Great Salvation

Hebrews chapter 2 and verse number 3, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Let me read it again, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? About 300 miles from where we live and near San Francisco, there is a little island called Alcatraz. That island was made into a prison for several years and some of the worst criminals in that time were kept in Alcatraz. And it is said that it was a fortress or a jail from which no one could ever, ever escape.

Now there are some who claim that certain people did escape from that particular jail. I do not know for sure and I don't think they have a ways to prove it one way or another. But we have read in this verse of something that is impossible to escape from.

And it's really in the form of a question as I'd like to present it to you this afternoon as an unanswerable question. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? What you notice with me as we break the verse down, there's a great question just in the first two words. How shall a great question.

And then there's a great people that are involved. We the human race, you and I, we're all included in this question. Then there's a great impossibility.

Escape, a place from where there is no escaping. An impossibility for the sinner who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ to escape from the awful condemnation of God against sin. Then notice too, there's a great decision.

The word if lies heavily upon every individual in this world today, in this room this afternoon. You have a choice to make. To accept or to reject the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior.

And in so doing, understand the responsibility and the consequences of the choice that you make. As well, we have a great sin. The idea of neglecting what God has offered.

Turning your back upon it as thinking it is not really an important issue with you. Doesn't really demand or command your attention. You just pass it by.

You neglect it. It's a great sin. But also in this verse, in this little passage we've read together.

There's a great provision. A great provision. So great.

Salvation. When our son, our youngest son, was in first or second grade. I was up having meetings, I think it was in Vancouver.

And the teacher sent an urgent notice back to our house and our son, Han. And my wife got it and she looked at it. And the teacher said, Mrs. Baker, I need to talk to you as soon as possible.

So my wife made arrangements and went down to the school. And sat down with the teacher. The teacher said, Mrs. Baker, I'm really saddened to know the situation in your home.

My wife looked puzzled. She said, I don't know what you mean. Oh, she said, your son, Glenn.

The other day, whatever it was, she said, a young boy was crying in school. And your son went over to him and talked to him and asked him what was the problem. The boy said, well, last night the police came to our house and they took my daddy to jail.

And our son, Glenn, put his arms around him and said, don't cry. My daddy goes to jail all the time. The only difference is I can go out when I want to.

But this is a jail. It's the idea of being incarcerated. That's what sin does.

And here the writer, as he thinks about this question, how? There's many questions in the Bible. Genesis chapter 3, one of the first questions ever asked was God asking Adam and Eve, Adam, where art thou? And there was an answer to that question. Adam was in a garden, of course, physically.

But spiritually, Adam had fallen out of the grace of God. Adam had departed from God. Adam made a choice and he became a sinner.

And God wanted to understand just where he stood before him as a guilty sinner for one sin. Where art thou? It's a good question for all of us to ask in view of eternity and in view of our lives. Where are we as far as God is concerned? Job asked the question, if a man die, shall he live again? That's a question that has an answer to it as well.

Job maybe didn't understand it quite at that time, or at least it's in the book of Job. The answer is yes. You and I have a soul that will live forever.

The body will die. We've been hearing about that already today. The body dies.

The body goes to the grave. We just laid my mom to rest last week. It's a solemn thing.

It's a stirring thing. It's an emotional thing. When people die that we know, we love.

But the soul isn't there. The soul takes its flight from that body, leaves the body. And the body goes out into eternity.

Either to the place called heaven. And as we've been hearing, to go face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Or to the awful place called hell.

And there to suffer forever and ever. Or then eventually, I should say, to the lake of fire to suffer forever and ever. The realities of this, that a man, if he dies, yes, he will die.

And yes, he will live. I heard it well said by a doctor, a good friend of mine. John Trope, some of you may know him.

He was speaking at a funeral one day. John said this, I'll never forget it. He's one of the indications that we have a soul that is eternal.

Is by talking to someone who is elderly. Don't put me in that class, that's okay. Talk to somebody that is elderly and they'll watch the children as they play.

And they will speak of days when they played. And they will say possibly like this. I remember how I used to do those kinds of things.

Cartwheels or football or whatever the case may be. But now I can't because my body won't let me. But I still would like to.

Everything in my being was said, I want to do it. I want to do it. Why? Because the soul inside of us, the real person, the personality of what we are, never dies, never grows old.

It's eternal. That is from the day we're born. It goes on and on and on.

A man dies, shall he live again? But here is a question that we cannot find an answer for it. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? It's easier to ask a child to reach out and say, child, reach out and touch that star out there. Or tell a person to look at a mountain and say, pick up that mountain and carry it from there to here.

Because when a person dies without a savior. And as this person pens these words, as he thinks about it, Oh, I can just see him just contemplating it in the sense in which I'm presented it anyway, in the gospel. And he asks the word, how? He realizes the hopelessness of it.

The helplessness of it. There's no answer. There's no escaping.

There's no way out. Oh, as you consider it, my friend. It's a great question.

It's a question I'd like you to ask yourself tonight or today. Put yourself in this place. And realize.

In eternity, you'll be powerless. Because there'll be no escaping. No escaping.

But consider, if you will. The great people involved. That's you.

That's me. You see. How shall we? It's found two times in this little verse.

How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? See, it's. It's for the smart people. And for the people, maybe not so smart.

It's for the introvert as well as the socialite. It's for the church gore as well as the drug dealer. It's for all of us.

Because the Bible tells us that we are all born in sin. There's no difference. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

God does not look upon you as maybe people might look at you. And look at different standards that we might set. And say, well now, if you reach to a certain level or certain standard.

Then possibly. You'll find favor with God. No, no.

God doesn't look at you that way. God says, there's no standard. As far as the human race is concerned.

God is the standard. And all of us have come short of that standard. God wants you to understand that.

That you're a sinner. And you cannot meet God like you are. And escape God's judgment.

And God's wrath against sin. If you're not saved, friend. I want you to understand.

God looks at you. And he says, you are guilty. I had to come to grips with this.

At 17 years of age. I had to understand that all the attractions of this world. And I was after some of the things of this world.

My greatest enemy was sports. And oh, how I love sports. And I wanted to be a professional football player.

That's what I was going after. And all of these things were being presented to me. Satan was dangling, as it were, as a tremendous incentive for me to go after these things.

I never regret the day when I felt myself as a guilty, hell-deserving sinner. And I came to the point where I said, Lord, I want to be saved. I want to be saved now.

I don't want to wait another day. I need to be saved. You know what I discovered? I was born and raised in the gospel hall.

I'm thankful to my parents today. That they brought me to the meetings. And they kept me coming.

I was talking to somebody on the hallway just this afternoon. People were saying, not many people come to the conferences like they used to. Or not many people come to the weeknight meetings like they used to.

I'm thankful for parents that brought me to conferences. I'm thankful parents that brought me to weeknight meetings. Even though I didn't want to go.

Even though I used every excuse in the book not to go. They loved me. And they made sure that I was at the meetings.

And I listened. Sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I did, and I have to be honest.

But that day I did. What I heard was this. People were getting saved in other parts of the world.

In this particular case, it was the country of Venezuela, Mr. Sidney Sayward. Telling how God was working among the people down there. And people were coming to know Christ as their Savior.

And that night after hearing him speaking, I went home, and I could not sleep. I wanted to sleep, and I couldn't sleep. God took sleep from me.

Why? All of a sudden my eyes were open, and I began to understand. You're guilty. You are a sinner.

And listen, all that stuff out there means nothing if you die in your sins. I'm thankful that next morning, I realized for the very first time, the Lord Jesus, when he was on the cross, he bore my sins in his own body on that tree. And I trusted him as my Savior that day.

I believed on it all along in my life. I knew Christ died. I never doubted it.

But it wasn't until I put myself, as it were, in this verse. How shall I escape if I neglect so great a salvation? I didn't want to die and go to that awful place called hell. Do you? Do you? Not only is it a great question, not only is there great people here, but there's a great impossibility.

How shall we escape? Escape? Ever been incarcerated? They ever put the, in Spanish they call them esposas, handcuffs. They ever put the handcuffs on you? Ever taken you and put you in the backseat of that patrol car? Have they ever taken you down to the county jail? Locked the doors? That's what he's talking about here. Incarceration.

I used to have the privilege of going, as I've already said, to visit jails, go to the jails and visit people in the jails. And I'll never forget the one visit I had with a young man. He leaned over and he told me this.

He said, Tom, we're going to make a break. He told me how he's going to do it. As they go to the lunch on a certain day, as they go by, there's only one guard.

He says there's about three of us and we're going to jump him. And we're certain between the three of us we can disarm him and we can do away with him, we can kill him. And then there's down the road, there's just a hallway there, there's another guard.

And by the time we get to him, he's going to be off balance and we feel like we could kill him too. And then out there is out the gate and then over the fence and away we go. We're going to make the break.

I looked him in the eye and I said, don't you even dare to try it. I said that man has a family, a wife and children, and who are you? You're just a punk person in this room, in this jail here. You're the crime criminal.

You're the one who did what you did. He's just getting paid to do a job that my taxes are paying for. Don't you jump him.

He looked back at me and he said, Tom, you don't know what it's like to be locked down. You don't know what it's like to be locked down. It hit me like a ton of bricks.

I don't know what it's like to be locked down. But I thought of a sinner who leaves this world in their sins. And they're plunged into outer darkness where there's weeping and they're wailing and there's gnashing of teeth.

I tell you, in those jails, they treat those guys pretty good. Three meals a day, a bed to sleep on, but not not in the place called hell. Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The darkness of it, the loneliness of it, the pain of it, the misery of it. And then to think it's forever and forever. Lost.

Under the awful weight of sin and guilt. Lost. And as we heard last night, remembering a message that you heard from this particular platform.

And you will have a mind that will be keen. You'll have the ability to recall because that's what it says in Luke chapter 16. Of that man that's in that awful place called hell.

And he lifts up his eyes and the thing that's told him, son, remember, remember, remember. Oh, you'll remember. And oh, how you would wish to change seats with somebody that's sitting here.

How you'd love to just have five more minutes of hearing the gospel. But it's too late. It's too late.

You're locked down. No escaping. And oh, how when it dawns on you.

I know of another young man who did a drive-by. They caught him. And he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

And when he got that sentence, that jail door closed on him. He sat down on that bunk. And he just cried.

What have I done? What have I done? 20 years of my life. Here. In ruin.

Misery. But it's not 20 years, friend. It's eternity.

Eternity. No escaping. You see, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Can I say to you, you don't have to do anything to go to hell.

There was a track written in Spanish. Brother was passing it out and I asked him. He gave me one and I asked him for it.

And it says on there, what must I do to go to hell? Oh, it's the easiest track I've ever read. I opened it up. And in great big bold letters, it says nada.

Which means nothing. Nothing. What must I do to go to hell? Nothing.

Just keep going like you are. Just stay in your sins. Put other things as more important.

In fact, this word neglect. It's the same word that is used in Matthew, I think it's chapter 22. Where a man, he provides a great supper for his son.

His son is going to get married. And he sends his servants out. And he says, tell them to come in.

All things are ready. Come. It says that some of them just despised him.

And some of them just neglected it. The word neglect in that passage is, he said to them, go and tell them. He sent them out as God does.

The gospel preacher, he sends them out. And he says, go and tell them. But it says, they would not come.

They would not come. And then it says, they made light of it. Now that's the same word as neglect.

They made light of it. Where are you with this message? You say to yourself, I'm kind of young, you see. And I'm just a young boy, I'm a young girl.

And I don't have any intentions of dying in my sins. I have no intentions of going to that awful place called hell. I go to Sunday school and I listen to the gospel.

And I do really want to be saved and I plan on being saved. There's a lot of young people in the place called hell tonight. And they had good intentions too.

But they neglected it. They put it off one time too many. They would not come.

Oh, I doubt if anyone here would make light of the message of the gospel. I doubt if anyone here would just go out and mock what we're saying. But will you come? Will you see it as something that is an issue you must deal with now? I had to come to that.

I remember there were times when I listened to the gospel as an unsafe person. And I tried everything not to cry. I did everything possible not to shed a tear.

Because I didn't want anyone to know that I might be anxious about being saved. I thought it would be embarrassing. And I kept putting it off.

I kept putting it off. Is anyone here like that today? You're putting it off for another time? Tell you the truth, this is a conference. And I was saved right after a conference.

There's nothing that tops off a conference better than see a sinner come to know Christ as their Savior at a conference. We call that the crowning touch. When a sinner trusts Christ.

But they would not come. Notice again the verse. How should we escape? If.

If. That word if is used over 1,500 times in the Bible. But here is probably one of the most important times.

How should we escape if we neglect so great salvation? In other words, he's telling you there is the great possibility. There is a potential in the heart of every individual that you might just neglect it. That you might just turn away.

It's like the hinge on the door. They're hanging on a hinge. And you might just turn away from it.

If. And it could be the difference between heaven and hell. If.

The Lord Jesus Christ said. I am the door. By me if.

Any man enter in. He shall be saved. The door to sell God's salvation is open tonight.

Because that door is found in a person. The Lord Jesus Christ himself. And he's offering to you.

A way in which you can escape. He's offering to you tonight. Salvation.

The forgiveness of sins. It is he alone that can save you. For he is the one who went to the cross.

We've been hearing this afternoon of the fragrance of his name. To us who believe in him. He's the altogether lovely one.

He's the one that our souls adore. We love him. Why do we love him like we do? Why do we come every first day of the week as we heard.

And worship him. And adore him. Does it not get a little boring? You might ask.

No, it doesn't get boring. It's the highlight of every week. To be able to come.

And just to offer up praise and thanks to God. For his son. The one that he spared not.

But delivered unto us all. The one who came all the way from heaven. Into this world.

And lived a life of absolute perfection. He was God in every way. And yet.

He was manifested in flesh. He came for one purpose. Christ Jesus came into the world.

To save. Sinners. The only way he can save sinners.

Is to pay the price of your sin. And your sins. Cost him so much.

It is because of your sins and mine. But I want you to think about yourself. How shall I escape if I neglect so great a salvation? Your sins.

Is what caused him to go to the cross. Your sins. Is what caused him to allow those men.

To nail those nails into his hands. And into his feet. It was your sins that caused him to be lifted up.

Between heaven and earth. He bore. My sins.

In his own body. On the tree. And this afternoon.

You have the opportunity of accepting him as your savior. And you have the opportunity of rejecting him. Rejecting him as your savior.

It's your choice. How shall I escape if I neglect. If I neglect.

You know you can ruin your car by neglecting it. If you have one. You can ruin your farm.

By neglecting it. If you have one. The word neglect is always an enemy word.

It's always against us. Because it means we're putting it off and putting it off. We know we have to do it.

But we're putting it off to another time. And so it will be my friend. You can ruin your life.

You can ruin your soul if you neglect. God's salvation. The last words.

A great provision. So great. A salvation.

You know that word soul. It's there because there's no limits to it. There's no measuring stick that you can take out and say well it's this long.

Or it's this deep. Or it's this high. So great.

For God's soul loved the world. His visage was marred. So marred more than any man's.

It's a word of limitlessness. How shall we escape if we neglect so great? A salvation. Look at what it costs God to give his son.

Look what it costs the Lord Jesus Christ. To bury your sins. In his own body on the tree.

If you neglect it. There's no escaping it. But.

How shall we escape? This is the answer. Through a soul great salvation. Oh you just extract those words.

If we neglect. How shall we escape? There's such a great salvation for you. It's a salvation that will meet every need that you ever had.

It's a salvation that will take away all your sins. It's a salvation that will make you fit and ready for heaven. It's a salvation that will bring joy to your heart.

It was a salvation. If you're a child in here and you have a parent in here. That saved our grandparents that are safe.

It was it's a salvation that will put a tremendous smile on their heart. And there are in their hearts and in their faces. If you would just trust Christ as your savior.

There is an escape tonight or today. There is an escape for you. And it's found in this great salvation.

And that salvation is so great. It's limitless. It's priceless.

And I ask you. Is it yours? Is it yours? He that believeth on the sun. Hath ever lasting life.

He that believeth not the sun. Shall not see life. But the wrath of God.

Bideth on him. I trust that you will let these words resonate in your heart and your mind. This afternoon.

How shall I escape? If I neglect. Think of what you're neglecting. So great.

Salvation. Let us pray.