Turn in your Bibles to the book
of Hebrews. We're going to be in chapter
2 today. I want to look especially at the
third verse of chapter 2, but I will read the first three verses. It says in Hebrews chapter two,
if you recall, we've been looking at in chapter one, the excellencies
of the Lord Jesus Christ in his person as God, and in his office
as our mediator, and in his person as the son of man, his nature
as the son of man. In the one person, Jesus Christ,
our Lord, All of God dwells. The Son of God is God himself.
And so the first few verses of Hebrews, the first chapter, deal
with Christ as God, the Son, and Christ as mediator who accomplished
our salvation in his own substitutionary death. That's what verse three
says, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the majesty on high. The One who purged our
sins reigns in Heaven. He reigns as Heaven's King, as
Lord over all. And He's greater than the angels
because He is the Son of God. He created the angels. The angels
are commanded to worship Him. and they are his servants. And as his servants, they are
to serve his people, who are called in scripture, the heirs
of salvation. God's people, the Lord Jesus
Christ people, given to him by the Father, whose nature he took
and whose case he took, whom he saved by purging their sins
in his own substitutionary death, those people are called the heirs
of salvation. They will inherit. what he purchased
for them. So that's a summation of chapter
one. And the message of chapter one
is about Christ. It's about God's grace to us
and giving us this salvation that's in him. So the salvation
from God is great for many reasons. And we're gonna pick this up
in chapter two, verse one, where, and I've entitled this message,
the phrase that appears in verse three of chapter two, so great,
salvation. Chapter 2 verse 1 reads, therefore
we ought to give them more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, which he just summarized in chapter 1, lest at any time
we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation? which at first began to be spoken
by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. We didn't hear Jesus Christ speak
while he was on earth. Obviously, he lived before we
lived. We were born. And he died and rose and ascended
and returned to heaven long before we had a history on this earth.
But we heard him through those who heard him. And that is recorded
in the New Testament, in the scriptures of the New Testament.
The Apostle John wrote in John chapter 20 verse 31, these things,
there's a lot of things I could have written about, he said.
And if we would have written everything that Jesus said and
did, he supposes that the whole world wouldn't contain the books
that were written. But he says, these things are
written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing him. Believing what God has said
about him, you might have life through his name. And so this
is the great salvation spoken first by the Lord to us and confirmed
by those apostles, such as John, that we might believe, that we
might have life through his name. And so in Hebrews chapter two,
it says in verse three, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation? Now, first thing we need to understand
about salvation contrary to what is taught in most churches today. Salvation is not an offer. An offer is something that you
can take or leave. And the one giving it really
has little power over whether you're going to accept it or
reject it. But that is not salvation as
God saves. Salvation is God's work. And
God's work cannot fail. He says in Isaiah 55 that His
word will accomplish all that He sends it to do. Isaiah 55,
verse 11. If you read all of the chapter
in Isaiah 55, you see that God Pleads with sinners, ho, everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that has no money,
come ye, buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without price
and without money. So it's an appeal to sinners
to come to Christ. And then he says in verse 11
of Isaiah 55, that his word shall not return to him void. It shall
accomplish what he sends it to do. God's word cannot fail, so
salvation is not an offer. Salvation is God's work, yet
even though salvation is God's work, as we read here in verse
3, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? God
warns us that if we neglect his salvation, we will not escape. So it seems like there's a paradox
here. We face the greatest possible
danger, that we could possibly face because of our sin against
God and his just wrath against us. Now that's our predicament. And salvation in Christ is our
only way of escape, like we were just singing about in that song
about needing to flee for refuge to Christ. And though salvation
is all of God's work and does not depend on us, yet God warns
us, doesn't he? He warns us not to neglect this
salvation or we shall not escape the danger we are in and the
wrath of God because of our turning away from the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the paradox it seems to face us. If salvation is all
God's work, then why does he warn us as if we could neglect
his salvation? How can we reconcile these things?
How can salvation be entirely God's work, and yet God would
command us not to neglect it as if our neglect would put that
salvation He intends to save us with away from us, to push
it from us? Well, we must understand a few
things from Scripture. First, our sin is all of our
fault, and yet salvation is all of God's grace. If we neglect
God's salvation, it will be because of our own unbelief in our sinful
response to what we hear. Because we hold low views of
God, don't we? And our low views of our sin
and low views of God's word and our low views of Christ's person
cause us naturally to neglect this salvation. But if I, because
of my sin, do go to hell at last, We have to understand this. It
will not be because of God's fault. That will be our fault
entirely. If I am saved, on the other hand,
it will be all to the credit of God's grace. And so this is
the way we understand our own responsibility. Sin is my fault. Hell is my due. Salvation is
God's work. Grace is a free gift from God. In his grace, God warns men to
flee the wrath to come. John the Baptist asked those
unbelieving scribes and Pharisees who came out to his baptism,
he said, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Think about that if you were
a scribe or a Pharisee and you heard those words. You're coming
to John to be baptized and he says, who has warned you to flee
from the wrath to come? It's a rebuff, isn't it? It's
almost like he's chastising them with his words. But his words
were meant to humble them because they were proud. And so his question
to them was a humbling rebuke. They came to be baptized. But
John accused them of being proud and unworthy of eternal life.
And in that rebuke, he offended their pride as if to push them
away unless God was drawing them. You see, it was because of God's
drawing power, because of the danger they faced, and because
of his great salvation that the Lord would use those means their
danger, God's wrath, their sin, and God's salvation in Christ
to draw them to Christ. And if God does the drawing,
then the rebuke to our pride will serve to humble us. Whereas
if God doesn't draw us, then like Pharaoh in Egypt, God's
rebuke will serve to harden us. And that will be our fault. And
yet, our salvation will be to God's credit. This is the way
the Lord saves. He convinces us of our sin. He
convinces us of judgment to come. He tells men to repent and change
their minds and believe the gospel. But only if God, under His command
to us and His warning to us, gives us life and repentance
and faith as dead sinners will we be able to heed God's warning
and be drawn to Christ with that persuading grace of God. Christ is a refuge. for the sinner
from the wrath to come, isn't he? And it says in Hebrews chapter
six that we have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us. Now consider that. Here in Hebrews
2.3, he says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?
Escape what? Escape the wrath of God due to
us for our sins. And if we turn away from Christ,
there is no other salvation, which is the message of the book
of Hebrews. You are under the wrath of God because of your
sins. Christ is God's salvation, appointed and anointed and accomplishing
it. Flee to Christ. But in that fleeing
to Christ, we're left with no other refuge except Christ. And so we're vulnerable. We're
vulnerable to God's saving grace in Christ. If God doesn't save
us by Christ alone, we cannot be saved. And that's the sense
that we feel in our own soul that I face eternity under the
wrath of God and God has given me one name under heaven whereby
we must be saved. It's the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So he exhorts us to flee and tells us the great danger
we're in if we fail to flee, if we neglect this so great salvation. So I want to go on here and consider
this salvation as God's work and the reason why in this place
in scripture God says it is called so great salvation. I want you to consider these
words, so great, salvation, with me for a minute and think about
it. Think about these words from God. If God says our salvation
is so great, and God doesn't use hyperbole like men do. We
want people to believe us. We throw flowery words around
all the time in our casual conversation. Someone asks you, how are you
doing today? We usually respond with something like, great. But
are we really great? Is our condition really great?
God doesn't use these flowery terms in overstating either our
condition or His salvation. So if God uses the words, so
great, salvation, you can know that this salvation is so great,
as we would use the word so in front of great to emphasize it. Why is God's salvation great?
First of all, we need to understand why salvation is great for us. Because of our great need. Our
need is infinitely great, isn't it? How do we know that our need
is great? Well, think about this. If our
need wasn't great, then the consequences of our need would be small. But
the consequences of our sin are so enormous that we can't even
comprehend the horrible nature of the wrath of God against us.
That makes our need great, doesn't it? It says in the Psalms, chapter
25, Psalm 25, verse 11, he says, this is what the psalmist prays,
listen carefully. For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity,
for it is great. You see, that's the reason God's
salvation is great, because my iniquity is great. He calls on
the Lord to pardon it because only the Lord can pardon iniquity. We have a great need because
we're guilty before God. It says in Romans 3 that whatever
the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God. We know something about guilt.
When we've done something wrong, most of the time nobody knows
about it. But when we've done something
so wrong, and it becomes openly known, then we're ashamed, aren't
we? We carry this guilt. But when God impresses upon our
conscience that we've sinned against Him, and we face judgment,
and we have no ability to remove our sin, then the thought presses
upon our conscience, and we're burdened by it, and we realize
that our sin is great, and we ask the Lord, somehow, someway,
for your namesake, do it for reasons found in yourself, for
honor to yourself, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. We're guilty and we are corrupt,
not only corrupt sometime but all the time in our nature, our
very heart, our mind, it says in Romans 8, 7, is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. The apostle Paul said
this of his natural man, O wretched man that I am. He said this in
1 Timothy 1.15, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am chief. He knew something about his nature.
He said, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with
the flesh the law of sin. And that nature is corrupt. Jesus
said that out of the heart of man proceed evil. Thoughts, adulteries,
all these things, they come from within, out of the heart of man,
and they defile the man. So our guilt is great, our corruption
is great. And then in Jeremiah 23, 13,
he says, can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leopard change
his spots? Neither then can you who are
accustomed to doing evil do good. We can't change ourselves. We
can't remove the heart, this nature that's against God that
produces these evil thoughts and these actions. We can't change
it. We can't of ourselves turn to God. We can't believe of ourselves. These things must be granted
to us as a gift from God. And so this is a great need that
we have. Therefore, God's salvation has
to be great because our need is so infinitely great, isn't
it? Have you ever heard someone who
was saved from death? You perhaps heard of someone
saved from a terrible danger. They were so close to death that
it was as if their life was recovered from it. A man falling from the
sky with his parachute and his parachute fails to open. Somehow
his friend swoops, with another parachute on, couples him to
himself, and they both land safely through that one parachute. That's
an amazing rescue, isn't it? Or here's a man in the wilderness,
a bear charging at him, and he stops short one foot of the man
he intends to devour and divide with his claws and his teeth
because his friend's gun, with one bullet, stops the bear in
his tracks. That's a great rescue, isn't
it? And we could think of so many
more. Have you ever stood above a precipice? I was with Denise
in Oregon a week ago or so, and we looked over this clip 300
foot down from where we were to the bottom. Many, many had
fallen from there. And just the thought of it made
me want to step back from the cliff, because it makes your
skin crawl to contemplate falling from that precipice. But what
if a man didn't realize it, and he began to fall? And just by
his fingernails, he held on for a moment. And while he was holding
on, someone was able to rescue him. You'd think, that's a great
rescue, right? because the danger was so great and how close he
came to dying and perishing a horrible death was so great. But these
things don't even compare. They don't even begin to compare
to our great need and the great danger we face. Therefore, God's
salvation is infinitely more great. Those rescues that we
just considered are only preserving our life for a short time. Ultimately,
we're just going to die anyway in this life. And there were
rescues that ordinary circumstances or men could accomplish. But
our rescue is from a death, not just temporary, but eternal. And it's by one who is not just
a man, but only God. Only God can rescue us. Therefore,
our salvation must be great. after the Lord brought Israel
out of Egypt, and the people immediately committed a great
sin. Remember, Moses went up to the mount to get the law from
God, and the people made a golden calf, and they took that golden
calf and they bowed down to it. They worshiped the golden calf,
and they said, of this golden calf, you have brought us out
of Egypt. And Moses said, in Exodus 32,
he said, your sin is great. Your sin is great because you
have given credit to a piece of gold as if it were God who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, after they saw God's wonders
in Egypt. And yet, Our salvation by the
Lord Jesus Christ is so much greater than deliverance from
Egypt. And to neglect salvation by Christ
is so much worse than making a golden calf and giving credit
to that calf for delivering people out of Egypt, because the Lord
Jesus Christ by Himself has delivered His people from the wrath of
God and their sins. And so we consider again those
words from the psalm, for thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine
iniquity, for it is great. The psalmist knew that his sin
was against God and God only. All sin is against God only. And because God is holy, and
we could say greatly holy, there's none holy but God, therefore
our sins are greatly hated by God, and they're hated as great
evil. The sinner himself is under the
sentence of God's wrath for his sins. As I said before, Jesus
said, our sin comes from within us. It comes from within the
heart of man. And God says, not only is our
guilt great and our corruption great, but our strength is absolutely
impotent. We have no strength. guilty,
corrupt, and hopelessly helpless in ourselves. Therefore, the
salvation has to come from outside of us, without our contribution
at all. It has to come from God because
no one on earth can do it. We can't change ourselves any
more than a leopard can change his spots. God has to give us
repentance. He has to give us a new heart
and He has to give us life from the dead. He has to give us faith
in Christ. He has to make us a new creature
in Christ and give us a new birth. And so all these things teach
us how great our salvation must be to save us from our guilt
and corruptions and helplessness and from the wrath of God. And
so the second reason that salvation is so great is because God is
so holy. Think about this. God will not
pervert judgment. God cannot lie. He cannot let
sin go unpunished. Justice must be satisfied. God's justice demands that He
pour out His wrath upon us, His own nature. God's own nature
is just and holy, and He must punish transgressors. The wages
of sin is death. That's the nature of things.
The soul that sinneth it shall die. And not only that, but as
I said before, God's wrath is great. In Psalm 90, verse 11,
it says, Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according
to thy fear, so is thy wrath. Psalm 90, verse 11. God's salvation,
therefore, is so great because our need is great and because
His wrath against us is so great because of our sin. This is a
great danger, and that's why His salvation is so great, because
He saves us from His own wrath. The third reason why God's salvation
is so great is because of what He saves us from. 2 Corinthians
1, verse 10. It says in 2 Corinthians 1, verse
10, I'll read this to you. He says, who delivered us from
so great a death. There's the same words, so great
a death. And doth deliver in whom we trust
that he will yet deliver us. You see, all of the hope of this
poor man This is the Apostle Paul who stood before God in
himself as a great sinner. His only hope was that God had
delivered him from so great a death that he does now in the present
deliver him from this death and in whom we trust. This is where
all of our salvation lies and our trust is in him that he will
yet deliver us. That's how great God's salvation
must be, because we have been delivered from so great a death.
So great a death and from God's wrath. Look at Isaiah chapter
12. Isaiah chapter 12 and verse 1. The believer in Christ is
praying in consideration of how great this salvation is. He says
in Isaiah 12 verse 1, And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord,
I will praise Thee. Though Thou wast angry with me,
Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortest me." Not only
is God's anger turned from us, but He comforts us. He woos us. He tells us that His anger is
removed so that our fears are put aside. They're quieted. Verse
two, behold, this is what Isaiah says, behold God is my salvation. He looks to the one who is himself
his salvation, who has accomplishment, the only one in whom salvation
is. God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid. I was
afraid, but now your anger is turned away because God himself
is my salvation. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. He also is become my salvation. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the Lord Jehovah who has become our salvation. And this is why
our salvation is so great, because of what he saved us from, his
own wrath. Jesus said in John 3 verse 36,
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he
that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abideth on him. God's wrath stays and remains
on that one who does not believe God's Son. You see how great
this salvation is. And you see why it's so great?
Because God has saved us from his own wrath. We are great sinners. Our sin against God, who is great
in holiness, is great. God's justice demands his wrath
be poured out upon us. Therefore, God's salvation is
great because he has saved us from our sin and our corruptions,
our helplessness, and most of all, his just wrath against us. In Romans chapter 5 and verse
9 it says, being now justified by his blood, Christ's blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through him. That is a great
salvation, saved from the wrath of God. When we were yet enemies,
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of his son, made, set at peace. God's anger against us was placated. it was pacified, a propitiation
to God was made, so that His anger was taken away from us
because Christ satisfied God's justice for our sins. Now, let
us consider how great our salvation is because we were saved from
our sin, and from our evil heart, our helplessness, and from God's
great wrath. But the fourth reason why God's
salvation is so great is because of who saved us. Our condition
is bad, God's nature is holy, and none could save us from our
sins and the wrath of God but God himself. Who has saved us? It was the Lord against whom
we sinned." That's amazing, isn't it? If you've ever gone to court,
and I use this analogy quite often, The court is a place where
we can understand something about how God saves us. What do you
find in a court? You find a judge, don't you?
You find the accused and you find a lawyer, someone to stand
for the client before the court, the one who is charged. Notice
in the court, the judge pronounces the sentence upon the guilty,
or he clears the one who's not guilty. And all the time, the
lawyer takes the case of the guilty, the charge, the accused,
to the judge and pleads the case, doesn't he? Everything that the
lawyer says for the client is taken by the judge as if it came
from the client himself. Only better, his advocate speaks
for him. And everything the judge has
to say to the accused, he says to the lawyer, to the advocate
for the client. so that everything that transpires
in the court between the guilty or the accused and the judge
passes through the advocate, doesn't it? The whole defense,
the client rests his whole defense on what his lawyer says. He never
speaks. And the judge pronounces a sentence
on the client by speaking to the lawyer, too, and then speaking
to the client because of the lawyer's, either his defense
or his lack of defense. And so you see here in our salvation,
our salvation is great because the one who is seated as judge,
whose wrath is against us justly, has appointed an advocate for
us. He has made Christ our propitiation. And as our advocate, we're not
to plead our innocence, because that would be a lie. We would
be defrauding. We would be adding guilt. to
our case. But God teaches us, Christ our
advocate teaches us to plead our guilt before God. Because
that's the truth. And God's truth requires that
we be condemned because of our guilt. But our advocate not only
stands and pleads for us, but he himself answers God's justice. He answered with himself. He
offered himself to God. God laid our sins upon him. The one against whom we've sinned,
represented by the judge, his wrath is justly against us, but
the same one who is our judge has provided for us a propitiation
to answer God's own justice for us and plead our case before
him. The Lord has saved us. He says
in Psalm 85, thou has forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou
has covered all their sin. Thou has taken away all thy wrath. Thou has turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. Oh, do you see this? God, whom
we offended, reconciled us to himself by the death of his son. If we just stop there and turn
that in our minds over and over for the rest of our lives. and
we were to lay hold upon what God has done in Christ, that's
fleeing for refuge. To neglect God's salvation is
to be indifferent about it. It's not to find in myself a
great need, or a great danger in God's just wrath against me,
or a great treasure in who has saved us. It's not to be thankful.
It's not to turn these things over in our heart and feed upon
them as all of our life. as the motives of our heart,
the thankfulness of our heart, the joy and peace of our heart.
That's to neglect God's salvation. Now, if God has done it, then
men could not have done it. Would God do what he could have
left men to do? God doesn't do that. God does
what is impossible for men. God does what is impossible for
any man-made God. For anyone. Every angel, every
man, anybody in heaven and earth. No one could be found that could
do this but God himself in Christ. And this is why our salvation
is great because God himself has become our salvation in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the fifth reason that salvation
is great is because of what it costs God. It costs him. It says in Acts chapter 20, verse
28, feed the church of God. The apostle speaks to the Ephesian
elders. He says to them, feed the church of God, which he has
purchased with his own blood. That's a great cost, isn't it?
The Lord Jesus Christ, heaven's son, God's son, God's bright
glory, the exact image of his person, the one who created the
worlds and upholds them too, the one who is the heir of all
things, who has all authority and power and possesses all things
in heaven and earth, He gave himself, which means he gave
his all. He gave the highest cost that
could possibly have been given. It was a cost demanded by God's
justice and Christ paid it. He paid it all so that we, our
debt to God in the crimes of our sin has been fully paid and
God himself has blotted it out. He has remitted the debt and
remitted all of our sins. How great is our salvation? It's
the price of what God paid to wash us from our sins, to take
our sins from us, to make peace with His own justice so that
His wrath was taken away. And in place of His wrath, God's
own justice now demands that we be justified. God's justice
because of Christ's sin-atoning death and His righteousness,
His obedience for His people requires that God justify us. Justice now sides with God's
mercy for the sinner because of Christ. That's a great salvation,
isn't it? It was the price of Christ's
own blood. There's only one way a sinner can be saved from his
sin and corruptions and from his helplessness. The way is
the obedience of death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is
the highest cost. Jesus said this in Matthew 20,
28. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and
to give his life a ransom. That means a price, a ransom
price for many. That's a great salvation, isn't
it? It costs God his own dear son. It says in Romans 8, 32, that if God did not spare his
own son, but delivered him up for us all. Delivered him up
to what? To bear our sins as his own sins, and to bear the
wrath of God against us for those sins. If he didn't spare his
son from this, then God will with Him freely give us all things. It cost God. He delivered His
own Son up to, bearing our sins and His own wrath against us,
which was due us for our sins, and Christ bore it for us. And
this was done for all of God's elect because it goes on to say
in Romans 8, 32, that because He delivered up His Son for us,
He will freely give us all things with Him. All for whom God delivered
His Son, He will freely give them all things. Therefore, there's
no gap, there's no difference between those for whom God delivered
His Son and those who are in heaven at last and given eternal
life and given all things with Christ. And further, it says
in Romans 8.34, who shall lay anything? Well, in 8.33 it says,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? None can
lay anything to the charge of God's elect because it was for
God's elect that he delivered up his son and will therefore
give them all things with him. And then the Lord Jesus Christ
paid his own life. Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it. He gave himself a ransom for
many. He purchased the church with his own blood. And this
is what we just quoted from Acts chapter 20. God purchased the church with
his own blood, the blood of our nature. He took our nature to
himself. God couldn't die, but the Lord
Jesus Christ died as a man. And as a man, he bore our sins
in his own body up to the tree. And this is what he says, God
sent his son to propitiate, to be the propitiation for our sins,
and that's why our salvation is so great, because of the cost,
because of who saved us. The next thing we want to consider
is that our salvation is great because of the satisfaction God
required to his own justice. And I've already mentioned this,
but in Isaiah 45, if you want to turn to Isaiah 45, I want
you to see this. Isaiah 45, he says, God is going
to compare himself by way of contrast to the idols of men. And he says in verse 20, assemble
yourselves and come, draw near together you that are escaped
to the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven images and pray unto a God that cannot
save. Now this is important to see
how God accuses the idols of men. You cannot save. What's important, what is that
one thing God holds in the highest esteem as the highest work, the
greatest achievement that God ever did? His glory, that he
saves sinners. He saves, he justifies the ungodly. And so he says, you pray to these
idols, you set them up, they are idols that cannot save. Verse
21, tell ye, and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together,
who has declared this from ancient time. From ancient time, there's
one thing that God has been saying, what is it? Look at these next
words. Who hath told it from that time, have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me." There is no God beside me. How do we know him? How can we
know this God beside whom there is none else? The one who's not
an idol, who can save, how can we know him? He says, there's
no God else beside me, a just God and a savior. That is why our salvation is
so great, because God is a just God, and yet He is our Savior. God's justice is infinitely high
and holy, as God Himself is, and yet God, in His justice,
justifies the sinner. How can God justify a sinner? It's only if he does so in a
way that his justice is not only not tarnished, but actually honored
and satisfied and takes delight in justifying a sinner. We just
sang it a little bit ago. From whence this fear and unbelief? Haven't you, Lord, put to grief
your spotless Son for me? And if he has paid the utmost
farthing, then how can justice find anything in me, you see? And I'm mangling the beauty of
that song by trying to refer you to it, but you get the point
here. God had to satisfy his own justice. Who but God could
do that? Who but God could bring pleasure
to God's justice and yet save a sinner? Not in damning the
sinner, but in rescuing that sinner. That is a great salvation. That is a great salvation, isn't
it? Now, I want you to also consider how in this salvation of God,
in fact, on this thought of our salvation being a great salvation
because God satisfied His justice, listen to these words from 1
John 1 9. He says there, if we confess
our sins, if we who are sinners confess our sins, which means
we agree with God, I am bad. I'm so bad I cannot I cannot
be saved by anything from myself. Nothing found in me will help.
Everything in me requires more punishment and wrath from God. If we confess our sins, I'm guilty
and helpless, Lord, and I can do nothing to deliver myself.
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. You see this? the
justice of God, judgment and justice. He says, justice and
judgment are the habitation of thy throne. In Psalm 89, 14,
mercy and truth shall go before thy face. All of God's perfections
are magnified in the salvation of the sinner. But you know what
we take delight in? Knowing, you know what gives
us peace with God? That God in justice justifies
us. In Daniel chapter 9 and verse
16, he says this in his prayer to God, a most amazing thing.
One of these instances in scripture, he says, O Lord, according to
all thy righteousness I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy
fury be turned away from thy city, Jerusalem, from your people. How can he do it according to
his righteousness? only of righteousness and justice
are satisfied. Mercy and truth are met together
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Truth and grace, grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ. John chapter 1 verse 17. The
law came by Moses and by that law we understand something about
justice and wrath. But in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we see God's justice amplified and magnified because God, in
the death of His own Son, gave great pleasure to His justice. He smelled a sweet savor in the
offering of His own dear Son, which was given in love for His
people. That's justice. And now mercy breaks forth. and grace breaks forth, and justice
joins them in the chorus to justify and bless the sinner because
of Christ. It is in this way that God silences
all man-made gods. And it is in this way that God
silences all accusers of his people. Remember the woman taken
in adultery in the very act brought into the presence of Christ.
And when she was standing there, her accusers wanted to destroy
the Lord Jesus Christ with her. If he sided with the law of Moses,
then he would have, as they thought he must, then he must stone the
woman. But if he did not condemn this woman with Moses as they
thought that he should, then he would prove himself to be
an unjust lawgiver. But what they didn't know, they
could not even perceive. They didn't enter into their
imagination by their ignorance. They were as blind as the devil
was when he thought to tempt Eve and bring Adam and Eve and
the whole human race under the just wrath of God and so murder
them under God's own hand. That's what the devil thought
to do, but it never occurred to the devil. that the one whose
justice they had offended would satisfy his own justice. And
so the Lord Jesus Christ, with his woman, in John 8, verses
1 through 11, stoops not only to silence her accusers and to
subdue them by his justice, but he answers the court of heaven,
and the decision of the court is passed down Neither do I condemn
thee. There is no condemnation for
them which are in Christ Jesus, because God has received from
Christ all for his people. And that's why our salvation
is so great. Because of God's justice being satisfied in the
death of his own son. Now the seventh reason why our
salvation is great is because of how, what motivated God to
do this. Look at Ephesians chapter 2. What great motive caused God
to save us with such a great salvation at such a high cost. Well, think about this. In Ephesians
chapter 2, he says this, you, verse 1, Hath he quickened who were dead
in trespasses and sins, wherein, in time past, you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
time past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others?" Here's the motive. It sprang from God's
heart. It didn't come from us. But God,
in spite of my sin, in spite of my corruption, in spite of
God's justice, He satisfied that justice. And when we were dead
in sins, listen, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great
love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins,
has quickened us together with Christ. By grace you're saved."
You see this interposition, this great, in these two words we
see all the gospel summarized, but God. That's why our salvation
is so great. God himself accomplished it.
And he did so out of motives found in himself, his rich mercy
and his great love to us. And he did it by quickening us
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that amazing? God acted
in his mercy and his love when we were yet sinners, when we
were yet sinners. I love that. I love the fact
that we can, as children of God, who believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. How many times a day do you feel so utterly unworthy
and you think to yourself, how can I possibly even come to God? Go back to this verse. But God,
who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved
us. If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be
saved by his life. We look to Christ again. even
when we were dead in sins. Therefore, in the same way, we
come to Him now. As you have received Christ Jesus,
the Lord, that first moment of conversion, so walk ye in Him.
Never find anything in yourself more than you found then and
therefore he will in the ages to come show the exceeding riches
of his grace to us in his kindness toward us through Christ. Verse
7 of the same chapter. Now the eighth reason our salvation
is so great is what we have been saved not only from, but to. We often think about our salvation
as being rescued from the wrath to come, fleeing the judgment
to come. But we've been saved to something. It's more than just being delivered
from wrath. It's how we were saved and to
what we were saved. In this, we have to consider
how God saved us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And having been
saved in Christ, what does this mean? Well, look at a couple
of verses with me, 1 Peter chapter 2. In 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse
24, it says this, speaking of Christ, who his own self bear
our sins, in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead
to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes we were healed."
You were healed. We committed our sins. The Lord
Jesus Christ did not have anything to do with our committing sin. And yet, our sins were charged
to him. They were laid on him. and he
obeyed God. We didn't have anything to do
with his obedience. And yet, his obedience was credited
to us as our own righteousness. So he bare our sins in his own
body, and we, and he died under the wrath of God for those sins,
and yet he says, because he died, and he died for our sins, with
our sins in his own body, then we are dead to sins. You see
the big exchange here? Our sins were ours. They were
made his. His obedience was his own, but
it was credited to us. His death is our death. Therefore,
we are dead to sins. Sin has no more... We have no more guilt before
God, because our sins have been taken by Christ. And therefore,
he says, that we should live unto righteousness, by whose
stripes you were healed. He was beaten. We weren't beaten. But in His beating, we were healed. This is how God saved us. It
was in Christ. Everything that was ours was
charged to Him, and everything He did, we did when He did it. God sees us in Christ, so that
all that we were became His to pay, and all that He did became
ours to come to God with. His justice-satisfying blood
and His perfect obedience are our sin-atoning, our sin-cleansing,
and our clothing before God. It's all because God saved us
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And because we're in Christ,
all that God received from Christ as our advocate, as our attorney
in the court of heaven, God received from him as from us and he gave
all the promises that he made to him before the foundation
of the world and all the blessings in heaven and earth as the heir
of all things for his people. For his people. He says it this
way in Ephesians chapter one verse 22. And God has put all
things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things
to the church. which is His body, the fullness
of Him that filleth all in all. Everything that is His is given
to His people. That's what we were saved to,
an eternal inheritance. eternal riches and blessings
and honor from God that God gave to Christ because He put us in
Christ. He joined us to Him in His eternal
election and in Christ standing for us when He was charged with
our sins and we were credited with His righteousness. And even
now in our life when God gives us that faith because He died
for us and rose again and sends His Spirit to us and preaches
the gospel to us, even now that faith attaches us in our heart
to Him and what we are in Him. So we come to God by the blood
of Jesus. We've been saved too. All that
Christ has earned for us, His reward is our reward earned for
us. We are complete. Look at Colossians
chapter 2. In the Lord Jesus Christ, we're
complete. What can be added? It can't be
so unless we're given all that is His. Ephesians 2 verse 8,
Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and
not after Christ. For in Him, in Christ, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You don't need the philosophies
of men. You don't need the traditions
of men or the rudiments of the world, all those things that
you practice under the Old Testament law to obtain a righteousness
before God. You don't need them because the
fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ and, verse 10, you
are complete in him. We didn't do anything. He did
it all. God doesn't view us except what
he sees in his son. God receives us because of what
he thinks of Christ for us. And that's the gospel. That's
why our salvation is so great. There's nothing that can compare
to this. There's no religion of men that
can compare to this. There's no possibility that it
could enter into the heart of man. but what God has prepared
for us in His Son. Here's another reason why salvation
is great. Because it's not for all men. It's only for a remnant,
and yet it's for many. He gave his life a ransom for
many, and there is yet today a remnant according to the election
of grace. That's a great salvation, isn't
it? That even today, there is a remnant according to the election
of grace. And we who believe Christ, who have fled for refuge
to Christ, that God would look upon him and receive us for his
sake and would, have taken away his wrath even in his own death
for us. And that's all of our hope. We
are that remnant. And then another reason God's
salvation is great is because of the great love of God the
Father. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed
upon us that we should be called the sons of God. And our salvation
is also great for this reason. It's not a temporary salvation.
It's not a salvation that runs out over time or even in eternity. It's an eternal salvation. Israel according to Isaiah 45
17 shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation
You shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end There's many things we could
go on to say, but I want to read this song to you by Isaac Watts. Alas, and did my savior bleed,
and did my sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? Was it for crimes that I had
done, he groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity, grace unknown,
and love beyond degree. Well might the sun and darkness
hide and shut his glories in, the glories of the sun, S-U-N,
when Christ, the mighty maker, died for man, the creature's
sins. But drops of grief can never
repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself away. It's all that I can do. I submit
myself to your righteousness. I consider it my highest joy
to be found in Christ and to belong to him. bought with a
price, how can we neglect this so great salvation? If we do,
we do so at the peril of our own soul, but if we embrace it,
we do so by the grace of God. Let us therefore go to Him for
all grace, that we may forever cling to Christ in Jesus' name.
Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for
your great mercy to us. Thank you for a salvation so
great that we had no part in it, and yet you saved us from
an infinite, an infinite debt of sin. Your wrath, your just
wrath against sinners, wrath we cannot, we don't even want
to contemplate, it's so horrible. We are reluctant to even mention
it because the thought of it is so alarming. The danger is so great. And yet
because of this, because your justice is so great that you
would demand an eternal punishment from the sinner, and yet that
justice being satisfied in your son, we stand in awe that you
would save us who are so unworthy and you would do so by joining
us to your son in all that he did so that what he did was ours
before you and you no more consider what we are in ourselves because
you could only save us by covering us and putting us in the Lord
Jesus Christ and receiving an answer to yourself all from Him
and giving in blessing to Him all for us. What an amazing grace,
what an amazing God, what a great salvation. Help us, Lord, not
to neglect it, but to run out to you at all times. and to rejoice
and find peace in knowing and joy that our Lord Jesus Christ
is our acceptance before God and our inheritance and our all,
our life, our all. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.