Title: The Sin of Neglecting God's Great Salvation
The Sin of Neglecting God's Great Salvation
(Hebrews 2:1-4)
In verse 3, the word “great salvation” is found. It is an expression of the salvation God has given us. God's salvation to sinners through Jesus Christ is a great salvation. If we neglect God's great salvation, how can we escape God's judgment?
1. What does great salvation mean?
God's work of salvation is common in both the Old and New Testaments, but in the judgment of sinners, it has changed since the New Testament. In addition to the condemnation of the law, which is condemned in the Old Testament, the sin of not believing in the Son of God is added. God's judgment on all mankind in the future will not be for failure to keep the law, but for neglecting God's great salvation, in other words, for not believing in the Son of God.
In Hebrews 1, we learned how precious and great the Son of God is. In this way, the precious Son of God accomplished the salvation of sinners by being the sacrifice, and the sin of those who neglect the salvation that God has freely given to sinners has no way of avoiding God's judgment. Then why is this salvation being said to be a great salvation?
(1) Because the Son of God was sacrificed. It is not a sacrifice of sheep or goats offered in the Old Testament. It is the salvation accomplished by the Son of God Himself suffering on the cross.
(2) The rebirth of a son like this is the manifestation of God's greatest love. In Romans 5:7, it says that he clearly demonstrated the love of God by sacrificing his Son on the cross. No matter how infinite God is, he cannot show more love than that.
(3) Nevertheless, this precious saving grace of God was freely given to sinners as grace. There are no conditions for receiving this salvation, and God only tells sinners to take it. This is God's great salvation and great salvation. We cannot use any excuses in front of this great salvation of God. If we neglect such a great salvation, we cannot help but take God's wrath upon ourselves.
2. What does it mean to neglect the great salvation?
Then we will see what it means to neglect God's great salvation here. To neglect it means to not take it to heart and to regard it as commonplace. Let's break it down into a few.
(1) It means doubting God's promises. It is a terrible sin before God to look at the wonderful gift that God has given us but to doubt it. Then why do people doubt God's promises? In Romans 4:20, there is a saying, “Without faith, we do not doubt the promises of God, but are steadfast in our faith, giving glory to God.” If a person does not have faith, he doubts the promises of God.
(2) To neglect means to not cherish or cherish. Christ is to us the treasure of life, and what if we neglected this treasure than we use in the world? We are people who are supposed to please God, and if we look down on God's most precious gift of salvation, such a thing is inevitably causing God's judgment.
We must imitate Paul's attitude. He says this in Philippians 3:8. He confessed, “I count not only all things as loss for the sake of Christ, but also all things as loss, because of the exaltation of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” He valued Christ more than his own life. Then why do people not value God's great salvation like this? It is because they do not realize that they have the authority of children of God and how glorious their inheritance as children of God is.
(3) To neglect means to disobey God's grace. Many heretics are turning God's grace into lust. Turning it into a false truth. The reason is that they are deceived by the spirit of delusion. One day when you are deceived by this spirit of delusion, you fall into it knowing that it is untruth.
(4) To neglect means to disobey. If we know that God's great salvation is a gift from God, obedience must follow. The Lord tells us: ‘If you love me, you will keep my word.’
Conclusion: The evidence that we neglect this great salvation of God is in ‘disobedience’. If we cherish God's great salvation, we must follow the fruit of obedience to Him. I hope that by living your obedience you will show evidence that you do not neglect but cherish great salvation.