Hebrews chapter 2. We'll take our text from verse
3, and this is the title of our message. This is the subject.
Such a great salvation. Such a great salvation. Each
and every place in God's Word where salvation is spoken of,
and that's a lot of places. But each and every time, it's
spoken of, whether in the Old Testament, whether it's illustrated
by a type, like Noah's Ark, or the Passover Lamb, or all the
furniture, the sacrifices of the tabernacle, or whether we
come to the New Testament, and in reading our Lord's parables,
His spoken lessons, they illustrate the greatness of His salvation. As well as the miracles. Someone
referred to the miracles, and I think it's a good description,
as our Lord's acted lessons. The healing of the blind man,
the healing of the leper, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. They literally happen. They're
facts. But the miracles themselves illustrate
something greater than the miracle. It illustrates the greatest miracle
of God's great salvation. Such a great salvation. Salvation
is a work of God's grace. Now, I hope it's not necessary.
I hope what I'm about to say is not news to you. I hope you're
well aware that salvation is not your work. It's God's work. It's God's work. Salvation is
not what a sinner does for God or allows God to do for him. Salvation is what God does for
the sinner. That's why it's referred to here
as such a great salvation. That familiar passage of scripture
in Ephesians chapter 2 tells us that, doesn't it? And it illustrates
everything in the Bible concerning salvation can be summed up in
these few verses. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. What's
it talking about there? Is it talking about the grace,
the faith, or the salvation? All three. All three. None of them's of yourselves.
None of them could be found in all old fallen Adam. They're
all the gift of God's grace. Salvation is by grace alone.
Salvation is through faith alone. And salvation is in Christ alone. It's entirely without works of
any kind by those who are saved. And Paul said that, didn't he?
In Ephesians 2, he went on the right, not of works, lest any
man, any man. Now, does that exempt anybody?
Does that allow for one exception? of every sinner that God is pleased
to save. Without exception, they're all
saved by the grace of God, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
not of works lest any man, that's you, that's me, that's any redeemed
sinner, has no grounds to boast. Our text says, so great salvation. And that's what makes it great,
does it not? It's God's salvation. God doesn't
involve himself in trivial things. It's a great work by our great
God on great sinners. Turn back, if you will, we spoke
about illustrating that all the types and things of the Old Testament
illustrate this blessed fact, but turn, if you will, back to
Exodus, Exodus chapter 14. We're told that very thing here.
The crossing of the Red Sea literally happened. God literally parted
the Red Sea, allowed those who he had purchased with the blood
of the Passover lamb, those that he had redeemed, he was bringing
forth. Not a different group, but the
same one. The same ones who were in the
houses applied with blood were the same ones for whom he parted
the Red Sea and brought them across. And Pharaoh and his great
army, that great power who said, I will, I will pursue, I will
overtake, I will do this and that. God laughed in heaven and
said, I'll have him in derision. And he brought his people across.
And after that tremendous event, as we said earlier, that simply
illustrates a greater miracle, the salvation of God's people.
Look in verse 30. Here Moses stands with these
hundreds of thousands of people. Hundreds of thousands. And they
looked back. They looked back. And they said,
oh, my. I took the first step and God
took the rest. No, no. They knew. They knew what had happened.
They knew who was responsible. They knew who brought them through.
Look at verse 30. Thus the Lord saved Israel that
day. God did it all out of the hand
of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians
dead up on the seashore. And Israel saw that great work,
that great work. which the Lord did upon the Egyptians,
and the people feared the Lord, and they believed the Lord and
his servant Moses. They feared the Lord. They stood
in holy wonder of him who was able to do such a thing. They
stood in holy awe of Him. And in their heart they were
exclaiming as the song in chapter 15 tells us, Hallelujah! What a Savior! There's not a
God like unto our God. And if this salvation that we
profess to have experienced doesn't produce that holy wonder and
awe, we have good reason to question. Indeed, we should question. Is
it the true grace of God? Is it the great salvation? Did
it lead me? Did it convince me that He has
saved me by His grace? He has done it. And I contributed
nothing. Our best old hymns, the writers
of them, Seemed to have had an idea of this, didn't they? As
we sang a moment ago. They didn't write these old hymns
with a view to man's merit or man's worth or to make man feel
good. Their eye was on God. the triune
God, His grace, His salvation. They wrote with an eye to His
glory, to bow the soul of the believer down in worship. We
sang just a moment ago, ye chosen seed of Israel's race. Think
about that. Ye ransomed, ransomed from the
fall. God ransomed you. The blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, atoned for your sins. You were going
down to the pit, the pit of hell, the pit of everlasting darkness,
the pit of eternal condemnation, and nothing could stop you. Nothing
could keep you out. But God God said, deliver his
soul. Stop. Don't allow him to go to
hell. Don't allow him to fall into
the pit. I've found a ransom, my soul. What thankfulness I
owe to that one who ransomed me. ye chosen seed of Israel's
race, ye ransomed from the fall, hail Him who saves you by His
grace, and crown Him Lord of all." Another one said, Marvelous
grace of our loving Lord. Grace that exceeds our sin and
our guilt. Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured,
there where the blood of the Lamb was spilled. Grace, grace. God's grace. Grace that can pardon
and cleanse within. Grace, grace. God's grace. Grace that is greater. Oh, I'm
so glad of that. Grace that is greater than all
my sin. And who do you suppose? Well,
we don't need to wonder about it. That that old slave trader,
that at one time God-hating, Christ-rejecting rebel, to whom
was he directing his praise? To whom was he giving the glory?
When he sat down and wrote, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that
saved a wretch like me. Looking back over his life, he
said, it's amazing. It's amazing that he would save
a rebel like me. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear and grace my fears relieved. In last Sunday's bulletin, the
article I wrote began with a quote from the first message that Mr.
Spurgeon preached after the Metropolitan Tabernacle was built in London.
In his opening remarks, he said this, it bears repeating, He
said, I would propose that the subject of the ministry in this
house, as long as this platform shall stand, and as long as this
house shall be frequented by worshippers, shall be the person
of Jesus Christ, who is the sum and substance of the gospel,
who is in himself all theology, the incarnation of every precious
truth, the all-glorious personal embodiment of the way, the truth,
and the life." After speaking those words, 30 years later,
Mr. Spurgeon was in glory at 58 years
old on a monument over his grave. along with, of course, his name,
birth, date of birth, and death. There are inscribed these words,
"'Ere since by faith I saw the stream, thy flowing wound supply,
redeeming love has been my thing and shall be till I die.'" Also in that first message that
he preached at the tabernacle, when he said, I don't want nothing
else to ever be preached except Jesus Christ. In the close of
that message, he said this. May I entreat in closing your
earnest prayer, each of you, that in this house as well as
in all the places of worship round about, Christ may evermore
be preached, and I may add my sincere desire that this place
may become a hissing in the abode of dragons and this pulpit be
burned with fire or ever any other gospel be preached here
of which Jesus Christ himself is the chief cornerstone." And
it wasn't hardly any time at all after Mr. Spurge's death
that the glorious gospel of the blessed God ceased to be preached
there. And it's not preached there today.
Isn't that sad? Isn't that sad? One evening last
week, I did something that I can't remember the last time I did.
And after doing it, I remembered why I ceased doing it. But I
sat down in my easy chair and picked up the remote, was looking
for something to watch. It's hard to find. And I came
across the religious network, CNN, TBN, PTL, past the loot,
isn't that what that stands for? But I thought, well, I paused
at each of them for a moment just to see what they were saying. And nothing's changed. Nothing's
changed, Louie. Nothing at all. It was all about
that health and wealth gospel. God's got a miracle. It's yours. If you'll write me a check. I
thought... And I paused at one. One of the most popular in our
day, a fellow by the name of Olsteen. And after he gave his
usual motivational talk, his feel-good-about-yourself message,
and they were packed to the rafters to hear it, he walked to the
side of the platform and looked into a camera and said, oh, by
the way, I don't want to stop until I give you a chance to
accept Jesus as your Savior. And these words are just about
verbatim. He said, will you say this simple little prayer with
me, Jesus, I'm a sinner, will you save me? Then he said, if
you said that little prayer, you're born again. You're born
again. I'll tell you this. I never found
God's great salvation to be simple or easy. Did you? Did you? The Word of God nowhere describes
God's salvation as being something simple or easy. Turn, if you will, to 1 Peter
chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4. If God's salvation is simple
or easy, if that man's right, then I'm deceived. We both can't
be right. We're both not preaching the
gospel. If his message is true, then I'm a false prophet. Both
can't be right. But nowhere does God's word declare
salvation to be simple or easy. In chapter 4 of 1 Peter, verse
17, for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house
of God. And if it first began at us,
who are believers, true believers. That's who Peter's talking to.
What shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous, those righteous
in Christ, those actually righteous in Jesus Christ, if the righteous
scarcely be saved, If the righteous are saved easy and simply...
No, no, no. If the righteous scarcely be
saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Scarcely. The word is with difficulty. That would be a better translation.
If the righteous with difficulty be saved, where will the sinner
and the ungodly appear? Salvation involves some difficulty. Difficult. There were some difficulties
in the way. There were some obstacles that
had to be dealt with, that only God Almighty could deal with.
For example, this. Before any sinner can ever be
saved, before God Almighty forgives the sins of any rebel, he must
remain absolutely just in doing so, or cease to be God, step
off the throne. How can God be just and justify
the sinner? That's got to be dealt with.
That's got to be answered. And look at the condition of
the sinner. The Scriptures teach that he's dead in trespasses
and sins. He's dead, Joe. In Adam, all
die. Adam, in the day you eat that
fruit, in the day you disobey God, you are going to die. There's a difficulty. There's
a difficulty. By nature, we're dead in trespasses
and sins. How can we come to Christ? How
can we believe? How can we repent? There's nothing
in us that's even willing or able to do so. There's a difficulty. What's the answer? And when people, after they are
brought to Christ, every day, do you not find a difficulty?
Child of God, every day, every day, the devil whispering in
your ear, every trial, every heartache, throw in the towel.
Give it up. What's the point? There's no
hope for a sinner like you. There's a difficulty. How's that
dealt with? And the answer is in our text.
The answer to all three of those is God's great salvation. God-wrought salvation. God-glorifying
salvation. God then answers the question
Himself, how He can be just and justify a guilty sinner and remain
perfectly holy in doing so. Only He can do that. Only He,
who said, I'm the resurrection and the life, can give life to
dead sinners, can come to them and say, live! And if he doesn't, it won't be
done. It won't be done. It doesn't
happen by trotting up an aisle and saying the sinner's prayer. That's not when a man's born
again. A man's born again when God Almighty comes in sovereign
grace and gives him life. If he doesn't give it to him,
he'll never have it. Rolf Barner said years ago, Preachers
today are wrapping salvation up in a neat little package and
selling it to unsuspecting men and women." And he was exactly
right. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
you look out on our religious day, and that includes many of
our loved ones, our neighbors, most of the people we know. and
concerning what they profess to believe, concerning what that
fellow said, looking into the camera, say this simple little
prayer. And let me ask you, where's the wonder of grace? Where's
the wonder of grace? Is grace no longer amazing? Is
salvation no longer a miracle that only God Almighty can accomplish? Where's the wonder? Where's the
glory? Where's the great salvation that
our text speaks of? Three things. This great salvation
is by the great God and it's a great work. And this is good
news. It's for great sinners. Everybody
God saves is a great sinner. God doesn't deal with people
that don't need salvation. Every sinner God saves is a great
sinner. Every one of them. If you go
up to them and say, I believe you're a great sinner, they won't
argue with you. They'll say, you're exactly right.
You found me out. You found me out. Every one of
them will confess, I'm the sinner. God makes them so. Salvation
is by the great God. Salvation is by our great God
and Savior. Salvation is His. It's God's
doing. Only He can do it. The first
time the word is used in Scripture, that is, the word salvation,
in Genesis chapter 49, Jacob in blessing his son says, I wait
for thy salvation, O Lord. First time it's used. And he
says, it's your salvation. It's God's salvation. Only one
salvation from sins. Only one eternal salvation. Only one great salvation and
it belongs to God. That's what I want, don't you?
I don't want to be deceived by an imposter. I don't want to
accept some simple plan of salvation. I want to know Him. I want to
be found in Him. I want to be wrapped up in His
righteousness when I stand before the Holy God. I want to be accepted
in Him. There's no other salvation. Only
one great salvation belongs to God, it comes from God, and it
will return to God with everlasting praise. The triune God purchased
purpose, salvation. God the Son purchased salvation. God the Holy Spirit performs
salvation, preserves the saved, perfects the saved, and he shall
have all the praise for it in glory. This great salvation is
worthy of God, is it not? This great salvation, considering
what's involved, considering the difficulties, as Peter said,
Oh, what a great salvation. It reflects the glory of that
great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. I never tire of reading these
words or quoting them to you or hearing them quoted or preached. They bring such comfort to this
helpless sinner's soul. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. Glory to his name. Jesus, nobody
else. Jesus, all alone, without question. He shall. He shall. He shall. He shall not fail nor
be discouraged. He shall save. to the uttermost,
to the uttermost. His people, every one of them,
He won't lose one from their sins, all of their sins. Well, what about man? What about
man's will? What about man's contribution?
Well, I'll tell you about man's will. No, no, no. God will tell
you. God's Word tells us about man's will. Concerning salvation,
Romans 9 and 16, it's not of him that willeth, it's not of
him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Man's will? My soul. We can't will off a
cold, can we, Lonnie? You couldn't will off that germ
that gave you pneumonia. How's your will going to raise
your dead soul from the grave? How can you give yourself spiritual
light? No, no, no. That's the prerogative
of him who sits upon the throne. Upon the departure of that rich,
young, religious ruler that came to our Lord. thinking he could
earn eternal life. And our Lord didn't say, well,
say this simple prayer after me. He sent him away sorrowful. He wouldn't bow, and our Lord
let him go away. And he didn't chase after him.
Let him go. And upon hearing what our Lord
said about a rich man entering glory, The disciples who were
obviously impressed with this young man said, who then can
be saved? Are you listening? He who is the truth answers that
question. When they asked who then can
be saved, the Lord Jesus Christ said, with man, it's impossible. It's impossible. What we hear
all around us, it's simple and easy. Well, who are you going
to believe? Man, it's impossible. Oh, but he didn't stop there,
did he? But not with God. Not with God. We judge the greatness
of God's salvation by what it required. What did it require? When God, we're told in John
1 concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, that without Him was not anything
made that was made. That Word, that expression of
God, That very essence of God created all things that are created.
But the creation of heavens and earth, the creation of the stars,
didn't require Him being made flesh, did it? It wasn't necessary.
Oh, but the salvation of a sinner? Does this not reflect something
of the greatness of God's salvation? it required he who himself was
God being made like unto his brethren.
When he said, let there be light, that wasn't necessary. When he
created all the heavens and the earth, he didn't become flesh. It wasn't necessary. Oh, but
in order to bring many sons into glory, It was necessary that
He become flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones. It was
necessary that God Almighty send forth His own Son. And not only
that, not only was He made flesh, what a mystery that is, but what
a mystery this is too. He was made sin. He was made
sin. God made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Oh, what a great God and Savior. And this great salvation is a
great work, isn't it? It must be. Look at what's needed. As I said, preachers today spend
their time, they're doing it all around us right now. trying
to convince people that it's easy. You can come if you're
just willing to change places in the building, move from there
to here, or say this after me, or sign the card, or raise your
hand, anything. It's easy. But our Lord said
no man can. The preacher is saying, yes you
can, yes you can. Christ said, no you can't. No man can come
to me except. Are you interested in that? Except. Except. No man can come to me. And if
I don't come to him, I don't have life. If I don't come to
Christ, I can't be saved. If I don't come to Christ, I
stay under condemnation. If I don't come to Christ, I
can't know God. No man can come to me except... What's the exception? Except
God who sent me, draw him. Ezekiel? Ezekiel, can these bones
live? The Lord asked. In chapter 137,
Ezekiel said, the Spirit took me to a valley and set me down
in the midst of a valley of bones. He said there were very many
all around and they were very dry. And the Spirit said, Ezekiel,
can these bones live? Live? And Ezekiel said, Thou knowest. And God said, I'll breathe upon
these bones. I'll breathe upon them. I'll
give them life. And they'll stand up, a great
army, and they'll know that the Lord did it. Three times. God tells Ezekiel, and they'll
know that I did it. They'll know that I did for them
what they couldn't do for themselves. Oh, see our great God and Savior. Hear Him speak as never a man
spoke. And he said, I'm the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never, shall never die. He said, the hour is coming
when they which are in the graves, those who are dead, shall hear
his voice. And those that hear shall Live. Live. Again in Ezekiel 16, there's
a picture of what we are by nature. That newborn infant thrown out
into a field to die. No one cared for him. No one
nursed him. No one found him. When I passed by, God said, when
I passed by, when I came to you, you couldn't
come to me. When I passed by and I saw you
polluted in your own blood, I said, live. Live. It was a time of love. and you
became mine. That's a great salvation, is
it not? That's a wonder, is it not? But
God, but God, I was a persecutor. I was injurious. I'm not worthy
to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God,
but God, who was rich in grace. Turn, if you will, to 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. You know where I'm going. 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. But God. Verse 9. 1 Corinthians 6 and 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. Be not
deceived. Neither fornicators, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners
shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. And such were some of you. But, but, but ye are washed, but ye
are sanctified, but ye are present tense, justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace,
thank God for his great salvation. I agree with Mr. Fortner. He
said somebody asked him, do you believe in miracles? He said,
man, I am a miracle. I am a miracle. Yes, I believe
in the miracle working God. It took a miracle to hang the
world in place, and it took a miracle to put the stars in space. But when he saved my soul and
cleansed and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace. This great salvation is for great
sinners. Great sinners. God saves only
great sinners. As we mentioned earlier, ask
any one of them. They didn't think they were great
sinners, but God. But God convinced them that it
was so. The great shepherd of the sheep came and sought them
and found them, saved them, and brought them home. And He rejoiced
all the way in doing so. Yes, God strips us, brings us
down, by His grace makes our heart to fear, but He doesn't
leave us there, does He? He that began a good work in
you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Then He
closes them, He lifts us up, and His grace relieves our fears. And He says, He says, Thy sins
are all forgiven. Go in peace. Go in peace. I was listening to a CD by Mr. Coleman, a song I hadn't listened
to much, but it got my attention, and I jotted down one verse of
it along with the chorus, and I thought, this is good. This
is good. This pretty well describes what
a redeemed sinner ought to feel. It sure does me. The title of
it was, I'm so glad God saves old sinners. I was so wrong, I needed forgiveness. And I was so bad, I had to be
redeemed. I was a lawbreaker, I lived in
sin's prison, and I was so lost as a sinner could be." Does that
describe you? Well, it does me. And he wrote, or sang rather,
I am so glad God saves old sinners I'm thrilled and amazed how he
sets them free. But the biggest surprise in God
redeeming old sinners is that he would save an old sinner like me. What a great salvation. Turn,
if you will, to Mark chapter 5, and we'll close. Mark chapter
5. Our Lord had crossed the Sea
of Galilee, came over to the country of the Gadarenes on purpose
for one reason, one reason. There was a poor man there living
in the tombs, demon-possessed, a lunatic. Nobody could help They tried. It was useless. And the great
shepherd came and found him. He cast out the devil. And that man sits clothed at
the feet of Christ and in his right mind. And our Lord gets
ready to return. And this man wanted to be with
him. But look what our Lord says in verse 19, Howbeit Jesus suffered
him not, but said unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell
them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath
had compassion on thee." One more question. Our text says,
how should we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? And of
course the answer is, we won't. We won't. There's no other salvation. There's no other savior. There's
no other redeemer. Miss Christ and you miss everything. Everything. God bless you. Thank you for your attention.