Back in Hebrews, chapter 2, we'll
bring the message from just three words there. Of course, we'll
consider it in its context, as we did as we were reading. But the three words, as you probably
have guessed, is, so great salvation. Anybody interested in that? So
great salvation. Paul asked the question. Actually,
beginning at verse 2 through verse 4 is a question. And he
begins by asking, or rather concludes in verse 3, in the midst of it,
I should say, how should we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Now, don't let those rush by. How should we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? Imagine that. such a great salvation,
being neglected. Neglected. When I read that,
I couldn't help but think of when the Lord was brought into
the presence of Herod. Remember? After he had been depilated
and mocked and beaten, he was sent to Herod. And we're told
that Herod, with his men of war, set Jesus at nought and mocked
him. They set him at nought. He's
not worthy of our consideration. He's nobody. He's deluded. He's a lunatic. They just set
him at nought, used him for some entertainment for a little while,
and then sent him back to pilot. That sort of, to me, is an example
of what Paul speaks of here, neglecting. It's just not worthy
of most folks' consideration. They just neglect it. Such a
great salvation. I don't have time to be concerned
about that. I've got too much other things
to take care of. And then in verse 1, Paul said,
we ought to give the more earnest heed, not less, but more earnest
heed, sincere. Serious heed. That's what our
Lord said, didn't he? Take heed how you hear. Don't
be careless about it. Don't treat the gospel as a flippant
thing. It's precious. It's rare. It's rare. Don't take it for
granted. We ought to give them more earnest
heed to the things which we have heard. Why? Because if we're
not careful, we'll let them slip. Remember what our Lord said concerning
the sower and the tares? Matthew Henry had this to say
concerning those words, lest we let them slip. He says, it's
like a leaking ship. If we're not careful, these words
will leak out of our heads, out of our lips, out of our lives.
And we shall be great losers by our neglect. Therefore, therefore,
old Matthew Henry said, when we have received the gospel truths
into our minds, we are in danger of letting them slip. And we
see it happen all the time. And I don't have to look further
than myself. Man, it seems like I can retain
something that's not worth remembering. A silly, dumb song, the words
will stick in my mind, but the word of God? It seemed like I
let slip. Matthew Henry said, our minds
and memories are like a leaky vessel. They do not, without
much care, retain what is poured into them. And he said, the reason
for this is the corruption of our natures, the enmity of Satan. He steals away the word. The
Lord Jesus Christ taught that, didn't he? And the entanglements
and the snares of this world, like thorns, they choke the good
seed. Again, our Lord taught that.
Those meet with an inconceivable loss who let gospel truths, which
they have received, slip out of their minds. Let them go. They've lost a treasure far better
than thousands of gold and silver. The seed is lost, their time
and pains and hearing lost, and their hopes of a good harvest
lost. All is lost if the gospel be lost. He went on to say, this consideration
should be a strong motive both to our attention to the gospel
and our attention of the gospel. And indeed, if we do not well
attend, we shall not long retain the word of God. Inattentive
hearers will soon be forgetful hearers. Take heed how you hear. Don't let it slip. When I was
at my mother's two weeks ago, I received the bulletin, as I
do every Saturday, I think it is, from Brother Paul Mahan,
who pastors in Rocky Mount, Virginia, Central Grace Church. But he
had an article in there, and I read it, and I immediately
sent Paul a thank you. I said, thank you. That was so
timely. But the article was about J.C. Rowell. I thought of that when
I was preparing this message, and I want to share it with you.
J.C. Rowell, Commenting on the verse
in Deuteronomy, chapter 32, verse 29, it reads this way. Oh, that
they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider
their latter end. And Raoul wrote this. Do we ever
think about our souls at all? Millions of people, I fear, cannot
answer that question satisfactorily. They never give the subject of
religion any place in their thoughts. From the beginning of the year
to the end, they are absorbed in the pursuit of business, and
pleasure, and politics, and money, or self-indulgence of some kind
or another. Death and judgment, eternity,
heaven, hell, and a world to come are never looked at or considered." Does that describe you? They
live on as if they were never going to die, or rise again,
or stand at the bar of God, or receive an eternal sentence.
Like those things are figments of our imagination. Robin's son
asked her one time, Mom, when she was attempting to witness
to him, he said, Mom, what if it's all a myth? What if it's
all just a myth? Rowan on the right, they do not
openly oppose religion for they have not sufficient thoughts
about it to oppose it. They just could care less. As
if religion were a mere fiction and not a reality. A more senseless
and unreasonable way of living cannot be conceived. But they
do not pretend to reason about it. They simply never think about
God unless they're frightened for a few minutes by sickness
or death in their families or an accident. Barring such interruptions,
they appear to ignore religion altogether and hold on their
way cold and undisturbed as if there were nothing worth thinking
about except this world. It's hard to imagine a life more
unworthy of an immortal creature than such a life as I have just
described, for it reduces a man to the level of a beast, but
it literally and truly But it is literally and truly the life
of multitudes in this world as they pass away. And as I read those last few
sentences, I couldn't help but think of my brothers and my sisters
and my children and most of the people I know. That's the life of multitudes
in this world. And as they pass away, their
place is taken by multitudes just like them. That's what it
is. the neglect, so great salvation. And that's exactly what most
of our relations do. To have the so-called pleasures
of this world and yet be under the wrath of God is the most
miserable condition a man could be in, but they know it not.
But on the other hand, to have none of this world's goods, to
have none of it, Billy, to have none of it, And nobody here can
say that. That's not true of anybody here.
We all have plenty. We have more than we need. But
if we had none of it, and yet we had the favor of God, and
the peace of God, and the salvation of God, and the grace of God,
if we have His Son, we're the most richest people in this world,
are we not? A joy priceless beyond measure
to have Christ. Is it any wonder? that the writer
asked the question, how should we escape if we neglect so great
salvation? And the answer is plain and simple.
You won't escape. Nobody will escape. Hear me. Hear me. Don't try to shut me
out. God help you to hear. You won't
escape if you neglect so great a salvation. And at the same
time, in consideration of those things, I ask myself, when I
read those, when I copied those, when I shared them with you just
now, I ask myself, who made me to differ from another? Why I
pity those who only have this world. who live for this world
and have no more than that. At the same time, Larry Criss
was in the very same boat. Who changed my mind? Who made
me to differ? Who made me now hate the things
that I once loved and love the things that I used to hate? Who
made you to differ? Abraham Booth. He wrote a good
book, commentary on Romans, called The Reign of Grace. But he made
this observation concerning himself. And when I read it, I thought,
man, I could take that. That's me. That's me. Plucked out of the burning was
the title of his brief article. And it said, here I am plucked
as a brand out of the burning, sought out by the Lord, a monument
of mercy permitted and privileged to proclaim the glorious gospel
of the grace of God. Surely, there must be a cause. The cause, I tell you, was not
in me, for I hated God and religion. But in the sovereign choice of
Jehovah, who will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, that's
the only reason. That's the only explanation.
As Paul wrote to his beloved Timothy, I was a blasphemer,
I was a persecutor, I was injurious. I was a rebel, I was a Pharisee,
I was a self-righteous hypocrite, but I attained mercy. And even when he was ready to
face the executioner's axe, sitting in that dungeon cell, knowing
that the time of his departure was at hand, he said, Timothy,
I can't get over this. I can't get over the wonder of
this. I obtained mercy. Oh, God, help me not to get over
the wonder of this. Help me not to take it for granted.
It's only grace that's made me to differ. It's only grace that's
made any believer to differ. God, help us not to forget that. Paul said in Philippians 3, but
what things were gained to me, those I counted lost but for
Christ, and I count all things lost. Everything. Everything. All my former religion. All that that I once trusted
in. That self-righteous robe that I had had a weave for myself
and I thought made me accepted before God, He said, it's filthy
rags. I cast it off and I scomp on
it. What do you trust in now, Paul?
Oh, I want to know Christ. I want to know Christ. I want
to keep knowing Christ. I want to keep learning about
Christ. And I want to be found in Him. When I stand before God
Almighty and the judge of all the earth, executes strict justice
on everybody, gets exactly what they deserve. Paul says, I want
to be found in him, or that I may know him. I received a phone
call one day this past week. It was rather comical at first,
because this guy had called me a few days before, wanting me
to give him some money. I saved the number, Terry. I
guess he was calling all kinds of people. He didn't realize
he had already called me. And the first thing he began
to say, I don't want anything. I'm not asking you for anything.
And he gave me this song and dance. I said, buddy, you called
me the day before yesterday. Oh, it wasn't me. I said, is
this number? Oh, it wasn't me. I said, man, just cut to the
chase. What do you want? He first said nothing, and that's
what he got. But cut to the chase. That's what I want to do. I want
to cut to the chase. Verse 3 speaks of so great salvation. So great salvation. If the salvation
of a sinner is a great salvation, how does that reflect on the
one who does the saving? What must be the one who does
the saving? A great salvation requires, demands
a great savior, does it not? And God's salvation is a great
salvation. For the grace of God, Paul wrote
to Titus, that bringing salvation hath appeared to all men. Teaching
us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, that's what God's
grace does. We should live soberly and righteously
and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. The great salvation of a great
sinner can only be accomplished by the great God and Savior.
We've all heard the expression concerning a skill that, like
Terry, he's an electrician. I can't do that. Man, don't you
ever let me wire anything for you, unless you want it to burn
down. If it was easy, anybody could
do it. If the salvation of a sinner was easy, anybody could do it. But Christ said, it's impossible. With men, it's impossible. Oh,
but not with God. Not with the God-man. In Mark
chapter 7, after a day of preaching the glorious gospel of the blessed
God, the greatest preacher there ever
was, the only preacher truly there ever was, the Lord Jesus
Christ, after that day of preaching, of performing miracles, After
that day was over, we read in Mark chapter 7, verse 37, and
the people were astonished beyond measure, saying, he had done
all things well. He made both the deaf to hear
and the dumb to speak. He's done everything well. Hmm. Oh, I wish I believed that. I
wish I acted that way. All things. Not some things. Not a few things. Not just the
good things. All things. All things well. And that is especially true concerning
this great salvation that Jesus Christ came to accomplish and
to perform. That great salvation that he
accomplished for us and performs in us. He does all things well. That's the basis Probably, other
than John 3, 16, one of the most familiar verses in scripture,
but it's always misapplied. We know all things work together
for good. The them that love God, that's not everybody, that's
not some kind of rabbit's foot. No, them that love God, that's
who the promise is to. The them who are the called according
to his purpose. And this is God's purpose. For
whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. I don't believe God will fail
to do that, do you? To give his Son the travail of
his soul, to honor his Son, because his Son honored him. Therefore,
that good work of grace must be carried on by the triune God,
because he's already given Christ a name above every name. He's
already highly exalted him, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under the earth, that pretty much includes it all, and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. You remember the story concerning
Solomon when he became king after the death of his father David.
In 1st King, we're told the story about the Queen of Sheba. She'd
heard about Solomon's wisdom. She'd heard rumors. They kept
coming back to her country. She thought, this is just too
good to be true. Nobody's that wise. Nobody's
that wealthy. I'm just going to go check it
out. I'm going to go see for myself. And in 1 Kings 10 we
read, And when the queen of Sheba heard the famous Solomon according
to the name of the Lord, she came to prove him, to test him
with hard questions. Would you see how wise he is?
And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels
that bear spices and much gold and precious stones. And when
she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that
was in her heart. And Solomon answered all her
questions, told her all her questions. And there was not anything hid
from the king. There was not anything hid from
the king. There's not anything hid from the king of kings and
lord of lords. And when the king of Sheba had
seen all Solomon's wisdom and the house he had built and the
meat of his table and the setting of his servants and the attendance
of his ministers and their apparel and his cupbearers and his assent
by which he went up into the house of the Lord, We read, there
was no more spirit in her. She was overwhelmed. That's how
a redeemed sinner ought to feel. Overwhelmed. Overwhelmed. I obtained
mercy. That's overwhelming. There was
no more spirit in her, and she said to the king, it was a true
report that I heard in my own land of thy acts and thy wisdom. Howbeit, I believed not the words
until I came. and my eyes have seen it. And
behold, the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity
exceedeth the fame which I heard." The King of Kings said this concerning
that passage, that event. He said, the Queen of the South
shall rise up in judgment with the men of this generation and
condemn them, for she came from the utmost parts of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon
is here." You remember what Gabriel told Mary when he was sent by
God? To Mary, he came into her and
said, fear not, you found favor with God. And behold, you'll
conceive in your womb a brinkworth of son, and thou shalt call his
name Jesus. He shall be great. Behold, a greater than Solomon
is here. He shall be great, and he'll
be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom, there shall
be no end." Oh, there shall be no end. Indeed, behold, a greater
than Solomon is here. Greater wisdom. Paul said the
Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach
Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the
Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God. He went on to say in that first
chapter of 1 Corinthians, but of him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom. and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption. In Colossians 2, Paul said, concerning
Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He said, beware now, because
this is what was happening. And he warned believers there,
beware lest any man spoil you through vain philosophy and vain
deceit. After tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world and not after Christ." Be careful.
Don't you believe these people come along and say, they've got
a new revelation, a new vision, a new gospel, a new way. Think they're smarter than God.
Paul said, beware of that. And he told them why. For in
Him, Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and you're complete in Him, Billy. Why would you want to move? You're
complete in Him. He who is the head over all principality
and power. The Queen of Sheba declared that
she was overwhelmed after seeing the wisdom and the riches of
Solomon. But when you and I are enabled
to behold our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, when we're enabled
to bow down, get down low, just get down, can't get down too
low. and by grace to look up to Him, or are we not overwhelmed? Like John on the Isle of Patmos,
he said, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard
behind me a great voice as a trumpet, and I turned to see who was doing
the talking. And he beheld the glorified Son
of God, Jesus Christ Himself. I won't read all that to you,
but this was the outcome. John, like the Queen of Sheba,
was overwhelmed. He said, when I saw him, I fell
at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon
me and said, fear not, I am the eternal, the everlasting I am.
I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and that
was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have
the keys of hell and of death. Yes, indeed, a great Savior alone
can bring a great salvation. Great. Great because of who it
belongs to. What makes salvation great? Where
does it come from? God doesn't deal in trivia things. It's great because it belongs
to Him. Salvation's of the Lord. Terry, salvation's of the Lord.
It doesn't come from any other source, from any other means.
Salvation is of the Lord. That's what Jonah found out.
He learned it the hard way, didn't he? If these three wheelers would
end up in the belly of a whale, they'll find out how much their
will would accomplish. When Jonah found himself there,
he knew he was trapped. He knew by his own effort, hey
Jonah, someone said, you wheeled yourself in, let's see you wheeled
yourself out, just take the first step, Jonah. No, no, no, no. Jonah said, oh, if I get out
of here, the Lord's going to have to do it. If I'm brought
out of this, God will have to do it. And he said, salvation's
up to the Lord. And he was delivered. There's
nothing great about a salvation that requires me to take the
first step to make it successful. What's great about that? Huh? I wouldn't bat an eye at that.
I wouldn't get out of bed to hear that. If I have to make
it successful, if it's all up to me, what's great about that?
If that's true, I'm the one who deserves the credit, at least
part of it. We can't truthfully say, if that
be so, not unto us, O Lord, yes, unto us too. Let's share in the
glory. Oh, no, no, no. Salvation is
of the Lord. It was grace to him, writer said.
Grace first inscribed my name in God's eternal book. It was
grace that gave me to the Lamb who all my sorrows took. Grace
taught my soul to pray and made my eyes o'erflow. It's grace
that's kept me to this day and will not let me go. Grace all
the works shall crown through everlasting days. It lays in
heaven the topmost stone and well deserves the praise. Great
salvation. And it's great because of the
one alone who should accomplish it. Oh, that's how we began. I've taken too long to come back
to this point. A great salvation requires a
great Savior, and there's only one. How shall we escape? As I said, we won't escape. Miss
Christ and you miss salvation. Miss Christ and you miss grace.
Miss Christ and you miss everything. Oh, the great God and Savior
is that one whose name was Jesus, before he shall save his people
from their sins. Oh, my soul. That's not a small
work. That wasn't a small accomplishment.
That required the eternal Son of God being made flesh. That
required the everlasting God, that one that made all things,
and by whom not anything was made that is made, that required
Him being made flesh, the eternal Word of God, and dwelling among
us. Oh my soul, what a great Savior. This is He speaking to God the
Father in these words, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book that
is written of me, to do thy will, O God. I come. In this same book of Hebrews,
chapter 9, verses 11 and 12, here's our great Savior. But
Christ, being come a high priest of good things to come, by a
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, but his body. Neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, by his own blood, precious blood,
atoning blood, sin-covering blood, by his own blood he entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. Yes, he is great. We read it
a moment ago in chapter one of this book, who being the brightness
of God's glory and the express image of his person and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself,
oh, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. When he had by himself
purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high, being made so much better than the angels as he had by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. A more excellent
name than they. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's
something about that name. Master, Savior, Jesus. Like the
fragrance after the rain. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Let all
heaven and earth proclaim. Kings and kingdoms will all pass
away. Oh, but there's something about
that name. Indeed, a great salvation requires
a great savior, doesn't it? Unless you're not a great sinner.
Unless you're not a great sinner. And most people aren't. Most,
ask them. Ask them. I can't tell you the
last time I talked to a great sinner. It's been so long, I
can't remember. Old Scott Richardson used to
say, I've got good news for sinners if I could find one. No more
sinners in the world. Everybody's saved. Everybody's
made a decision. Oh, but when the Lord God, by
His matchless grace, makes a man a sinner, strips him, brings
him down, oh, he'll realize, I need a great Savior. Ask that
publican standing in the temple. not even feeling worthy enough
to lift his eyes toward heaven, smiling on his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me. Ask him if he thinks he's a little
sinner. No, I'm a great sinner. I'm the sinner. There's not a
greater than me. And our Lord said he went home
justified. Tempted and tried, I need a great savior, don't
you? tempted and tried, I need a great
Savior, one who can help my burdens to bear. I must tell Jesus, I
must tell Jesus. He all my cares and sorrows will
share. Oh, I must tell him. Behold, a greater than even David
is here. Christ is David's son and David's
God. In Romans 1, verses 3 and 4,
Paul again writing, and he says, concerning his son, the gospel,
concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the
seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the
Son of God with power according to the Spirit by the resurrection
from the dead. God help me not to fail to see
the forest for the trees. What I mean by that, don't let
me fail to see that it's my great God and Savior that brings this
great salvation to sinners. in the so-called charismatic
movement. It's been around, sad to say,
for quite a few years now. The talk is all about gifts and
miracles. I would ask them, where's the
giver? What about the greatest gift
of all, the unspeakable gift of God's Son? Mary Magdalene
asked The angel, they've taken away my Lord, and I don't know
where they've laid him. That's what most preaching can
be described as today. Where's the Lord Jesus Christ
in all this? Where's the wonder, not of a
health and wealth gospel, not about gifts and tongues and healings,
oh, but by that one who bore all my sins in his own body on
the tree. Tell me about that miracle. If
ever we get over that, consider this. When the captain of our
salvation brings many sons to glory and declares to God his
Father, behold I and the children, here in chapter 2 of Hebrews,
behold I and the children which God hath given me. It will require
eternity for us to consider that. It will need an eternity to consider
that. We trace all those wonderful
works of grace for us and in us back to Him, Jesus Christ
Himself. I've told you this story about
a little girl in a Sunday school class. She was asked the question, Concerning
1 Peter 2, we read that the Lord is precious to those that believe
he is precious. And the teacher said, what does
that mean? And the little girl raised her
hand and said, well, this morning before we came to church, Father
told us that Mother was precious, because where would we be without
her? Huh? Brothers and sisters in
Christ, let us often ask ourselves, where would we be without Jesus
Christ? Where would we be? I'll tell
you where we'd be. Right here where Paul said we
would be. At that time, we were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. And
left in that dreadful state, this is where we would be. when
the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels
with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne in His glory. And
before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats."
That's where we would be, on the left. And we would hear these
words, "'Depart from Me,' He cursed, in the everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels. And these shall go away,
into everlasting punishment and we would be among them. But thank
God that will never be heard by any child of God. He'll never
hear those awful words depart from me. You know why? Because now in Christ Jesus,
ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. There is now, therefore, no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Those are both immutable, eternal
nows. Because the Good Shepherd laid
down His life for the sheep, they have eternal life, and they
can never perish or be plucked from His hand. They will be at
the Savior's right hand and hear these precious words, Come, ye
blessed of my Father. Come. inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. And being made the
righteousness of God in Christ, we'll march in the glory. March
in the glory. Thank God for such a great salvation,
for such great sinners, from such a great Savior. And the
ransom of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads. and they shall obtain joy and
gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Just the other
day, Robin and I were driving out Tallahatchie Road. Did I
say that right? As we drove along, I glanced
out the window, and I said, man, Robin, look at that. Look at
that beautiful bird. Big bird, just soaring, just
soaring on the wind. I said, isn't that a sight? And she said, oh, they're ugly
things. Look at them. She wasn't looking
at the same thing I was. She was looking on the side of
the road on the ground where there were some old buzzards
feeding on some carcass. And I said to her, you know what?
That's a good picture of what we are by nature, on the ground,
struggling with this old simple nature. But one day soon, I'll
be like those flying above. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? Till from Mount Pisgah's lofty
height I view my home and take my flight, this robe of flesh
I'll drop and rise, this robe of flesh I'll drop and rise,
and seize the everlasting prize, and shall while passing through
the air, farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer. Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we
should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth
us not, and that's okay, because it knew him not. Beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like
him. for we shall see Him as He is. God bless you. God bless.