Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter
2. The writer of Hebrews poses a
question. I love God's questions. God's
questions shuts us up. It just, like Job, we put our
hands over our mouth. We've made to confess we're vile.
His questions, a lot of the times, are rhetorical questions. His
questions cause us to think, doesn't it? Cause us to think.
By grace, by grace, he just shuts us up. Hebrews chapter two, let's
read our text, verses one through four. 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, recompensive reward, how shall we escape if
we neglect so great salvation? How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the
Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him? 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.
Titled this message, So Great Salvation. Notice that there's
not a A before that. So great A, it's not what it
says. So great salvation. There's not, it's not one of
many. There's not multiple salvations. There's not, the scripture even
tells us, he that climbeth up any other way, Lord said, I am
the way, the truth, and the life. He that entereth by the sheepfold,
that's the Lord's, only the Lord's people can enter into the Lord's
sheepfold by the door. Christ is that door. He said,
anybody that climbs up any other way is the same as a thief and
a robber. There's only one way. There's
only one way, one salvation. The gospel is the only gospel,
it's singular. It's completely dependent entirely
upon the author and finisher of it. Completely dependent upon
the author and finisher of it. Completely relying upon the Lord
Jesus Christ and his work. There's not, and I love the fact
that there's not many contingencies. There's not even one contingency
for you and I. Not one contingency. That means
we can't mess it up. It's not contingent upon you
and I. It's contingent upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And what did we just hear in that song? Christ cried,
it is finished. It is finished. There are not
many contingencies dependent upon us. Ephesians four says
there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father
of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. Salvation
is of the Lord. It's singular. It's singular. And it's called a great, the
great, so great salvation in this text. What makes it great? Well, the author of it and the
finisher of it is great. In every attribute, in every
character, in every way, God is great. God is great. This is the only way. I'm answering the question, why is
salvation great? Why is this salvation, the only
salvation? Why is it great? Well, it's the
only way to eternal life. It's through and by the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. It's the only hope that sinners have.
That's why it's great. Look at Hebrews chapter one,
verse three. who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person, 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. He did
it all alone by himself. When he had by himself purged
our sin. This is why it's a great salvation. This is why it's a
great salvation. Everything about God is great,
including his salvation. His gospel is great. His people,
His people purchased by His own blood. What greater message is
there? There isn't one. This is the
greatest message. This is the only message that
truly matters. Christ is all. Outside of Christ, there is no
salvation. Acts 4 tells us, neither is there salvation in any other,
for there is none other name given under heaven, given among
men. whereby we must be saved. This
is why it's great. It's the singular focus of it,
being the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the glory of the Lord on
the cross of Calvary. This is why it's great, so great
a salvation. There's not salvation in any
other. I think the last few Sundays
we've talked about the word any. What does it mean any, any other?
It means there's none other, zero. There's not even a possibility
of there being another. This is why it's a great salvation,
the great salvation. He asked this question. He asked
this question to us, knowing that there's no other salvation
other than of the Lord for the Lord's people. He asked this
question, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? This was used in religion and
still is probably this morning for scaring people, causing them
to do something, causing them to make a profession. How should you escape if you
neglect so great salvation? But this morning, I want us to
understand what the words here mean. First thing I want us to
notice is escape means to seek safety, to seek safety. How shall we seek safety if we
neglect so great salvation? How shall we seek safety? There's
no safety in anything else but the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no other hiding place for the Lord's people, is there? Songwriter
said, where could my guilty soul flee for aid but to the lamb
who my debt has paid? What refuge could I hope in except
for the blood that cleansed all my sin? What other fountain restores
within? What other way are sinners born
again? What other balm salves the soul? What other cure makes
sinners whole? Only one hope for my depraved
heart, the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ wrought on
Calvary's cross. Unless found in him, how shall
we escape the righteous judgment of God? How shall we escape the
full fury of the wrath of God? How shall we escape the justice
of God demanded by his holiness? How shall we escape? What other
remedy for sin is there? What other price could I bring?
What could I bring unto the Lord whereby I could escape His wrath? What could I offer Him in and
of myself so the judgment passes me by? What other hope is there
other than the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? There is none.
That's why it's so great salvation. What sacrifice could I make to
him that is no respecter of persons? To him that is no respecter of
persons? In religion, men use that verse to make it everybody's
on the same playing field and you just have to do your part.
What that verse means is God spared not his own son when he
saw sin upon him. How shall we escape? If God offered
up his darling son for the remission of sin for his people, when he
saw sin upon him, how shall I escape if he sees sin upon me? There
is no other hope. How shall a dead dog sinner escape?
There is no other hope than what Christ accomplished by his blood,
by his death, by his burial, by his resurrection. It signified
it's finished. Here are the good news for the
Lord's people. 1 Thessalonians 5, for God hath not appointed
us unto wrath. God hath not appointed us unto
wrath, but to obtain salvation. The great salvation we're talking
about. He's not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation. How? By our Lord Jesus Christ. For this reason, there is no
other hope for sinners. There is no other hope for sinners,
but that we may know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable unto his
death. There's our hope. There's our
hope, this great salvation. I mentioned this Wednesday, but
I want to mention it again. Unless we know God in Christ,
we don't know God. Unless we know God in Christ,
we don't know God. Unless we know God by Christ,
we don't know God. Unless we know God through Christ,
we don't know God. Matter of fact, we know nothing
if we don't know God in Christ. No other knowledge would profit
us, nothing that we can learn, nothing that we can merit, nothing
that we can do, nothing that we can earn, nothing. No, there's
no other knowledge that would help us stand before him and
be found righteous. There's no other person that
could help us in order for us to stand before him and be found
righteous. There's no other substance other than the blood of Christ
that cleanses sinners from their sin. How shall we escape if we
neglect so great salvation? It's impossible. It's a rhetorical
question, isn't it? How shall we escape? There is
no escape. There is no escape, it's impossible. We would have
no hope and be without God in this world. We would be without
hope and without God in this world. But the gospel is good
news. But God, who is rich in mercy. What does that word rich mean
to you? You and I, what is our standard
of rich? What is my standard of rich?
Now, if we're talking about monetary things, how much money's rich?
Well, a lot more than I got. But if we're talking about family,
I'm pretty rich in that. Love of the brethren, I feel
rich in that. What about God's standard? If
he's rich in mercy, what does that mean? He owns it all. He owns all the mercy, all the
grace, all the love. It's not part, it's all. God who is rich in mercy, meaning
it's exceedingly, abundantly more than all we could ask or
think. We can't fathom how much mercy
he has. It is so much greater than all
of our sin. His grace is so much more sufficient
than all of our sin. His blood was so much more sufficient
than our sin. We could never have Exhausted
his grace and mercy. His blood accomplished exactly
what he purposed for it to do. What he had purposed. That's why it's so great a salvation,
brethren. Now here he gives us this word
in particular I wanna look at. Verse three, how shall we escape?
The second word I wanna look at is neglect. How shall we escape
if we neglect? If we neglect. I mentioned this
before, men use this to drive professions out of men, to drive
confessions out of people, to cause them to react. Don't neglect
the salvation of the Lord. Don't neglect, and that is true,
but the word neglect here is referring to those who are men
pleasers, men pleasers. Those who are not giving heed,
that's what he said in the first verse. Those who have no urgency
in the heeding of the gospel, those who don't have a need,
that's who he's talking about here. And we know why they're
men pleasers. John 12 tells us, for they love
the praise of men more than the praise of God. There's only two
kinds of people, those that love the praise of man in salvation,
which is not a salvation at all, Those that declare a gospel of
giving men some kind of praise, those that have to do something
for righteousness, those that have a self-righteousness because
of what they do or they don't do. And those, the other ones,
are the Lord's people wherein we give Him all the praise for
so great salvation. We don't neglect salvation. We glory in the Lord's salvation.
There are only those who want to be praised in salvation or
those who enabled by God's grace to praise him, to glorify him,
to worship him in spirit and in truth. He's the one that makes
the difference, isn't he? There are those who seek to gain
popularity, those who seek to gain pleasure and power when
it comes to the Bible and things of it. I asked a pastor recently,
well, I say recently, time flies, years ago now, still recent if
you look at eternity, I suppose, right? I said, he said, I believe
what you preach. I believe what you preach. I
said, well, why don't you preach it? He said, if I preached what
you preach, I would lose my congregation. That's what he said. I would
lose my congregation. So he's gained a congregation.
But if a man gains the whole world, and lose his own soul,
what is he gonna give in exchange for his soul? What are we gonna
give unto the Lord in exchange in hopes of redemption for our
soul if we gain the whole world, if I have the biggest congregation,
the nicest things? God don't look at things. He
looks at the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if
I'm not covered in that, I have no hope. I have no hope. This neglecting is talking about
being men-pleasers. When a man gets up before people,
he's not telling them the truth. He's telling them what they want
to hear. If a man loves you, that preaches to you, he'll tell
you the truth. No matter the burden that it
causes, no matter the difficulty of it, the Lord gives grace for
the Lord's preachers to tell the truth about who God is and
about who we are. It's the most unpopular message
in the world. Can you imagine going anywhere
else and looking at a man saying, you're a liar, you're a thief,
you're wretched, you're vile, you're a sinner, and not get
punched in the face? Think about that. You tell the
Lord's people that, and they say, truth, Lord, I need a substitute. Truth, Lord, I need this great
salvation. I know that's exactly what I am, and I'm worse than
that if you leave me to myself. Glorious news of the gospel is
he hath put away that sin. He put away, you're not a sinner
in his eyes. If you're his people, if I'm
his, if I'm one of his, that sin's gone, completely put away. That's why it's so great, a salvation. He did it all. What does he mean neglect, brethren?
I wanna know what that word means. Is he talking about, I use examples
of dogs a lot, you know that. Animals, I can relate to animals.
Neglect a puppy, think about that. If you neglect a puppy,
the puppy's gonna decline and eventually you'd understand what
the end result would be of neglection. Is that what he's talking about?
Is salvation something I've got to nurture? Is salvation something
I've got to tend to and take care of? And salvation something
I've got to do my part with? Is that what he means by neglect?
No. No, the definition of neglect is discredit. Discredit, devalue,
pay little or no attention to. Literally, brethren, it means
to make anything else but Christ the way of salvation. That's
what it means. How shall we escape if we make anything else but
Christ the way of salvation? How? And don't misunderstand
those words. That's easily done with this
flesh. The flesh wants to add something to it. The flesh desires
to take away from it. But you're not your own. You've
been bought with a price and you're kept by the power of God, not
yourself. You don't keep yourself. I don't keep myself. That's the
good news, isn't it? To neglect means to make anything
else but Christ the way of salvation. This is what all men, this neglecting
is what all men and women without exception do by nature. They do something, they add something,
they take away something from the finished work because men
desire the praise of man more than the praise of God. Why is
that? Well, the natural man receiveth
not the things of God because they're foolishness to him. These
are those that are ashamed of God's gospel. This is what the
writer is expressing. He's saying we must give an earnest
heed for how shall we escape? We've heard earnest heed the
first hour. This goes right with it. Giving earnest heed because
how shall we escape if we neglect? If we add to or take away anything,
how shall we escape the wrath of God? How shall we escape hell?
How shall we escape judgment? The answer is very simple. It's
the interjection of the gospel, but God. but God who is rich
in mercy. We're not adding one thing to
it. We're not taking away one thing from it. We know the answer
is no. There's no way it's impossible for us to escape unless the Lord
says, I have hid you under the shadow of my wing. There's our
escape. I have hid you in the cleft of the rock. There's our
hope. I have put away your sin. You shall not die. Call goes
forth, David, you're the man. You're the one that did all these
things. You're the one that's committed the evil before the Lord's eyes.
You're the one that's done all this. And David said, I've sinned. How shall I escape? I thought,
how shall I escape? The prophet said, fear not, for
the Lord hath put away your sin. You will not die. That's the
gospel, isn't it? The Lord did it. How shall we escape, brethren,
if we do not pay attention, give heed, if we're not given understanding? If we don't declare Christ, if
we don't preach Him in truth, how shall we escape? He's got
to be preached in truth, in plainness, in simplicity, not complicated,
not watered down. You remember in the Old Testament,
whenever they would offer up sacrifice in the Lord, He said,
don't sodden it with water. He said, burn it with fire. What
does it mean? Sodden it with water. It means
water it down. Can't water down the sacrifice. Christ's gospel
is offensive to this flesh, but to the Lord's people, it's all
our hope in righteousness. It's all our hope before him.
His precious blood is the only thing that we hope in that to
be our, our sanctification, our justification before God. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ alone. That's why he told Peter, you
heard this the first hour, he said, Peter, do you love me?
Feed my sheep. Tell them the good news of the gospel. He told
Timothy, Timothy, preach the word. Tell the truth. Tell the
truth. Men will hate it. Men will persecute
you. It's amazing that most of the letters Paul wrote was in
prison, being persecuted. We know nothing of that sort
of thing. We bow to the Lord's purpose, but we pray that he
would keep that from us. These that don't preach the truth
neglect the gospel. That's why Paul said a burden,
a burden of the gospel, a dispensation's upon me, a burden of the dispensation
of the gospel's upon me. We have to preach the truth in
love. We have to tell men that they're sinners and he's the
savior. There's no other escape, is there? There's no other hope
that we have other than Christ Jesus being all. How is it that we don't neglect to believe it? We don't neglect to preach it.
We don't neglect to live it. What does it mean to live the
gospel? It's an unpopular statement. What is it to live the gospel?
Looking unto Jesus. Looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's how we believe it. That's how we don't neglect it.
That's how we live it. Looking unto Jesus through the
eye of faith. Romans 1 says, for I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. All those ordained to eternal life will hear this glorious
gospel, the power of God unto salvation, according to the determinate
counsel of God. Listen to what Paul says in 2
Thessalonians, but we are bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren, He says beloved of the Lord. Can you imagine,
and I know you can, but hearing the Lord's voice and calling
you his beloved, I mean what comfort there is in that? That
you're the beloved of the Lord. If the Lord loves me, what should
I fear? If the Lord loves me, he died
for me. If the Lord loves me, he put
away my sin to be called the very beloved of the Lord. What
does the scripture say? First, uh, first John chapter
three, verse one, behold, what manner of love the father hath
bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. That's
exactly what we're called is the beloved. The beloved. Brethren, now are we the sons
of God. It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, when we may
like him, for we shall see him as he is. The beloved of the
Lord, according to his election, purchased price of his own blood.
Therefore, we're bound to give thanks always for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. There's our sanctification. Lord's
spirit blows upon his people. They're sanctified by the blood
of Christ, washed in the blood. There's our sanctification. God
makes his chosen glory in nothing else but the cross. Matter of
fact, everything Paul knew, everything Paul knew prior to the Lord Jesus
Christ, he said this in one place, I'm determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Everything Paul
knew prior to knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, I counted
it but dung, counted it but loss. Turn with me in closing to Philippians
chapter three. It's a few pages back. Philippians three, verse eight. Or I'm sorry, verse seven. But
what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ?
Yea, doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things. And do count them but dung that
I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, But that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith, that I may
know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death."
Everything. He said, I counted everything.
Everything loss, everything but done, everything worthless. Why?
Well, The Queen of Sheba put it this way, mine eyes have seen
the King. The half's not been told me,
that's why. If our eyes see the King, we
don't neglect so great salvation, we see that salvation is of the
Lord. We see that that's our only way of escape, our only
hope, and we do count everything but loss for Christ. We have
but one desire, being found in Him, being found in His righteousness,
being found in His holiness, being found in His truth. It means we're the beneficiary of
grace, isn't it? The grace of God in Christ Jesus,
if we find ourself there. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? Hear the good news, brethren.
The Lord's people do not neglect God's salvation. They receive
it by faith bestowed upon them. They believe it by faith given
by the Lord Jesus Christ. They're found the very righteousness
of God in him and glory in nothing but the cross of Christ and the
finished work thereof. We glory in his righteousness.
And I love, I love the thought that even after we're saved,
we're still kept by his power. We don't neglect his salvation.
ever, even after, we're kept never neglecting it. Christ is
all. Is that your confession? That's the opposite of neglecting
it. Christ is all. Christ is all.
Christ, this is what we preach. This is what we believe. We know
he's our only escape. He's our only hope. He's the
only one. He's the only one that has so
great salvation. The Lord said, I won't lose one sheep. Here's the difference, brethren,
that God made in his people. How do I, what's made me not
neglect? Peter, I've prayed for you. There's
the difference. That's it. How shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation? Here are the good news. Peter,
I've prayed for you that your faith fell not. You won't neglect
my salvation. Why, you're my sheep, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. I love that,
don't you? So great salvation. Let's pray. Father, cause us to never add to or take away
from your finished work, but cause us to cleave unto you and
believe on you Lord, as we are reminded. Right
now. Of your body and your blood from
your table, we ask that you would bless it according to your will.
As we partake, you would remind us that it is finished. What
a great salvation you have wrought. In Christ name we pray, Amen. Mac Dana, will you come disperse
the elements, please?