Neglecting the great salvation offered through Christ is a perilous oversight, as God has spoken through His Son, Jesus, who is divine in origin, profound in revelation, and eternal in duration. The sermon emphasizes the authenticity of the Bible as God's revelation, the holiness of God, and the living power of Christ's resurrection and ascension. It details salvation as common, eternal, and great, urging diligent attention to its message and meaning, which includes deliverance from sin's consequences, power, and presence. Ultimately, accepting this salvation requires a personal act of faith in Christ, not works, and neglecting it leads to fruitless lives, feeble deaths, and eternal forsakenness.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 2.80 → restored 4.03
I have chosen for my text today for our meditation a verse from the epistle to the Hebrews and chapter two reading at verse three how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation now in order to introduce this text and get the background to the truth I must read a few verses from chapter one that will lead on to what we have in chapter two. So Hebrews chapter one commences like this. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world.
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. Then coming to chapter two, 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 words spoken by angels were steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, 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?
I am sure the Lord, O blessed to us, the reading of these verses. Now, when it comes to looking at the great importance of this salvation, I have drawn your attention now, first of all, to some truths that are set before us in chapter one. The first thing we're faced with is the truth of an authentic Bible. The next thing is the truth of a holy God. followed by the truth of a living Christ, leading on to the truth of a positive salvation.
At the opening verses then we learn this great truth of an authentic Bible, God hath spoken. Now there are some people who perhaps argue against that. But my friend, it's no use arguing with God. God has spoken. When you go back to the very beginning of the Bible, that's the first thing we're introduced to in Genesis chapter one. In the beginning God. Now it's no use men trying to fight against God. God is. And he that comes to God must believe that he is.
And that he is the rewarder of them who diligently seek him. So this message then is calculated to grip the mind with necessary truth and stir the conscience in order to bring the sinner to the assurance of salvation. God has spoken ten times in Genesis chapter one, we have the expression and God said, Here is the mystery of truth, God. Now you may study all the sciences. They may take you so far. You may learn some great things, but you come to this dead end and you're faced with God, for God is.
There is the message of truth, that is, the revelation of God. God was under no obligation to reveal himself. God could have kept himself hidden. He could have destroyed sinful man from the face of the earth and started all over again with a new creation. But the fact is, God has revealed himself, and the Bible is the revelation of God. After all, Eden creation does reveal God as a God of power. For no intelligent person could ever accept the thought of having a creation without a creator.
Of course, that's the reason that some people have tried to introduce the thought of evolution. But they've still got to come to the basic point, how did it all start? You see, you cannot have things today as we look around the world, and you see this planet on which we live, and all the other planets circling in their orbits, and the sun and the moon and so on. You cannot have all this creation without realizing there is a creator. Now God has revealed himself as a God of power, but also in his law that he gave to Moses, he's revealed himself as a God of purity.
He is a God of light. But when the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, we realized that God is a God of love. So therefore, there is the message of truth. It's the revelation of God. But then who were the messengers of the truth? He tells us here that in times past he spoke through the prophets, but when the days of the prophets came to an end, he spoke in or through or by his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here then we are led to the majesty of truth, the incarnate Son of God. What a mystery of all mysteries, that he who was the eternal Son of the eternal God.
should step from the splendors of the glory, and come down here and take upon himself the form of a man, being found in fashion as a man, to humble himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Oh, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in flesh. Remember then the Bible is inspired. The Bible is inherent and the Bible is indestructible. You may try to deny the inspiration of the Scriptures. You may try to deny the inerrancy of the Scriptures.
You may try to destroy the Bible. But remember this, my friend, the Bible still stands. And the Lord Jesus Christ declared that even heaven and earth could pass away, but He says, My word shall never pass away. Every jot, every title of the inspired word of God shall be brought to pass. We have the truth then of an authentic Bible. God hath spoken. More than that we have the truth here of a holy God. Our God is holy. So holy that he cannot bear to look upon sin. Sin is obnoxious to a holy God.
Way back in the prophecy of Isaiah chapter six, the shining seraphim there are saying, Holy, Holy, Holy. You see, God the Father is holy, God the Son is holy, and God the Spirit is holy. The triune God is a holy God, the Lord Jesus Christ. When praying to his Father, as recorded in John chapter seventeen, he addresses him as Holy Father. You'll find that in John seventeen verse eleven. God the Son is holy. The Father speaking about the birth of his Son said to Mary, That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of the highest.
That was the message from God through the angel to Mary. When we come to Hebrews chapter seven, verse twenty-six, it is said concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, he is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the highest. He's holy. It was also said way back in the Psalms and quoted again in Acts chapter two, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thine holy one to see corruption. He was holy in his birth. holy in his life and holy even in death. And of course God the Spirit is referred to over and over again as the Holy Spirit.
See our God is a holy God. Now remember holiness and sin cannot dwell together and so the holy God had to deal with sin and was able to separate as it were the sinner from his sin and make him capable, as it were, to be accepted into God's heaven that God had to deal with the question of sin. A holy God condemned sin and a sinner, and so Christ by his death made purgation for sin. That's what it says here in verse three of chapter one, upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins.
Then he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. He is a living Christ. It's perfectly true he had to go to the cross in order to effect the work of reconciliation. But remember this. He's no longer on the cross. They took him down from the cross and they laid him in Joseph's new tomb. But what about the power of the resurrection? Christ isn't dead. He's not on a cross today, and he's not in the tomb today. According to Romans chapter one, he's declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection out from amongst the dead.
Christ arose. He's a living Christ. There's power in his resurrection. There was power in his ascension. According to Luke chapter twenty-four, verse fifty-one, when he was on the Mount of Olives, And his disciples saw him go up and they stood gazing up into heaven. Again it's recorded in Acts chapter one, concerning that great incident. He was carried up into heaven in the glow of cloud. He went up in glory and went up into glory. And so there was the power of his ascension. He had the right to go right up through the heavens and take his seat in the highest place, far above all principalities and powers.
Therefore there is the power of his exaltation, and God the Father said to him, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. So therefore we have the power of his exaltation. There then is the truth of an authentic Bible, the truth of a holy God, the truth of a living Christ. With these three things rooted in our minds, gripping our hearts, we now can look for a little time at the truth of a positive salvation.
You see, after all, salvation is a common salvation. It's an eternal salvation, and it is a great salvation. There's the need for salvation for all our sinners. There is the nature of salvation, its deliverance from sin. For oh, there's such a thing as the neglect of salvation, and if we do, then there is no escape. Now looking at these things then regarding salvation, there's the description of this salvation. It's called great. The Bible speaks of salvation as being a common salvation, an eternal salvation.
and a great salvation. Jude in his little epistle, he speaks of this common salvation. Now that doesn't mean that it's cheap because it's common. The fact is that salvation was the common need of all men and was provided by God through the work of Christ Jesus to meet the need of all the people throughout the whole world. It's common to all classes of people. It's common to all nationalities, all ethnic groups. One salvation provided for all. It's a common salvation. Common both to Jew and Gentile alike.
It's also called an eternal salvation, Hebrews five nine. Remember the eternal Son of God accomplished the work of salvation to the eternal satisfaction of God. And thus all who believe are saved with an eternal salvation. And we should remember this, that that which is eternal will never come to an end. It's an everlasting or eternal salvation. But here in our text it's called a great salvation. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Why is it so great?
May I suggest? It is divine in its origination. See, this salvation did not originate in the mind of men. It wasn't some great man who originated this idea. A study of this truth throughout the Scripture will prove conclusively that salvation is of the Lord. It was God who planned it and purposed it and through the work of Christ procured it. while we as believers can possess it. It is profound in its revelation. It reveals the righteousness of God.
As a righteous God, He must punish sin. But in love, He sent His Son to be the substitute for the sinner. And at Calvary, Christ took the guilty sinner's place and suffered, the just for the unjust. So God can remain just and yet be the justifier of all those who believe in Jesus. Oh, how profound is this great revelation concerning God's great salvation. But it is extensive in its proclamation. The commission given by the risen Lord to his disciples was to preach the gospel to all nations.
Beginning in Jerusalem with the Jews, and reaching out to the Samaritans, then on to the Gentile nations. So according to the historical records in the Acts of the Apostles, the Gospel of the risen living Christ was first proclaimed in Jerusalem, the very hub and heart of the great Jewish religion. It moved out to the Samaritans who were a despised people. And by the time you come to the end of the Acts of the Apostles and the first generation of Christian testimony, they had reached the great city of Rome, right in the very heart now of the political and military power of the Roman Empire.
And there Paul was. And the gospel was being preached. But now let me remind you, while it is... divine in its origination and profound in its revelation and extensive in its proclamation, it is eternal in its duration. Oh, I wish I could get this impressed upon the hearts of every true believer. Once a person is saved, that person can never become unsaved. If you have been born again, You can never become unborn.
That's obvious. Once in Christ, in Christ forever. Yea, forever is the word. Nothing can the ransom sever, not divide them from the Lord. The thing you've got to decide, my friend, is this. Are you truly born again? Are you truly saved? Or have you only made some kind of religious commitment? some kind of religious profession? Or do you have the real thing? Have you been convicted by God of your need? Have you definitely, by faith, received Jesus Christ as your Savior?
See, there is a duty here regarding salvation. We ought to give the more earnest heed. Now, if it had simply said we ought to give heed, that should have impressed upon us the need for examining these great truths. If it had simply said, give earnest heed, that would have impressed it more upon us. But it seems to go to a limit here that says, we ought to give the more earnest heed. That is, this thing is so important.
We cannot afford to push it aside. We ought to be diligent in giving attention. Give attention to the messenger of salvation. I ask you this. Noah in the Old Testament was preaching to men and women. Did the people listen to Noah? Elijah was God's spokesman in his day. Didn't they listen to Elijah? Jonah was sent to Nineveh. Did they listen to Jonah? John the Baptist was the last of the prophetic wine. Did they listen to John? Remember, he was beheaded and put out of the way. Did they listen to the Lord Jesus Christ?
They put him on a cross. Did they listen to the message of the apostles? How were they treated? We ought to give attention to the message of salvation. And we ought to give attention to the meaning of salvation. The message of salvation is so important. that we ought to give attention to it. And then the meaning of it. What does it mean? I remember on one occasion speaking to some people and I turned to one of them and I said, excuse me, but do you understand what we're talking about when we talk about salvation, about being saved? Now she was a young lady who had been through high school, been educated. She looked at me and she said, I haven't got the foggiest idea.
I don't know what they're talking about. Now isn't it strange, my friend, that people may be educated and they may have good jobs. There may be a success in business. Yet they don't understand what is meant by being saved. They've never investigated. They've never thought of their great need of salvation. They've never considered the fact that they need to get right with God. We ought to give attention to the message of salvation and the meaning of salvation. It means that when we are saved... We are saved from the penal consequences of our sins. We are justified with God. It also means that we are being saved daily from the indwelling power of God.
That is a kind of practical sanctification. But then again we're looking forward to the completion of salvation when we shall be saved from the very presence of sin. And that means that it will be glorification. But then we should not only be diligent in giving attention, we should be discerning in our understanding. Understand the terms of salvation. By grace are you saved through faith. None of works like any man should boast. Some people would like to work for the salvation, no offense, none of works. By grace are you saved through faith. Understand the time of salvation.
The Bible says now is the day of salvation, not next year. And not after death, not even tomorrow. Now, God gives us one day at a time. Now is the day of salvation. We should understand the truth of salvation. He shall save us people from their sins. People don't like to hear about sin or sins. But my friend, that's the whole meaning of salvation. Being saved from our sins as to its consequences, as to its power, as to its presence. Save. Then we should be decided in our acceptance. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?
How do we accept it? By a personal act of faith in Christ Jesus. When the Philippian jailer said, What must I do to be saved? He was confused in his thinking. But the preacher said to him, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. She is not in works. It's a fake. It's a positive committal of oneself to Christ. The great Saul of Tarsus said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? You see, it's a bowing to Christ, accepting Christ as Lord and Savior, laying down the arms of rebellion, and taking the place of submission to a greater.
That is, Lord, what will thou have me to do? Like Jonah of old said, salvation is of the Lord. Then there will be a practical manifestation in one's life. Paul said, The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. But now our text reminds us that there is the danger of neglecting salvation. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? In one translation of the Bible, in another language than our own, it comes something like this. Escape, you cannot, if you neglect so great salvation.
My friend, let me remind you, God has only provided one way of salvation. No matter what your ethnic group may be, no matter what your nationality may be, No matter what your social standing may be, no matter what your educational attainments may be, God has provided one way of salvation for all of us. Salvation is of the Lord, it's in Christ. But why is it then that people neglect this salvation? What's the cause of this neglect? May I suggest? Some neglect salvation because of over-occupation with earthly things. so occupied with their earthly possessions and their earthly business and other things, they haven't time to think of eternal matters.
There's a lack of consideration for vital things. They've never learned yet where their priorities lie. They're more concerned with what they're going to buy, what they're going to do, etc., etc. Then some neglect because of procrastination in relation to eternal things. They think there's plenty of time when I'm a little older to do it. Think of the consequences of neglect. Be fruitless in life, nothing for God. Feeble in death, no Savior to support. Forsaken in eternity, alone in outer darkness. But if you trust Christ, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Take him as your Savior.
Bow to him as Lord. You'll be able then to say, saved by His power divine, saved to new life sublime, life now is sweet and my joy is complete and saved. Saved, saved. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?