. The product that resulted, life
from the dead, righteousness established. The righteous king
extending the scepter to his people. And it's great because
of the greatness of our blessings. Which blessings did Christ earn
for us and which blessings do we earn? Do you know that's kind
of like modern day Christianity, isn't it? There's some blessings
Christ earned, but now there's some blessings we've got to earn.
That's a false gospel. That's not such a great salvation.
But which blessings did he earn for his people? Ephesians 1.3,
one verse. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with
all spiritual blessing. How many? All spiritual blessing. in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. That's this great salvation.
It's an inheritance, it's incorruptible, it's reserved in heaven for us.
Now, what are we to do with this great salvation? What does he
say back in Hebrews 2? He says, give the more earnest
heed. Give the more earnest, less than any time we should,
look at verse 2, or verse 1, less than any time we should
let them slip. Now literally what that means
is lest we drift on by, or lest we drift away from it. What he's
saying is we must give the more earnest heed to the things we
have heard, lest we just be a drifter. Drift on by. The picture is like
a boat drifting by the dock where it should settle in and be moored
to, but missing the connection. This boat needs to be moored
to within the harbor to the dock in an immovable way. Well, we're
the boat. Christ is the dock. And why would
we drift away? Well, there's mainly two reasons.
Apathy. You know what apathy is? Lethargy.
Not seeing the eternal value of it. Not pursuing it. Not listening to it. I used to
teach my students in high school in an English class, I'd say,
what's the difference between ignorance and apathy? Somebody
would say, I don't know and I don't care. I said, you got it right. You got it right. And then apostasy. What's apostasy? Turning away
from it. Leaving it, even renouncing. You know, that's a real danger
in the book of Hebrews. They were under a sore persecution. And the Lord inspires, exhorts
his people, don't let go of Christ. Hang on for dear life. And he
tells them, he says, now you do realize that if God has saved
you by his grace through Christ, you won't let go. You won't turn
loose, but don't neglect or fail to take these things seriously
or fail to see them as important as they are. Paul wrote to the
Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 2, he said, you realize that
when I preach the gospel, now think about this, when I preach
the gospel, the success of my preaching is not dependent upon
how people react to it. The success of my preaching has
to do basically with two things. Is God glorified? Is Christ exalted? That's it. Because he says to
some it's the savor of life unto life. There are some who are
going to believe it by God's grace. To others it's the savor
of death unto death. Do you realize this is life and
death? Sometimes we Kind of forget that. This is life and death. This is eternal life or eternal
damnation. Do we realize that our view of
and response to this gospel gives us ample evidence of our present
state in the world? Am I in a state of perishing
or am I being saved by the grace of God, kept by His grace? Well,
he tells us in 1 Corinthians 1, he says the preaching of the
cross is foolishness to them that are perishing. But unto
them which are being saved, it's the power of God, it's the wisdom
of God. Don't just come in and hear it
and walk out unaffected, neglected. Don't just drift on by. Somebody said, the world is a
battlefield covered with wrecks occasioned by neglect. You know,
there's no greater tragedy than neglecting the word of God in
the gospel. We might ask, well, what are
the things that cause us to drift away? Well, there's a lot of
things. Satanic deception, false professions, false refuges, religious
experience. You know, one of the things that's
one of the greatest enemies of the gospel is religious experience. I've had people say, well, I
had this religious experience, wasn't hearing the truth, but
I had this, and it was real. And I said, I always tell them,
I said, well, hell's real, but I don't want to go there. The
reality of something doesn't tell you anything. We can talk about the current
of popularity, popular opinion. Be like those guys who said they
believed in Christ, but they wouldn't confess him because
they were afraid of the Pharisees. They'd get thrown out of church. Here's the thing. Those whom
God brings to take heed, they take heed by the power of God,
by running to Christ, believing in him, submitting to him as
the Lord their righteous, and they repent of dead works. Former idolatry. And that issues
forth in perseverance of the faith. How important is it? Look at verse two. For if the
word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape? You see, the law in the Old Testament
showed the fact that all people by nature, not just the Jews,
but all people by nature, were justly deserving of God's wrath
because of sin. Some people, they'll say, they'll
say, well, the God of the Old Testament, he was strict and
stern God of justice, but the God of the New Testament is a
God of love, mercy, and grace. And that shows their ignorance,
because God has always been both. You can see as much of Christ
and the gospel in the Old Testament as you can in the New. I believe
that. The Old Testament believers looked
forward to Christ's coming. And that great salvation, stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. That great salvation
that he would accomplish for them. And the New Testament believers
looked back upon his coming. And we know this, that when God
saves a sinner, he's always just. He's always righteous in doing
so, isn't he? He never fails. That's this great,
great salvation that we have. Now don't neglect it. Don't just
drift on by. Like I said, I'm preaching to
me as well as you. Don't just let it slip on by,
or you slip on by it, but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. All
right.