Sermon text: Hebrews 2:3-4

(Hebrews 2:3) 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;
(Hebrews 2:4) 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?

To my knowledge, in the New Testament, there are three unanswered questions. One of them is here in the Scripture which I read in your hearing this morning. Another unanswered question would be in Mark 8:36 where the question is asked, "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Then, in I Peter 4:17, there is another unanswered question, which Peter presented under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. He was concerned about what the end would be "of them who obey not the gospel of God." For these three unanswered questions, I guess we are at liberty to look into the Scripture and seek to find answers for them; which of course, the Scripture would allow us to embrace.

As you consider the text I have used this morning from Hebrews chapter 2, I think you would have to be honest and say that, out of these three questions, this is probably the most solemn question that is being asked. It is certainly the more searching question that we find here in the Scripture. It is an important question because it involves your eternal destination. It involves my eternal destination. Where are you going to spend eternity? That is an important question. It is not a question we ought to take lightly. It is not a question we ought to gloss over because eternity, beloved, is a long time.

Someone illustrated eternity like this. Suppose a bird was to fly from the Atlantic Ocean beaches of New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and take one speck of sand and fly to the West Coast beaches of California and deposit that speck of sand. Then the bird would fly back to the East Coast and pick up another speck of sand and fly to the West Coast. If the bird did that until every speck of sand on the eastern shores of the United States of America had been taken to the western shores of the United States of America, that would represent one day in eternity. Eternity is a long time. We are trying to comprehend an infinite truth with a finite mind, which is totally impossible. So when we talk about eternity, this is an important question. This is an important subject. So, where you will spend eternity is important.

As we look into the Word of God this morning, I want us to look at this question. From these two verses of Scripture, I want us to see some truth that will help us to honestly look into our own hearts and lives and be able to say as a truth that when we walk out of the doors of this church this morning, "I know in Whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." In order to do that, I want to divide the Scripture into three parts.

As you look into verse 3 and verse 4 of Hebrews chapter 2, you'll notice that God has made a great provision for all of us, which is salvation. God has provided salvation for every man. We live in a day and age when many many people are confused as to what salvation really is all about. We have people who are being taught that if you are baptized you'll spend eternity in heaven. There is not one verse of Scripture in the Bible that teaches that - not one verse. There are people teaching today that if you will live a good life, you will go to heaven. There is not one verse in the Bible that supports that; not one. That does not mean that you and I should not live a good life. The Bible is very clear that we should, but we do not go to heaven because we have lived a good life; we simply do not. There are a lot of people today who believe that if you are religious you will spend eternity in heaven.

Yesterday morning, we were at the Men for Missions meeting at the Old Country Buffet. We had a layman speak to us from another one of the churches here in the Twin Cities who spent some summers in Mexico and is now going to Mexico as a two-year short-term missionary with his wife and three children to serve with Bearing Precious Seed. As he was showing us slides of some of the things he has observed, it was very apparent to see how the Roman Catholic Church, with all of its dogma, has literally blinded millions and millions of people in the country of Mexico.

On Wednesday night, here in our service, we had missionary Robert Murillo who has spent many years in the country of Mexico. He presented his slides that showed those massive beautiful cathedrals with people on their knees going forward down the aisles believing if they did enough good works they would somehow get to heaven one day. There is not one verse of Scripture in the Bible that teaches that. There are 31 million people living in the greater Mexico City area which is the largest city in the world and the predominate religion of that country is Roman Catholicism. People are lost and on their way to a Christless eternity. These are good people and sincere people. In my own family, my mother was Roman Catholic until Mother came to know Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Saviour.

Today, we have so much confusion in our world and so much misrepresentation as far as what it really means to be born again. What does it really mean? What are we talking about? I've often said that a good illustration of what salvation is all about can be found in Luke 15. If you have your Bibles and you would like to turn there with me this morning, let's read beginning with verse 3 and through verse 7.

(Luke 15:3) And he spake this parable unto them, saying,
(Luke 15:4) What man of you, having a 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?
(Luke 15:5) And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
(Luke 15:6) And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
(Luke 15:7) I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

There we have a classic illustration taught by our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. When one sheep was lost and away from the shepherd, unhappy, wandering outside the fold and in danger, that shepherd would go, seek, and find that sheep, place that sheep upon his shoulders, and bring that sheep back into the fold. Once again he had accomplished the mission that God had given him to do. That is what we are talking about when we are talking about salvation. We're talking about a person coming to a place in their life where they simply put their faith and trust in our Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what salvation is all about. It is not keeping commandments. It is not being baptized. It is not joining churches. It is not taking communion. It is not living a good life. It is not going through confirmation. Salvation, beloved, is when people come to a place where they understand they are sinners and they cannot save themselves. They understand that Jesus Christ died on a cross to save them from their sin, and by faith they invite Him to come into their hearts and lives. Then the work of the Holy Spirit changes those individuals' lives.

As I preach this message this morning to hundreds of you who sit here, what is it that happened in your life? In just recent weeks and months, it is exciting to see the change that has been taking place in the lives of people saved in this ministry. That is not the work of a denomination, a religion, or a church. That is the work of a holy God whose son Jesus Christ has been received by faith into the hearts and lives of those individuals. They understand that truth and they realize they have been born again and all things have passed away and behold all things have become new. Beloved, God has made a great provision for all of us and that great provision is salvation.

As you look at the Scripture in Hebrews chapter 2, there is a second thought that I want us to see this morning. There is also a great peril when you look at what the Scripture is saying and teaching. One of three words describe the attitude of every person here today as far as the gospel is concerned. We are all much alike. Out of all of the hundreds of us who are here this morning in this auditorium, there are basically going to be three possibilities that we will embrace. We will embrace one of them.

First, there is the word "reject." There are those today who reject the Gospel. There are those who will deliberately and consciously refuse the gospel of Christ. They do not want to have anything to do with it.

This is not an illustration that was in my message this morning, but I was visiting with a family who is here in the services and they were telling me about a loved one. This loved one had a child who visited our church and came to our church on a regular basis. This child made a decision for Christ as a teenager and went home to the parent and said, "I want you to go to church with me." And the parent said, "That's not my thing. That's your thing. I do not want to have anything to do with it." I said to the folks who are sitting here in this service this morning, "Give me their name and I will go see them this week." And they said that this loved one told them, "Now don't you give them our name when you go to that church today. I do not want to have anything to do with the gospel! I reject the gospel!" There are people like that today. There might be one sitting here this morning; I don't know. There are those who reject the gospel. You need to understand that. I need to understand that. We all need to understand that. There are some who will have nothing to do with the gospel.

When I was a kid preacher attending seminary, I pastored in the little town of Dayton, TN, home of the famous Scopes Trial (or The Great Monkey Trial) back in the 1920s. I was visiting the hospital one Sunday afternoon in the little town of Dayton, while my wife and children visited with one of the families that was in this little country church that I was pastoring. I was visiting the hospital and as I was visiting room to room, an announcement came over the intercom in that 21-bed hospital, "Pastor Johnson, Pastor Johnson, Pastor Johnson, to the emergency room please, to the emergency room please, Pastor Johnson." The nurses had seen me in the hospital. When I heard that, I thought something had happened to one in my family or one of the church family. They had just brought in a young man 23 years of age from Spring City, a town 11 miles north. He had been shot twice in the abdomen in a bar fight. I walked into that emergency room, and there was blood all over the place. That young man's mother was standing there with tears streaming down her face. "Preacher, Preacher, you have to talk to my boy. He is not a Christian; he is not saved; he is dying, Preacher. You have to talk to him!" I went to the young man as he was lying there with a nurse feverishly working over him trying to stop the bleeding as best she could and waiting for a doctor to arrive. That young man looked up at me with his eyes half open going out into eternity and looked me square in the eye and said, "I don't want anything to do with your blankety-blank God. Get to blankety-blank out of here!" And the last thing that young man said, as he went out into eternity to face the God who created him and the God who gave him life, was taking His name in vain. He rejected the gospel! There are people like that in this world. Maybe there is one here this morning. But let me remind you what the Scripture says,

(Psalms 14:1) The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.

That is Scripture; that is not the preacher. That is Scripture! Oh God in heaven, help us to see that this morning. There will be those who reject, but how foolish they are when they reject.

Of course, on the other side of that coin, we find the word "accept"; do we not? There will be those who accept the gospel, and thank God for that. Thank God for those who were saved this week. One of our bus captains came back Thursday night singing the praises of God, rejoicing over two sinners who had repented and received Christ as Saviour. On Thursday night they led two ladies to faith in Christ. Praise God, there will be those who accept. There will be those who come to know Jesus Christ. I look across this auditorium this morning and look into the faces of dozens and dozens who found Christ as Saviour right here in this place. Thank God for that. There will be those who will accept, hear, believe, receive the message, and be saved. We can rejoice in that.

There is another body of people that falls into the third category and that is those who "neglect." They do not deliberately reject the gospel, but at the same time, they will not accept the gospel. There are many many people like that. We need to be sensitive to that, beloved, in the day and age in which we live.

Last Monday and Tuesday we had our Sword of the Lord conference, which is a conference that we have to emphasize the matter of soul winning, the matter of reaching out to people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I trust that all of you have been praying for the 10,000 soul winners that we coveted together with God in that conference. We are going to pray to see God bring 10,000 soul winners to the state of Minnesota as He tarries the coming of the Lord Jesus. Have any of you prayed with me this week for the 10,000 soul winners? I trust some of you have. I trust some of you will get a burden for this; and that we will not just go through life in our own little world and our own little cocoon, not seeing the masses all around us who need to hear about Christ. We pray that God will raise up 10,000 soul winners in Minnesota to match our 10,000 lakes; that while there is still time, we might be able to somehow reach as many as we can possibly reach with the blessed story that Jesus saves, because their eternal souls are going to spend eternity someplace.

There are those who reject. There are those who accept. But I think the vast majority are those who neglect. We need to be sensitive to that and we need to be mindful of that. They attend services, they come to church, they hear the gospel, but they do nothing about it. Listen to me, folks, there are people all over your community today who need the gospel. They need to hear about Christ because what they're doing is neglecting. They know they are lost, and Christ died for their sins, but they neglect and put off and procrastinate until one day the death angel visits, life is taken, and it is too late. Oh God in heaven, as we go out into our world today, tomorrow, and this week, and as the Lord tarries His coming and gives us life, help us to see those all around us who need to hear about Jesus and so plain a salvation, that they will come and receive Him as Saviour. We are facing a dreadful peril that faces multitudes of people today, and that is the peril of neglect.

We all know about the housewife who neglects her home, that it is someday going to show. And for you businessmen who sit here this morning and listen to me preach, if you neglect your business, that is going to show. One day that is going to manifest itself. Neglect is something we need to be mindful of and be careful of. Somehow, by the grace of God, we need to overcome when it comes to this matter of telling others about Christ and preaching the blessed story that Jesus saves. Let us not forget that it is salvation that provides a complete restoration for the sinner.

What happened to Ed Johnson on August 17, 1952 when at the age of 20, he reached out and received Christ? What was it that took place in his life? I will tell you what took place. He became a new creature in Christ. That is what we need to see in the day and age in which we live. We need to see people embracing a provision that God has made for bringing us back into fellowship with Him and into the safety of the fold, even as we saw a few minutes ago in the 15th chapter of the book of Luke. This is why, I believe, the apostle Paul in the book of Acts uses two qualifying words, "so great," when he speaks of salvation. So great a salvation! I was thinking about that when I read those words, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" I got to thinking about why he used that. Now I understand that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. I well understand that. But, stop and think about why he would have said, "so great." Just think about this with me for a moment. "So great," because a Great Love provided it. Have you ever thought about that?

(Romans 5:8) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Just think about the verse John 3:16, probably quoted all over the world. Now, you cannot even watch a football game or some other type of an athletic contest that is on television, without seeing John 3:16. Someone will be standing there with a sign and the reference John 3:16 on it.

(John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

It is "so great" because of a Great Love that provided it. The songwriter said,

Oh the love that drew salvation's plan!
Oh the love that brought it down to man!
Oh the mighty gulf that God did span,
At Calvary!

It is "so great" because a Great Love provided it.

We need to think about this also. How about a great price that was paid for our salvation? The songwriter again said,

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

Beloved, understand a truth this morning, that God said to His Son, "You need to go down to earth and live upon earth, and then die on a cross to redeem these lost men and women." The Son of God gave himself for that task. What a great love but also what a price it cost God, His only begotten Son. And yet the Son was willing to pay the price.

I was thinking about that truth, but what about the great blessings being a child of God? Oh, the joy there is being a child of God, when you understand what it means to be saved, what it means to be forgiven, what it means to be cleansed, what it means to receive eternal life, what it means to have peace and grace, and what it means to have heaven for a home forever!

Think about sitting or standing by a bed and holding your mom's hand as she is slipping out into eternity. The nurse walks into the room and says, "Well, it will only be a couple of hours; she already has the death streaks on her leg." The death streaks are coming while you are looking at the one who brought you into the world, the one who cared for you, the one who held you, and the one who loved you. You are telling her that you love her, and you realize she's not going to be there the next time you call. But then all of a sudden you remember, "I'm going to see her again. She's going to be with the Lord. She's going to be better off than I, all of our brothers and sisters, all of our loved ones, all of my church family, and all of those in the entire world. Mother is going to be with Jesus." Oh, the blessing!

Then we stop and think about those you have seen at funerals who have no hope. I have the memory of a 19-year-old young lady throw herself into the coffin with her grandfather. I could call her name today and many of you would know her. She is a nice young lady and comes from a very good home, a wealthy home, but no hope of eternity. As the family walked by the coffin for those last viewing moments and I stood there by the side of that coffin, she looked at him and said, "Oh Grandpa, Grandpa" and dove into the coffin on top of the body of her dead grandfather. "I was planning on you coming to my wedding, Grandpa. You can't die. You can't die. I will never see you again."

Oh, the blessing of salvation and the blessing of knowing Jesus Christ as Saviour. Oh beloved, why do you wait to receive Christ? It is beyond my understanding, except for a great problem I see here in the text. If you neglect God's provision for your soul (salvation), there is no way you are going to escape the consequences of your neglect, and this is a problem. This is such a problem that God cannot solve it, you cannot solve it, nobody can solve it, when you really think about it. How will you escape if you neglect God's salvation? There is no escape. There is none! That's what these two verses of Scripture are teaching. So my plea to you this morning is that you understand a truth that men and women must be saved if they are going to spend eternity in heaven.

This sort of reminds me of a story I heard many years ago. Two guys were standing on a pier and this fellow came running down the pier, dove into the water, and started to sink. One of the men on the pier threw out a rope and the rope fell right across his body. They hollered, "Grab the rope and we will pull you in." But the sinking man replied, "No thanks," and drowned.

Hear a simple message this morning and let God speak to your hearts. If you are here today and you have never trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour, beloved, I know of no better time than today. Let me say this to the host of you here today who are saved, you are Christians, and you are going to heaven, but you have loved ones, you have mothers and dads, you have brothers and sisters, you have aunts and uncles, you have nieces and nephews, and you have all kinds of neighbors and friends all around you. These people are lost and on their way to a Christless eternity. What are you doing to get the gospel to them? "Oh, I'm giving their names to you, Preacher." You know, there are only so many visits the preacher can make. Have you ever thought about maybe you going to tell them? They know you, they love you, and they will listen to you as you tell them about the Saviour.

How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

Follow this link for a presentation of the Plan of Salvation.