So Great Salvation
I. Free From Sin
Hebrews 2:1 “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.”
A. “Lest we drift away”
1. The actual meaning of this is “lest any time we should drift by them.”
a. This is a picture of someone in a boat that just happens to drift by the port. They have missed the mooring and are just drifting by. We should not let them slip by or drift by.
vs. 2 “For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,
vs. 3 “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.”
B. “How shall we escape?”
1. Old Testament saints received the Word of God by angels and by revelation from God
2. New Testament believers have been given the Word of God in our time period from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
a. Because New Testament believers have been given "so great salvation", we have a greater responsibility to the Lord than Old Testament believers.
C. “So Great Salvation” When did it begin?
1. It began when Jesus preached it
a. Jesus preached things that had never been heard. Salvation was available in the Old Testament, but Jesus came and preached “so great salvation,” something that literally eclipsed what they had in the Old Testament.
2. New Testament Believers have so much more
a. We have the New Birth
b. We have the Holy Spirit living in us
1. The Holy Spirit moved out of tents and moved into you and me on the Day of Pentecost. God saw us as so valuable that He moved the Holy Spirit out of man-made buildings and into something He created.
II. Salvation is Progressive
Romans 10:10 “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.”
1. Salvation began with the Lord Jesus Christ, but in our own personal lives it started when we said “yes” to Jesus Christ
a. Jesus began working in your life when you accepted Him as Lord and Savior, but what a blessing to know it continues every day!
III. The Perfect Tense
A. The perfect tense indicates ongoing results
1. The perfect tense is a mixture of the past and the present tenses in the Greek. Combining these two tenses, you have something that began in the past with results that carry over into the present
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
vs. 9 “Not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
2. “For by grace are you saved…” is the perfect tense. In the Greek, this means “For by grace were you saved in the past with results that keep right on coming up until the present.” (Wuest)
a. Even though your salvation began sometime in the past, without you even thinking about it, it is still working on the inside of you every single day! You are progressively saved daily.
IV. You are the Only Bible Some May Ever See
A. What is inside of you needs to come out where people can see it
1. God can see that I’m saved in my heart, but there is a world that needs to see my actions and hear my words. Those actions and words are an outward reflection that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.
2 Corinthians 3:2 “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men.”
V. So Great Salvation Through the Eyes of God
Romans 8:29-30 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
vs. 30 “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
A. The plan of salvation was in place before the foundation of the world
1. From the foundation of the world, God saw you saved. That’s when it became real to Him
2. The day you accepted Jesus is the day salvation became real to you
B. God saw you saved
1. God saw us justified (saved)
a. Salvation is past tense – the day you accepted Jesus Christ
2. God saw us conformed to the image of Jesus Christ
b. Salvation is present tense – working in my life each day
3. God also sees us glorified
c. Salvation is future tense – It will be complete when we have a new resurrection body just like that of the Lord Jesus Christ
VI. What We Have Been Saved From
A. We were Saved from Sin
1. Adam passed sin upon all people because we are all born into this earth under the control of sin
2. We were lost and dead in our trespasses and sin
3. Jesus came to redeem us from sin
a. Daily we are to remove ourselves from the sin that surrounds us – the society we live in, and the lusts of the world
b. Our future salvation will be removal of the temptations of sin that are a result of the natural body in which we live
B. Saved from the Pleasure of Sin
1. The nature of God’s goodness on the inside of you is greater than the sin nature in your body – the nature of your flesh
a. The Holy Spirit is always prompting you to follow after God
2. A born again Christian will experience a momentary pleasure but it’s not the same pleasure it used to have
a. For a Christian to truly enjoy sin he must disregard the conviction of the Holy Spirit
3. A sinner does not walk away with guilt, shame, or remorse
a. The sinner loves vanity Psalms 4:2
b. The sinner loves violence Psalms 11:5
c. The sinner loves evil Psalms 52:3
d. The sinner loves lies Proverbs 1:22
e. The sinner delights in their abominations Isaiah 66:3
1 John 2:15 “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
C. Hating Evil
Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.”
Proverbs 16:6 “And by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.”
1. The spirit man on the inside of us is the place where the love of God abides
2. The love of the world is in our flesh
Romans 7:21 “I find it a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.”
vs. 23 “I see a law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which in in my members.”
3. The spirit man is greater than the flesh
1 John 4:4 "Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world."
4. The good that is in us fights the evil that is in flesh
vs. 22 “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.”
5. What is in our inward man? A delight for the things of God
The only true pleasure for a Christian is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ day in and day out
D. Saved from the Penalty of Sin
1. The penalty of sin is:
a. Spiritual death
b. Banishment from God
1 Thessalonians 1:10 “Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
2. We have been saved from the wrath that is to come
a. When we sin, He is displeased but we will never face the wrath of God
VII. There Is No Condemnation
Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”
A. The opposite of condemnation is justification
1. Condemnation – We’ve been charged with a crime
2. Justification – We have been found guiltless and the law holds nothing against us
3. Jesus took the condemnation of sin and was justified
a. Our sin was transferred to Him and His justification was transferred to me and the condemnation is gone
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
VIII. Free from the Power of Sin
A. Does sin have power?
1. Yes, but we have a Greater Power living in us which makes us free from the power of sin
1 John 4:4 “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me from the law of sin and death.”
2. Just because we are born again does not mean we will never face sin again, but we grow in His power, which is greater than the power of sin
3. As you walk in the promises, you see the daily deliverance from the temptations of the world around you, daily deliverance from the sins you have committed and didn’t resist.
4. You have power to walk away from those sins by the power of the Word of God.
Psalms 119:11 “Your Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
The power to walk free from sin comes by our understanding of the Word of God. The Word we have heard will cause us to walk in victory.
