SO GREAT SALVATION
Hebrews 2:1 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. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 3 How shall we escape, 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; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
Our God is THE great and Almighty One! And he came in Person as the Word of Truth to speak to us of that which formally had only been spoken to one nation, and that by voices of persons of far less glory. Therefore as the apostle here states, we should give the more earnest heed lest we should let them ‘drift past us.’ For we shall not escape the punishment which we see was dealt out to those who had refused to obey the word in their past age. And our word is not just the promise of a coming salvation. Our word, spoken by the Lord himself, is of this so great salvation which was completed upon his cry of, “It is finished,” from the cross.
Listen to the Apostle Peter speak of this salvation. 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
He is instructing us that this salvation is so great that it is now only made real to us by faith; that it is yet to be fully revealed! And our trust that it is so, is sustained by faith through a living hope. For we have been justified. We are being sanctified. But we have yet to be glorified!
Our Lord has yet to return so as to affect this last stage of eternal glory! And so does our Hebrew writer speak of this. Hebrews 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. For upon the physical return of our Lord, he shall appear without any farther provision for the forgiveness of sin, as he comes to bring us our eternal and completed salvation! 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Now let us look at some things which make us realize just how great our salvation is.
1. You Have Been Sought! John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. The Father’s eternal love has chosen his worshippers 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, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
And in his infinite wisdom he has sown them as wheat, allowing the enemy to sow tares among them. And they are both sown upon four types of soil. Matthew 13:18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. 19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. 20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
He determined exactly where, and exactly when every single “seed” of his elect souls would be sown, in order that they might receive his salvation. Acts 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
Now he seeks them out as worshippers, ordained to accomplish such in spirit and in truth. For unlike harlot religion preaches, the Shepherd seeks out the sheep, and not that the sheep seek the shepherd! The Shepherd wasn’t lost! It was the sheep who were lost! Luke 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
2. You have been bought! Psalm 74:2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Rightly does one song writer use the phrase, “…saving us at awful cost!” For he became responsible for our sin, although he knew not a single sin. He had to restore that which he took not away! 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Psalm 69:4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.
Think about it! How would we like it if the court made you pay back that which someone else had stolen? What if we had to suffer the sentence of someone’s else crime? Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
3. You are being taught! – John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Truth never comes from without. It always comes from within! That which comes to our outer ear merely confirms that which the Holy Spirit has taught us within his revelations to our hearts. Isaiah 30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: 21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
The Lord God has changed the method of teaching from out instruction to inner revelation by changing the sinner’s heart with grace. He no longer writes his word upon tables of stone, as in the Old Economy. He now writes his revelation upon the living, spiritual hearts of his people. Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
4. But you must have fought! Salvation is free. Salvation shall be finally complete. But the individual believer must, like Joshua of old, wage warfare against the forces of darkness! But now the believer wars against spiritual wickedness in high places. The believer is identified as a soldier. 1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
Satan hates human beings. Have you not wondered at all the senseless killings of our daily world? But this physical murder is just the appearance of the spiritual warfare that he exacts against the souls of men. Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Satan stands in direct opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ. John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Therefore the believer must constantly watch and maintain a warfare against evil.
5. Lest you get caught! Luke 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Luke 12:39 And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. 40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. 45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; 46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
Be careful, dear Reader! For the closer the day of his coming approaches, the less appealing Christianity will be in the world. Therefore you must learn to daily exercise your personal faith in your personal Savior! Never allow your personal love of Christ to grow cold! Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And all this shall take place when the gospel has completed its circuit around the globe! 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Carefully consider these words of our Lord unto two of those first century churches. Revelation 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; 4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Revelation 3:1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
Our Lord said that day shall be but a repetition of the days of Lot. And his admonition to his sons-in-law was unheeded as, he seemed as one that mocked. (Gen. 19:14). Luke 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Hopefully, these words of warning shall not be so to you.
Pastor Gene Breed
November 9, 2018
