Tonight, Lord willing, I'm going
to be preaching on Jacob, Laban, Law, and Gospel. Genesis chapter
31, if you can read it this afternoon. I'm going to attempt to preach
upon so great salvation. I pray the Lord gives us hearing
ears, that he enables me to preach on a subject that's way above
any of us. And I pray that he gives us hearing
ears to consider this thing of so great salvation. Now, I would like to introduce this message by having
you turn to Matthew chapter 22. The text I read, how shall we
escape if we neglect so great salvation? Matthew chapter 22. And Jesus answered and spake
unto them again by parables. and said, the kingdom of heaven
is like, now that ought to catch our attention. The Lord is telling
us what the kingdom of heaven is like. Ask a hundred different
preachers, you'll get a hundred different answers. Here's what
I think the kingdom of heaven is like. Well, this is not what
I think, this is what Christ says the kingdom of heaven is
like. I repeat, that should get our
careful attention. The kingdom of heaven is like
unto a certain king which made a marriage for his
son. That is God the Father making
a marriage for his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse three, and he sent forth
his servants to call them that were bidden. Now that word bidden
is actually called. To call them which were called. I don't much care for the thought
of the gospel being an invitation. Now I know in some senses it
may seem that way when he says, come to me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, that sounds somewhat like an invitation and
I love it. But the reason I dislike calling the gospel an invitation
is there's no crime in not accepting an invitation. I've been invited
places before that I didn't go And it wasn't a crime. This is
a call. If you don't come, you'll be
executed. There's my reason for coming. One of my many reasons.
But the gospel is a divine call. And he sent forth his servants
to call them that were bitten, that were called to the wedding. And they would not come. They hear this call and they
would not come. Not interested. Now, one would think that this
certain king would not call them anymore. If I called you to come to some
party or whatever it is, and you don't want to come, I'm not
gonna ask again. But we see the amazing long-suffering
and grace of our God in this next statement. Again. Again. Again, he sent forth other servants,
saying, tell them which are bidden Behold, I have prepared my dinner. You don't need to bring anything.
Do you hear that? You don't have
to bring anything. That's good because you've got
nothing to bring anyway, but you don't have to bring anything.
I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed
and all things are ready It's already complete. Come unto the marriage. But they made light of it. Do you know that's the same word
translated in our text, neglect? How shall we escape if we neglect? So great salvation. They made
light of it and went their ways, one to his farm and another to
his merchandise. Make light to hear the gospel and make light
of it. It's not really that important. It's important, but it's not
all. important. That's to make light
of it, to neglect, to count in my own mind and heart as unimportant
or at least not of the greatest importance. Now let's go back
to our text in Hebrews chapter 2. Therefore, I always loved what Brother Mahan
said when he was reading the scriptures. Anytime you see a
therefore, see what it's there for. And Hebrews chapter one
is the most glorious description of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm
gonna read Hebrews one without making any comment and we can
see where this therefore comes from. Hebrews chapter one, God,
who at sundry times and divers manners spake in times passed
into the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which
of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day
have I begotten thee. And again, I will be to him a
father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all
the angels of God worship him. And to the angels, he saith,
who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of
fire. But unto the sun, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness,
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows,
and thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the
earth. And the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall
perish, but thou remainest. And they all shall wax old as
doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and
they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall
not fail. But to which of the angels said
he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. Are they not all ministering
spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation? Therefore, therefore, in light of the excellency and
the glory of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, therefore, we ought
to give them more earnest heed to the things which we've heard,
lest at any time we should let them slip. Have you ever had something slip
out of your hand? You're holding it, slips out. It's gone. This also could refer
to something leaking out. Leaking out. And this is a very
real warning to me and to you. Don't let what you just heard
leak out. Don't let it slip. By God's grace, don't let the
amazing be removed from grace. Here's what this looks like.
Turn to Hebrews chapter four. Let us, therefore fear, lest
a promise being left us of Entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. Fear, lest you come short and
never really rest. Look in chapter 10, verse 23.
Let us Hebrews 10, 23. Let us hold fast
the profession of our faith. Don't let it go. Hold tightly. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful but promised. And let us consider one another. to provoke and to love and to
good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is. Now what that's talking about
is hearing the gospel preached. That's what we do when we assemble
ourselves together. Don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhort
one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
For if we sin willfully after that we received the knowledge
of the truth, There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. Now let me make a comment on
this. I used to dread reading that
passage of scripture as a young man. I would read that if we
sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth. That's
it. And I thought, I'm in trouble. Because every time I sin, I sin
willfully. You do too. Can't say the devil made me do
it. Well, I just fell. Got tripped. No. Every sin is
willful sin. So if he's talking about sinning
with your eyes wide open, ain't nobody in this room going to
be saved. Amen? Notice what he says, if we sin
willfully after that we've received the knowledge of the truth. That's talking about the gospel.
Christ said I am the truth. To go back to works after receiving
the knowledge of the truth, it's over. Now, hold fast. the profession of your faith.
Look in this same chapter, verse 38, chapter 10. Now the just
shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him. Now that draw back is a nautical
term. It means you let the sails down,
so you don't drive quite so fast. If any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but unto them that believe to the saving
of the soul. And back to our text in Hebrews
chapter two, if I can let the things that I've heard slip,
I've made light of them. I've said they're really not
that important to me. I think of the stony ground here
who received the word with joy. I mean, he heard the gospel.
I'm not talking about false religion. I'm talking about the gospel.
He received the word with joy. This is great. But when persecution
arises because of the word, he leaves. You know why? He made
light of it. He made light of it. What about
the thorn-choked here? He heard the gospel too. But
the world enters in and chokes the word. Why? When it comes
right down to it, it really was not that important to him. The
other things, the things of this world were competing. And he ain't gonna have any competition.
Now you can just write that down. He's not gonna have competition.
We ought to give the more earnest heed lest at any time we let,
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we've
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip, leak out. Verse
two, four, if the word spoken by angels, now what's that talking
about? God spoke to Moses through angels
speaking the law. Paul tells us that, Stephen tells
us that in Acts chapter seven, the law was mediated through
angels. So he's talking about the law of God, the holy law,
God, the 10 commandments. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward. Now note that what God does is
just. And in the law, there is no forgiveness. Only a just recompense of reward. Only God giving you what you
deserve. Only God giving me what I deserve.
I don't want that. I do not want that. I remember, reading one time
where somebody was Criticizing the gospel. It says the gospel
just makes people who don't want to take responsibility for their
own wrongdoings and yeah Yeah, I I don't I don't want to be
held accountable for my sin if I am I will be saved I'm one
of those people who Don't want to be held accountable. How about
you? How about you? Well, people ought to be held
accountable. I understand that in many ways. I do. If somebody's doing a bad
job, fire them. You don't get fired, you fire
yourself. People ought to be held accountable. But in this
thing of salvation, in this thing of being accepted by God, I don't
want to be held accountable in my works. No way. Now, under the law, there was
no forgiveness. You were given a just recompense
of reward. Anybody that wants, you that
desire to be under the law, don't you hear what it says? If salvation
is dependent upon you doing anything, you're toast. Me too. That's all the law knows. A just
recompense of reward. Now, in verse three, he says,
how shall we escape If we neglect, make light of so great salvation,
we won't. You see, there's forgiveness,
there's salvation, there's acceptance in the gospel. And to go to neglect
it, to make light of it, to treat it as something that is not everything,
How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Verse three, which at first began
to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them that
heard him. Now, this is why I don't believe
Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. Notice he says, it was first
spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them that heard him. Talking about the apostles. God
revealed Christ directly taught the apostles just like they were
Paul brought up into the third heavens and that's where they
received their doctrine and we're those who heard them and the
writer of the Hebrews says I'm one of the people who heard the
apostles spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to 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 Now, let's go back to this question.
How shall we escape if we neglect, if we make light of so great
salvation? May the Lord give me the grace
to describe so great salvation. May the Lord give us hearing
ears as we consider so great salvation. This salvation is great because
of the person who does the saving. Salvation is of the Lord. Jonah 2.9. In Psalm 37 we read
the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. The greatness of this salvation
is because of the greatness of the one who does the saving. This one God in three distinct
persons. Jehovah the Father Jehovah the
Son and Jehovah the Holy Spirit, God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit, these three are one. This glorious God, this
one God in three distinct persons is the one who does the saving.
I think of the work of the Father. Jehovah the Father, God the Father,
before time began, before there was any creation, elected a people
to be saved. He chose a people to be saved. And never even think of election
apart from the cross. When God chose a people to be
saved, he knew what it would cost him. This is not just some kind of
arbitrary choice we're talking about. God the Father chose a
people in Christ before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1.4,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. The Lord said, you have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. God the Father chose a people. The glorious Jehovah the Father
chose a people, knowing what it would cost him. This wasn't
just an arbitrary choice, knowing what it would cost him. And he
gave these people to Jehovah the Son and gave Jehovah the
Son the complete responsibility for their salvation before time
began. And Jehovah the Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ said, I'll do it. And he said, I'll do it knowing
what it would cost him. And Jehovah the Son, at a point
in time became flesh and took upon himself all the limitations
of being a man. I love that passage of scripture
in John chapter four where it says Jesus being wearied with
his journey and in the flesh as a man. He completely kept,
perfectly kept God's holy law. He never sinned. Now what good
would that have done us if after having never sinned he went back
to heaven? He wouldn't have done us a bit of good. But he came
after perfectly fulfilling God's law for those people the Father
gave him. He died. Why did he die? Don't ever think of that as something
of no, he died because of sin. My sin became his sin. He willingly took it upon himself. He died, suffered the wrath of
God, completely saved me, put away all my sin, was raised for
my justification. And God the Holy Spirit, Jehovah
the Holy Spirit comes in time and gives those, the father elected
and the son died for, life. Partakers of the divine nature.
You talking about great. If you are a believer, that means
Christ is in you. That means you have the life
of God in your soul. Talking about great. Talking about great. This salvation
is great because of the one who does the saving. How shall we
escape if we neglect so great a salvation which was first spoken
by the Lord? Now, I love to think about this.
First spoken by the Lord. First spoken with regard to this
great salvation, when he said, Where are you? Think of that. Adam, where are
you? And then he spoke that glorious
statement, the seed of woman. Speaking of the Lord Jesus coming
as a man, the seed of woman shall bruise, shall crush the serpent's
head. Throughout the Old Testament,
the Lord spake. And I love the Lord speaking
in the New Testament, as he spake when he walked upon this earth.
In the Sermon on the Mount, how many times does he say, you've
heard it said, but I say unto you. And he's talking about the
Old Testament. You've heard it said, and then
he'll give some law, but I'll say to you, he's giving himself
as the only one who can truly interpret the law. You've heard
it said, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you,
whoso looketh on a woman to lust after her in his heart has committed
adultery with her already. He's the one who interprets them
all. I love the way it ends up in
the Sermon on the Mount. He spake as one having authority. Not like the scribes. Everything
he said recommended itself as the very Word of God. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. I will. Is that authority? I will. Be thou clean. I say unto you, these are the
words of the Lord, I say unto you, except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall
in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, these
are the words of the Lord, I tell you, this man, what man? The man who was beating on his
breast, crying, God, be merciful to me, thee sinner. This man,
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, not merely
forgiven, justified without guilt. I say unto you, woman, where
are those Zion accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? No
man, Lord. Neither do I condemn thee. Go
and sin no more. I am the way. He spoke on this
earth. I am the way. I love that. He doesn't say I'll
show you the way or I'll lead you along the way. I'm it. I
am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh
to the father but by me. Oh, he spake on this earth of
this great salvation. Now this salvation is great in
the glory of it. The gospel is called the glorious
gospel of the blessed God. Now when Moses said show me your
glory God said I'll make all my goodness pass before thee. I'll proclaim my name before
thee and I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I'll
show mercy to whom I will show mercy. It's His glory. What a salvation. It describes
His goodness. God's good. Everything He does
is good. I said this in Sunday school
this morning. Somebody says, well, how can
a good God let that happen? Don't say things like that. All
of a sudden, you've become God's judge. God's good. You may not
be able to see it, but it doesn't matter. Believe it. God's good. His goodness is His glory. I proclaim my name before you.
That's all of His attributes. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, the glory of God in this. Great is the wisdom
of this salvation. Now great is the one who does
the saving. Great is God's glory in it. Great
is the wisdom of this salvation. Now listen to this real carefully.
God is so wise that he has made a way to be absolutely just and justify you. If you would have asked an angel,
how could God be just and justify old Todd Naubert down there?
How could his righteousness and justice demand that sinful man's
salvation? If all the angels got together
and said, how can this be done? They'd still be scratching their
heads. They couldn't come up with this. And if they could
find a way to do it, they couldn't execute it. But God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, found a way to be absolutely
just, His law totally honored, and justify everybody that Christ
died for. What infinite wisdom. It's great in the beauty of it. to make ugly, defiled sinners
perfectly conformed to His image. Called by the psalmist in Psalm
50, verse 2, the perfection of beauty. And that describes every
single believer, the perfection of beauty, where God looks upon
you and says, there's no spot in thee. Thou art all fair, my
love. You've ravished me with one of
your eyes. Oh, what beauty there is in the
cross, so glorious in the antiquity of it, this great salvation. Now, I'm a big fan of Pawn Stars. I love to watch that show. If
you don't know what it is, it's about these, it's a pawn shop,
and I remember I was always amazed by how much Rick knew. He knew
everything about everything. And I remember one time saying
to Lynn, I said, Lynn, how does this guy know all this stuff
about everything? She says, don't you know this is staged? I didn't. I thought he was the most brilliant
guy in the world. But at any rate, the point is, the more
old something was, the more valuable it was. I mean, this is 1,000
years old. This is a whole lot older than that. This is eternal.
The antiquity of this great salvation. It began in the Lamb's flame
from the foundation of the world. Listen to this scripture. 2 Timothy
1.9 says, He saved us and He called us. Let me ask you a real
simple question. What came first, the saving or
the calling? He saved us and He called us. I love that. Not according to
our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It's great in the antiquity of
it, but it's also great in the newness of it. His mercies are new every morning. Old things are passed away. Behold, I make, this is Christ
speaking in Revelation 21. Behold, I make all things new.
Now, what I like, a lot of things I love about that, but I've got
a new history. I don't have any skeletons in
the closet. I've got a new history, and it's all good. Whatever the
Lord did, that's my history. That's my history. And that's
always new. You know, when the gospel becomes
old, there's only one reason. One reason. Either, maybe this is two reasons,
but it's the same thing. If I don't preach the gospel
to you as a sinner, it's going to come out old to
you. just the preacher trying to help us and straighten us
out and trying to dispense his wisdom to us so we can attain
his level. That gets old and boring and
dry and everything he says is just not new. It's not new. So
it could be that it's the preacher's fault. If he's preaching in a
way that is, if he's not preaching as a sinner, if I'm not preaching
as a sinner to you, needing the gospel, it ain't gonna be new.
But here's the other way it's not new. If I'm not hearing as
a sinner. If you don't hear the gospel
as a sinner, it's not gonna be news to you. It's not gonna come
as good news. Somebody says the preacher's
getting dry. Perhaps he is, but perhaps you
are. Perhaps you're not hearing the
gospel as a sinner. And that's why it's not news to you. You see, he's the new and living
way. And one of the glorious things
of the gospel It's so new. Well, I got that down. I know that. And look, one of
the reasons I don't underline, there's nothing wrong with underlining
things in your Bible. Don't get me wrong. But I don't underline
things in my Bible because I know that when I come to that place
that's underlined, well, I've already got that. No, I don't.
No, I don't. It's always new. It's always
the gospel's more glorious, incomprehensible, mysterious, saving health, always
new. And it's great in the completeness
of it. Talking about this great salvation,
it's great in the completeness of it. There is nothing missing,
nothing lacking, nothing amiss. Colossians 2.10 says, in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are
complete. Complete. You know what that means? That
means everything that you're gonna have in heaven, you have
right now. You can't get any more saved,
you can't get any more accepted, you can't get any more love,
you can't get any more justified, you can't get any more sanctified
than you are right now. Complete in Him. David said, though my house be
not so with God yet, hath he made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure. It is finished. There's nothing for you to do.
Nothing you can add to this. Oh, isn't that great? Great in
the completeness. of it. It's a great salvation in that
how far it reaches. Look unto me and be ye saved
all ye ends of the earth. I love that song when he reached
way down for me. When he reached way down for
me, I was lost and undone. without God or his son when he
reached way down for me." It's great because of the price
that was paid for this salvation. The precious blood of Christ. You were not redeemed with corruptible
things, such as silver as gold, but with the precious blood of
Christ. You know why salvation by works
is so offensive? What do you have other than that? You're saying that's not enough?
You've got to put your two cents in? Why that's so offensive. This salvation is great because
of what was cost for it. the precious blood of Christ,
and it's so great in the freeness of it, being justified freely
by His grace. You don't have anything. Ho,
everyone, the thirst come without money, without price. You don't
have anything. This ought to be good if you
don't have anything. Oh, it's utterly and completely free.
Let not conscience make you linger, nor fitness fondly dream. The
only fitness he requires is to have a need of him. I got that. I got that. I need him to be
everything in my salvation. Oh, the freeness of it. It's
great because of the justice of it. If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, not just merciful and
gracious, but faithful and just. Do you know when he forgives,
he forgives in such a way as the very justice of God demands
your salvation? Because your sin was put away.
And it's an altogether righteous salvation. It's great in the
righteousness of it. There's nothing unclean about
grace. Altogether righteous. It's great in the grace of it,
being justified freely by his grace. That means your works
are completely excluded, altogether excluded. It's great in the forgiveness
of it. You see, his forgiveness is so unlike our forgiveness
because unless we just get dementia or something, we'll remember.
We forgive. We forgive, but we remember.
because we're such self-righteous jerks, we remember. But when God forgives someone,
there's no sin for him to remember. In heaven, God's not gonna have
any memory of what I was here on earth, because that's all
taken away. Their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Why? There's nothing there to
remember. Christ Jesus put those sins away. They are not great in the forgiveness
of it, so great in the power of it. Lazarus, come forth. He
that was dead came forth. The same power that was executed
in the resurrection of the dead is given in you when he gave
you life and gave you a heart to believe and a heart to receive
and a heart to rejoice in Christ. This salvation is great in the
simplicity of it. You know, we have a simple source,
scriptures. You've got one book, and this
book only has one simple message, Christ crucified. It's great
in the simplicity of it, the source of it. It's great in the
way of it. Christ said, I am the way. It's
great in the cause of it, grace. It's great in the simplicity
of the instrument of it, faith. It's great in the reason for
it, the glory of God. Simple, simple. Now, how shall we escape if we
neglect? You know all you gotta do to
neglect something is not do anything. That's it. You ever started a
garden and quit weeding it? Just don't do anything? What
happens? It becomes completely overgrown with thorns. How shall we escape if we neglect,
if we make light of so great salvation? May the Lord deliver
me and you from that. Let's pray. Lord, we Thank you for your great
salvation. And Lord, we're so sinful that
we will make light of and neglect your great salvation apart from
your grace. And we ask For grace, for each
person here, according to your will, we ask for grace that we
may not neglect so great salvation. Lord, would you show us how great
the salvation that's in our son is? In his name we pray, amen.