Hebrews chapter 2. I'll just
continue by God's grace along the same theme that Bobby just
sang to us about. About great salvation. So great salvation. That's the
title of our message. You'll find those words in verse
3 of Hebrews 2. Mr. Spurgeon said he found that
he had need of a great Savior and he also found that Jesus
Christ was such a great Savior to meet that need. God only saves
great sinners. He only saves great sinners.
He convinces them of that, I'm sure, before he reveals Christ
to them. He strips them before he clothes
them. before he lifts them up and sets
their feet upon the solid rock, the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
he brings them down. That's what Mr. Newton wrote
about in his most famous hymn, Amazing Grace. He said, it was
grace that taught my heart to fear. Now a man that's never
experienced that has never experienced the other. Grace. His sweet grace that taught my
heart to fear, that woke me up, showed me who I was and revealed
something of who God is. That same grace that produced
that fear also relieved that fear. That's a great salvation
for great sinners. Let's read verses 1 through 4
here in Hebrews chapter 2. Therefore, in light of what the
apostle had already written, in light of the fact that Christ
is so much better than the angels, so much better than anything
that ever came before, therefore, we ought to give the more earnest
heed to the things which we have heard, 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 or reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation? And the answer, obviously, is
we won't escape. We won't escape. If we neglect
this great salvation, there's not another. There's not another.
If we don't come to Christ as the only Savior, then there's
not another. If we neglect so great salvation,
which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed
unto us by them that heard Him, God also bearing them witness
both with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts
of the Holy Ghost according to His own will. It's been well said that religion,
no matter what form it is, religion, man-made religion, always makes
two mistakes, vital mistakes, concerning the character of God
and man. The first mistake is they make
too much of man. They just make too much of man.
And the second one is, and these things are always hand-in-hand,
You rob God, you give man glory. The second mistake is they make
too little of God. Just too little of God. This great salvation that our
text speaks of, I want us to consider in two ways. First,
as it applies to God. As it applies to God. What does
God himself require? the most recognized verse in
the whole Bible. If people don't know any other
verse of the Word of God, they know this, John 3, 16. God so loved the world, so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Yes, there's no
question about that. God's love provided the sacrifice. But people never seem to ask
themselves the question, why did God require the sacrifice? Yes, in the fullness of time,
God sent forth his son, love provided his son, but why was
it necessary? Why could not God, if salvation
is solely a matter of God's love, If that's the only requirement,
then why could not God simply say, I love you, I love sinners,
therefore I forgive you apart from the death of his son? Why
was his son's death necessary? And the answer is this, God's
justice, God's holiness, that's what required the sacrifice. This is a great salvation because
it is exactly that, God's salvation. The scriptures tell us it's an
everlasting salvation. Someone asked Henry Mahan one
time, do you think salvation is forever? Do you think salvation
is forever? And Henry said, well, it depends
on whether it's God's work or man's work. If it's up to man,
Henry said, no, no, it won't last forever. But if it's the
work of God, if it's the work of God's amazing grace, if that's
what it's determined on, if that's what it's based upon, then yes,
it'll be forever. What God does, he does forever. It's an everlasting salvation.
It's an uttermost salvation. I like that. Someone once said,
from the guttermost to the uttermost. From the depths of sin and depravity
and helplessness and spiritual death all the way to glory. Anything less than that. Anything
less than that is not great salvation. Not only is it everlasting and
uttermost salvation, but all those that experience God's amazing
grace will experience grace that is greater. It better be, it
better be, Russell, grace, as Bobby's saying to us, grace that
is greater than all my sin. I find that comforting. I find
that so comforting. God's grace is greater. It's
reigning grace. It's abounding grace over all
my sin. And it will bring all those.
without exception. Religion can't do this. Man's
will can never do this. But it will bring all those who
experience it. Every sinner who receives God's
grace will be brought all the way to glory. Anything else would
be a reflection of failure on the part of the Son of God who
said, I give my sheep eternal life And they'll never perish. It's just not going to happen. No man can pluck them out of
my hand. And this great salvation is the
product of great wisdom. Great wisdom on the part of the
triune God. And it was wrought out by a great
person. who is the great God and Savior,
Jesus Christ himself. And it was brought about at great
expense, even the expense of the blood and life of the Son
of God. And it overcame great difficulties. It is indeed a complete and everlasting
and uttermost salvation. It's great because it's God's
work. It's God's work. all around us
today. Russell talked about this as
we were driving over this morning. I picked him up. He's driving
one of those big rigs and he wanted to know where he could
park it and I said the only place I know is at Walmart. So he attends
Darwin's Church. He's from Arkansas where Brother
Darwin Pruitt pastors and he's on his way to Atlanta. to drop
off something and to pick up something. But anyway, we're
glad to have him this morning. But he was talking to me about
that just a little while ago, about hearing all of his life,
religion, religion, religion, tells man what he must do, what
he must do. Man, if you want to comfort my
soul, don't tell me what I must do. Tell me what God has done. Tell me what God has done with
this great salvation through our great God and Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why salvation is such
a great work. It's His. Salvation is of the
Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. You
remember who spoke those words? Old Jonah. You remember where
he was? He was in the belly of that great
fish. in the whale's belly when he
cried, salvation is of the Lord. I remember years ago hearing
dear brother Jack Shanks preach in Danville, Kentucky. And he
said, can you imagine a fundamentalist preacher getting in a rowboat
and rowing out to where Jonah was and yelling down, Jonah,
Why don't you just take the first step out of that whale's belly? Why don't you exercise your free
will? And Jonah would answer something
like this. It was my free will that put
me here. But it's going to take God's free grace to bring me
out. Salvation is of the Lord and
out he came because it was a product of God's amazing grace. God said
by the prophet Isaiah, why do you pray unto a God that cannot
save? That cannot save. Look unto me. Look unto me. If you look to
me, all the vilest offender that truly believes that very moment
from Jesus apart and receives, look unto me and be ye saved
because I am God, a just God and a Savior, there is none else. How can a man be just with God? Hmm, Louie, there's the issue.
There's the issue. How can a man be just with God? And there's no easy answer to
that. You know why? Because God, contrary
to today's religious popular opinion about it, God Almighty's
hard to please. Hard to please. I used to think
when I was a boy that my daddy was hard to please. He would
give me something to do and I would do it. I thought I did it. And
he would come and say, son, You didn't finish the job. That's
only half done. Now you go do what I told you
to do. Finish the job I gave you." And
I thought, man, I didn't speak it out loud. I wasn't plum crazy,
but I thought to myself, man, my daddy's hard to please. God
Almighty, he's hard to please. He's not easily satisfied. You
know why? He demands perfection. He demands
perfection. How good does a man have to be
to go to heaven? How good does he have to be to
be accepted by the Holy Lord God? You know how good he has
to be? As good as God. God can't accept
anything less than himself. And if he doesn't receive that
perfection that he demands, none will be saved. I know this. I know this. As the Lord Jesus
Christ himself said when his disciples asked him on one occasion,
who can be saved? Who can be saved? Our Lord said,
with men it's impossible. He didn't say it's as easy as
ABC. With men it's impossible. As
old Mr. Toplady wrote, not the labor
of my hands, can fulfill the law's demands. Could my tears
forever flow? Could my zeal no lanker know?
These for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. Write those words upon every
effort. of man, every attempt by man
to come to God on the grounds of his own works, his own merit,
his own worth. Write that across every such
effort and attempt. They cannot atone. They'll be rejected. They'll
be rejected. These can never take away sin. Salvation is not an easy matter. Peter spoke about those who are
barely say that is with great difficulty. It must be more than
a decision. I remember on more than one occasion
hearing brother Scott Richardson make this statement correctly. He said, God must do something
for himself before he can do anything for you. God must do
something for himself before he can do anything for you. A way must be found a way must
be found whereby God remains perfectly just. There's no infringement
upon His holiness, upon His justice, when He justifies a sinner. When God justifies a sinner,
He must do it on the grounds of absolute, satisfied justice. And God's mercy never comes except
on the wings of satisfied justice. the Lord Jesus Christ himself. God's mercy is never at the expense
of justice. So in view of God's requirements,
this is such a great salvation, isn't it? Deliver his soul, God
says. Deliver his soul from going down
to the pit. Why? Because I found a way. a means whereby I can be just
when I declare sinners not guilty, when I declare that they must
go free. Why? Because I have found a ransom. God declares, I've found the
ransom that satisfies me. I found the ransom that perfectly
answers every demand of my holy law. Who is it? Who is it? What is it? Oh, it's not a what,
Russell. It's not religion. It's not a
decision. It's not the sinner's prayer.
It's the Son of God who said, I come to do thy will, O God. Secondly, not only considering
that it must be a great salvation, Considering what God requires,
it must be a great salvation in view of what man needs. What man needs. Look at Adam. Not Adam before the fall. People
try to argue about man's will being free and so forth, and
they point to Adam before he fell. No, no, no. We trace our
roots to our daddy, the fallen Adam. Fallen Adam. And when he
fell, we fell in him. When Adam sins against God, his
nature, what happened to him? Does he act like a man that has
a free will? No, no, no. His will is bound
to his nature. I hear men talk as though Adam's
will was a little man outside of himself. And everything when
Adam sinned against God, when he fell, everything was affected
except his will. It remained as it was. I beg
your pardon. No, it didn't. He fell. It's
just a part of his nature. And his nature is to hide from
God. He attempts to hide from God,
Carlos. Has he lost his mind? Is he insane? Does he really
think he can hide from the all-knowing, omniscient God? And Adam doesn't
take the first step. He's not able to take the first
step back to God, and he doesn't want to take the first step back
to God. God, the great shepherd of the sheep, must come looking
and searching for him. Adam, where art thou? I know my sheep. They hear my
voice and they follow me. Adam, fallen Adam, is not able
to come back to God. And our Lord said in John's Gospel
chapter 6, the people who followed him with their feet, they followed
him physically. And he turned to them and said,
you've really not come to me. Whoa, now wait a minute. Wait
a minute. Man, you're knocking the props
out of Most religion today. What do you mean coming to Christ
is not something I can do with my feet? That it's not a physical
coming? Oh no, you mean coming to Christ
is not walking up and shaking the preacher's hand? I think
I told you the story. I hadn't been here long and I
was in a store downtown and a lady was waiting on me that worked
there. And she asked me, you know, how I came to be here and
thus and thus. And I told her, I told her where
I pastor. And she said, oh yeah, yeah, I know that church. And
she didn't smile when she said it. I thought, well, what's coming?
She said, I know that church. I was there one time. She said,
that's a strange church. She said, man, that pastor, they're
just strange. And I said, why's that? Not the
message. No, that's not what grabbed her
attention. What she remembered as making this such a strange
place was the pastor, after he preached, didn't give an altar
call. He didn't give an altar call.
He didn't give people a chance to be saved. How can people be
saved if you don't give them a chance to move their feet? And I said, well, the reason
we... She said, they didn't even have an altar. And I said, well,
that's because we don't offer animal sacrifices. We don't need
an altar. And she just scratched her head
and said, well, he's just like the other one they had before.
He's no different than the other fella. Oh no, coming to Christ
is not something done with the feet. As our Lord said to that
multitude that had followed Him with their feet, you've not come
to me. Like I told you before, He said,
no man can. No man can. My soul, no man can. People are being told over and
over, Sunday after Sunday, oh yes you can, yes you can. And
the Lord said, no you can't. No man can truly come to me unless
the Father who has sent me draws him, fetches him, draws him to
me. Otherwise, you can't come. And
then previous to that, in chapter 5, He told the religious folk
of his day, search the scriptures. In them you think you have eternal
life, and they testify of me, and you won't come to me. You
do search the scriptures, is literally what he said, but you
won't come to me. If you don't come to me, it doesn't
make any difference what else you do. It doesn't make any difference
how many altars you trot up to. It doesn't matter how many sinners'
prayers you pray. It doesn't matter how many decisions
you make, how many times you're put in water and brought back
up. It doesn't matter what you do. If you don't come to Christ,
you don't have life. You can't have life because He's
the resurrection and the life. He's able. and willing by his
grace to save all that come unto God by him. He's willing and
able to make them bow to him, to make them willing. Whosoever
will, Christ said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you life. Anybody thirsty, he
said, In John 7, he watched for days, seven or eight days, them
go through their feast of tabernacles, their religious exercise for
days. And then he stood as though he
could stand it no longer and cried out, are you tired of that? Are you sick of that? Are you
tired of playing religion? Anybody out there really want
to know the true and living God coming to me? The fountain of
living water. Anybody thirsty? Drink. Drink and live forever. And yet, as we said, Christ said,
you will not come. You will not come. Whosoever
will come, but you will not. What's the answer to that dilemma?
My people shall be willing. God says, in the day of my power,
I'm going to make them willing. You mean God does that? God violates
people's will. Yeah, thank God that He does. Thank God that He does. If He
didn't make them willing, they'd never be willing. If He didn't
bring them to His Son, they would never come to His Son. If left
alone, they would perish because it's not of Him that runneth
and it's not of Him that willeth, but it's of God Showeth mercy. We're lost by nature, we're in
darkness, and we're far from God. Between our sinful souls
and a holy God, there's a great gulf fixed and no man can cross
it. Who's going to find us? Who's
going to find us? What hope does a lost sinner
have? As we read from John 10, the
shepherd knows his sheep. He calls them by name, and he
leads them out. He found one up a tree one day,
didn't he? As he walked by, Jericho, through
Jericho, Zacchaeus climbed the tree, and the Lord looked up
and said, Zacchaeus, come down. Come down, because today I must. I like how he calls, don't you?
He speaks like a mighty God and Savior. He speaks like the self-efficient
eternal God. He speaks like one who doesn't
need or require my help. Zacchaeus come down cause today
I must, I must abide at thy house. And then he says today has salvation
come to this house. The Son of God came to this house.
As old Simeon said when he held up that babe, that babe He said,
I've seen thy salvation. The day of salvation come to
this house for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save
that which was lost. He does both. He seeks his sheep
and he keeps seeking. He'll never stop. He'll never
stop seeking until he finds it. The search will never stop until
he finds his lost sheep, and that's not all. He not only seeks
his sheep after he finds his sheep, he saves his sheep. He saves his sheep. He doesn't
seek him and consider the goal accomplished simply by finding
him. He seeks him and finds him for
the purpose of saving him. As he said in Luke 15, He seeks
him until he finds him. And when he finds him, he says,
well, that's all I can do. If he won't take the first step,
if he's not willing, there's nothing I can do for him. We
made this trip for nothing. It's all for nothing. Oh, no. He says, and when he finds him,
what does he do? He reaches down. He reaches down
his arm of omnipotent, sovereign, reigning grace, and he takes
him up. and puts him on his shoulders.
Can you picture that? That's how the shepherd would
carry their sheep when necessary. On his shoulders, over his back. And he says, he takes him all
the way home. Father, Father, I will also that
those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. that they may behold my glory."
He takes them all the way home. That's the great shepherd. All
such a great salvation is needed. It's necessary because we're
dead in trespasses and sins. And who shall raise us to life?
Who's going to do that? As our Lord took Ezekiel to that
valley Of dead, dry bones, Ezekiel looked and said, there are very
many. And they were very dry. And God said, Ezekiel, can these
bones live? Can they live? And Ezekiel said,
Lord, thou know a spiritual life, eternal life, must come from
the fountain of life, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. How can
a sinner dead in trespasses and sins be brought to believe on
the Son of God? How can he come to Christ the
only way that a sinner can come? With his heart. Turn if you will
to John's Gospel again, chapter 11. John chapter 11. You're familiar with this. This
picture of our Lord the great God and Savior. Lazarus
has died. Lazarus has died. Our Lord stayed
away deliberately until he had died. And then in verse 11 of chapter
11 here in John, he told his disciples, Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth, but, but, don't you love that word, but? That little
word. Big doors turn on little hinges,
but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. In verse 14, he
says plainly, Lazarus is dead. Ephesians chapter 2, you had
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. Oh, so great
salvation. So great a Savior. Now look on
down in the chapter at verse 25, or I'm sorry, Verse 42. He goes to the tomb of Lazarus
after telling Martha, your brother's gonna rise again. He's gonna
rise. Oh, I know he will someday way
out there in the resurrection. Martha, you're looking at the
resurrection. I'm the resurrection. And he
goes to the tomb. Can you imagine the futility
if anyone else had attempted to speak the words that our Lord
did. I mean, let's bring that priest there with all of his
religious garb on and his beads and his rosary. Let him stand
there and shout all day long his abracadabra and nothing happens. Nothing happens. Bring the fundamentalist
preacher there. Let him ask Lazarus to take the
first step and nothing happens. Oh, but when the Lord of glory
When the Lord of Glory steps before that tomb, verse 42, our
Lord's praying to his Father. And he says, I know that you
hear me always, but because of the people which stood by, I
said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when
he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
forth. And he that was dead, was dead,
past tense, you had he quickened who were dead. And he that was
dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave cloths, and his
face was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus said unto them, Loose
him, and let him go. Oh, thank God for such a great
Savior as the Lord Jesus Christ that possesses that grace that
reaches deeper than the stain has gone. One other example.
Behold that young man. he stands, our first introduction
to him is we find him standing and holding the cloaks of those
religious people that were stoning Stephen to death. Then we're
told in the next chapter that Saul was consenting unto his
death and then in the next chapter we find that he was yet breathing
out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the
Lord and that day That day, he was on his way to Damascus to
arrest God's people, and the Lord of Glory said, not going
to happen. It's not going to happen. Oh,
sovereign grace, arrest that man. Who will turn that self-righteous
Pharisee to Christ? Who is able to make that rebel
bow to Jesus of Nazareth that he hates with all of his heart? Who's able to make him willing? A few months ago, probably longer,
after that earthquake, that devastating earthquake in Mexico, I was watching
the news one evening and they had a segment about this dog,
this rescue dog. This dog had on goggles And he
was trying to find people, they said, that were buried under
that rubble before it was too late. They said, because this
dog can go where a man can't go. He can go where a man can't
go. Oh, Jesus Christ, the great shepherd
of the sheep, he can go, he can do what a mere man can't. Listen to this. He can do what
none other can. Call His name Jesus, for He shall,
I like that, He shall save His people from their sins. He will tread the winepress alone. He will put away sin by the offering
of Himself to God. He will bring us to God. He can
raise sinners to life. He's able to save unto the uttermost
all that come unto God by Him. Such a great salvation required. Such a great salvation needed
and such a great salvation given. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law. In sacrifices
and offerings, our Lord says to His Heavenly Father, thou
hast had no pleasure Then said I, in the volume of the book
that is written of me, I come to do thy will, O God, in the
body that thou hast prepared me. And in that body he lived
a life that perfectly fulfilled God's holy law. I didn't come
to destroy the law, our Lord said. I've come to fulfill it.
And in that body, as we'll remember, he offered himself a perfect
sacrifice to God. And the result of all that is
this, he entered in once into the holy place having obtained
eternal redemption for us. He didn't make redemption possible,
he obtained redemption. He didn't make us redeemable,
he redeemed us. He accomplished something when
he laid down his life for his sheep. Complete atonement, the
hymn writer said, complete atonement thou hast made, and to the utmost
farthing paid all that thy people owed, and payment God cannot
twice demand, first at my bleeding surety's hand, and then again
at mine. If so, if he paid it all, then
the sheep must go free." Like Gomer went free after Hosea,
her husband, had outbid everybody else. When Gomer had sold herself
and found herself up on an auction block, Hosea outbids everybody
because he said, she's mine and I'm going to have her. And when
he bought her back, he puts her arm in his and they're walking
down the road, and he said, you're mine. You're mine. You'll not
be for another man. You're mine. You're going home
with me. And so it is. Jesus Christ bought
us with his own precious blood. And if Christ was truly made
sin for us, then we must be made the righteousness of God in him. Hebrews chapter 10. Listen to
this. Hebrews 10 verses 11 and 12.
And every priest endeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this
man, the God-man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, sat down, he did what the earthly priest could never
do. He sat down at the right hand
of God He sat down because His work was done. His sacrifice
was accepted. His people were sanctified by
His blood and their sins were pardoned. He sat down. He could
not have gone back to the Father as our mediator had He not put
away our sins. And these things were written
to show us the excellency and the superiority of Christ our
High Priest. There were many priests in Israel.
Christ is one. They offered many sacrifices.
He offered only one. They stood. He sat down. Hebrews
1 and 3, when he had by himself purged our sins, when we drink
the wine today and eat the bread, we're celebrating what Christ,
not what he attempted to do, what he accomplished, what he
obtained for us. Dear dying land, Thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more. Arise, my soul, arise. Shake off your guilty fears.
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears. Before the throne
my surety stands, and my name is written on his hand. Which
is greater? my sin or his grace? Shall I measure my assurance,
my acceptance before God by what I feel or what God himself declares? Deliver his soul. Five bleeding
wounds he bears, receive on Calvary. They pour effectual prayers.
They strongly plead for me. Forgive him, O forgive, they
cry. nor let that ransomed sinner die. Forgive him, O forgive,
they cry, nor let that ransomed sinner die. Christ's atonement
demands everyone for whom he offered it be set free. What a great salvation. What
a great Savior. God bless each of you.