So Great Sin, Suffering, Salvation, Separation

Just a little verse in the book of Hebrews in chapter 2. Appreciate everyone that was able to stay for the gospel meeting tonight. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Mr. McLeod has been talking to us about so great faith. The Hebrew writer brings it down to a very, very personal matter between you and God.

And he's looking at this wonderful aspect of so great salvation. And he asks a question that has to be penetrating, penetrating enough to stir your soul. How shall we escape if I neglect so great salvation? There may be those in the audience tonight, and you've just come in for the last service of the day.

And we certainly appreciate that. And you may not be totally acquainted with Bible truth and with gospel truth. You may have never read the Bible.

Maybe you ask yourselves a question like this. Really, what is the Bible all about? Well, first of all, the Bible is all about the love of God. Listen to John chapter 3 in verse 16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Love is measured by how much it is willing to give. And God demonstrated, God showed, God displayed the greatness of the heart of his love in giving his Son to our world.

The Bible is all about the love of God. The Bible is all about the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Listen to what one of the greatest gospel preachers said, quoted in our Bible of 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

He says, For I delivered unto you, first of all, how that Christ died for our sins. That's basic. And that he was buried.

And on the third day he rose again according to the scriptures. The gospel is Christ from beginning to end. You need to get to know him.

And bless God, you could get to know him tonight. So the Bible is all about the love of God. I hope you know tonight that God loves you.

The Bible tonight, or the Bible, is all about the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Thirdly, the Bible is all about your response. What am I going to do? What am I going to do with the message of the love of God? What am I going to do with the message that relates to the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus? John is teaching in John chapter 1 a verse like this.

It goes, He was in the world, the world was made by him, the world knew him not. But as many as received him. So great salvation is the plan that God had worked out from eternity past.

The wonder of God's salvation, friends, tonight is this. Is that divine persons never sat down to decide what was going to happen with man's sin. God knew from eternal ages past that he was going to provide a means of deliverance from sin.

And that means of deliverance is called here, so great salvation. You know, if sin had never blighted the creation of God, there would have been no need for so great salvation. But you see, sin did blight the creation of God on two momentous occasions.

The first was an angelic rebellion where angels rebelled against God and against the authority of God. We have a record describing some of that in Isaiah chapter 14. Satan, Lucifer, the devil, was not happy in being subject to God and wanted to take the throne of God and dethrone God.

What did God do? God took Lucifer and all those that were joined with him. And he took them and cast them out. We would say tonight, what a drastic move.

Just a minute now. God demands holiness. God demands righteousness.

And here was sin in the very face of God. The seriousness of one sin demanded that God cast them out. The second rebellion, of course, is a little better known to those who attend gospel meetings and particularly children who attend Sunday school.

It happened in the Garden of Eden. Can you imagine our first parents, Adam and Eve, being placed in an absolute perfect environment? Everything that was there for their need that God had supplied. And then you remember the one prohibition.

You know what happened? The devil came along, tempted the woman, she took, she gave to the man, he took. And what is referred to by gospel preachers as this, the fall of man. What do we mean? Simply means that was the point in time when sin entered the world.

Amazing that Paul the Apostle, the great preacher in the New Testament scriptures, he was not there in the Garden of Eden, but he believed the story. This is what he said in Romans chapter 5 and verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, so that death passed upon all man, all mankind, for that all have sinned.

I sometimes judge that the saddest words in the Old Testament, at least some of them, The saddest words in the Old Testament occur at the end of Genesis chapter 3. After sin had entered, and these are the words, So he, God, so God drove out the man. Fellowship has been broken, no longer communion with God, a barrier and a separation. You remember what happened at the entrance to the garden, cherubim with flaming swords.

And every time Adam and Eve came up to the gate, they're reminded of this. What God did with us was exactly what we deserved. Barred from his presence.

One sin by angelic beings cast out of the presence of God. One sin by Adam and Eve cast out of the Garden of Eden. Friends, this evening in the gospel meeting, one sin is enough to keep you out of God's heaven.

So again, if sin had never invaded our planet, our earth, then so great salvation would never have been needed. The wonder of this, when angels sin, God cast them out. And God never provided a salvation for them.

Friends tonight, I'm happy to tell you that God didn't do that with humankind, what he did with angels. That then is a mark of the vastness and of the greatness of the love of God. And that God has provided for you.

God has provided for me what the Bible calls so great salvation. Before we can understand this lovely term, so great salvation, there are two other terms that we need to come to grips with. If I were to take you back in your thinking to Exodus, that's a book in the Old Testament, chapter 32.

Moses, the leader of the nation of Israel, has gone up into the mountain to meet with God to receive two tables of stone that we call the Ten Commandments. And while Moses is up there, the people are anxious as to what happened to Moses. So they tell Aaron that they took off their earrings and possibly their bracelets, and they gave them to Aaron, and he formed a golden calf.

And then Moses comes down from the mountain. He hears sounds that he hasn't heard before. Sounds certainly that does not bring any cheer to his heart.

And he sees what's going on, and this is what he says. He says, ye have sinned a great sin. You see, friends, this evening, every sin is a great sin.

We do a very good job in 2022 in categorizing sin. Well, that particular sin of which that man or that woman went to jail, that was a very, very serious sin. But I just lied to my mother.

That's really not that great. And so what Moses had to say to the nation of Israel, ye have sinned a great sin, is what God says about my sin. It's what God says about your sin.

Let me quote you two verses from the Old Testament and one from the New. Just to allow the Bible itself to speak. There's a young boy, he's a teenager, he's probably 17 or 18.

His name is Joseph. The story is recorded in Genesis chapter 39. And this is what Joseph said one day.

How can I do this great wickedness? Imagine. How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? But Joseph, your parents aren't around. But Joseph, nobody else will really know.

No, no, Joseph with a consciousness of the holiness of God. He says, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Children, teenager, mom and dad tonight. Every sin is great wickedness to the sight of God.

But then there's a grown man. His name is David. He was the one who wrote Psalm 23.

He was a shepherd boy that eventually became the king of Israel. And he sinned grievously one day. And for at least one year, he tried to hide that sin.

And finally, when that sin was finally revealed, this is what he said. Against thee and thee only have I sinned. He said again, he said, my sin is ever before me.

Let me ask you a question before I go on. Does your sin ever bother you? I hope it does. And if your sin does trouble you, and if your sin does bother you, I trust you, thank God.

Well, let's come to the New Testament. We sometimes refer to him as the prodigal son, although the Bible doesn't call him that. He was a young boy that lived on a farm.

And he likely wanted the easy life and didn't want to get up in the morning to milk the cows early and go out and get the feed. And so he thought, well, you know, I'm going to I'm going to get out of here. And he did.

One day he was sitting by a pig pen, starving. Likely, goodness knows, when last he had a shower. You know what he was thinking about? He was thinking about the father's house.

And he had his little speech hall prepared before he left the far country. He says, I'm going to go home. I'm going to see dad.

And he says, this is what I'm going to say. He says, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. He had the right order.

Do you know why he had the right order? Because you may sin against your parents. You may sin against your brother or your sister. But first of all and foremost, sin is against God.

Ye have sinned of great sin. But I want to show you from the Bible that so great sin caused the Lord Jesus so great suffering. Here's a verse from the New Testament.

It's written by Peter. Peter is writing about 30 to 35 years after the death of Christ. But it's as vivid to him as if he was standing at the cross.

And this is what he said. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. So great suffering.

Those who attend gospel meetings appreciate that the Lord Jesus hung on the cross for six hours. Three hours of light. Three hours of darkness.

He suffered from what the hands of men did to him. And we would not want in any way to minimize those physical sufferings for they were real. But he suffered secondly at the hand of God.

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins. Children, you ever leave Sunday school and ask yourself, who sins? Mom and Dad, tonight in the gospel meeting, maybe you haven't been with us for the day, but you're with us tonight. Thanks again for coming.

Have you ever asked yourself, when Christ suffered, whose sin did he suffer for? Well, what does our Bible verse say? So Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just one. That is a beautiful title of the Lord Jesus. He is the just one.

And who did he die for? He died for those that were unjust. That is a description of all humanity. That was a description of the speaker before he was saved.

For I was not always saved. You weren't always saved. And this term unjust is a term that God uses to describe you and me in our sins.

The hymn writer put it this way in a beautiful way. And when I think that God, his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce could take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled, he died to take away my sin.

Could you say that? So great sin caused the Lord Jesus so great suffering. Now we come to our Bible verse. In order that God could provide so great salvation.

It's a salvation from all of your sins. It is a salvation that will give you peace with God. It is a salvation that will assure you a home in heaven at the end of life.

It is a salvation that will give you victory over sin, something that you don't have right now. And this so great salvation is what God's willing to give you right now. It's a salvation from the punishment of our sins that we deserve.

Therefore, it's a salvation from hell. It is a salvation from eventually the lake of fire. Get again what Mr. McLeod said.

So vital, so important. That if God were to give us what we deserve, none of us would have so great salvation. Are you willing to acknowledge that tonight? Coming face to face with God.

Coming face to face with reality that my sin is separating me from God. And that's why I need so great salvation. The Lord Jesus eventually died.

Having borne in his body the sin of the world. I try to picture it sometimes, although I can't. He cries with a loud voice.

I would love to shout. I'm not going to do it. Finished.

Finished. The work's complete. There's nothing for you to do but to rest where God has rested.

In the death and resurrection of his Son. Finished. Savior bows his head in death.

Soldier nearby takes out a spear. The head of that spear must have been the size of a man's fist. And he took that spear and he buried it in the side of the Lord Jesus.

And from his side. John says this. The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, God's Son, can cleanse us from all sin.

Sin is the problem. It was my problem. It's a bigger problem than really you recognize or realize.

That's why you're not saved. Sin is a big problem. And bless God through the work of Christ.

His death on the cross. On the value of his resurrection the third day. And his ascension to glory.

God comes out to the conference gathering tonight. But there's quite a few of us here. God's coming out to all the boys tonight.

There's quite a few boys. Great you're here. God's coming out to all the girls tonight.

There's quite a few girls. God's coming out to mom and dad tonight. But that's too many.

God's coming out to you. You need to come to grips at this salvation that God has provided. And my sin.

My sin is the problem. And if God has provided that salvation for me. The most reasonable thing for an individual to do is to trust God.

So great salvation. Says someone just before I get down. How am I going to get it? God is in heaven.

Yeah. The Lord Jesus is in heaven. Yeah.

And I'm just in an auditorium. In Wisconsin. How do I get my hand on this so great salvation? Listen to this Bible verse.

For by grace are we saved through faith. Faith is the hand that grips the word of God. It's true.

I believe what God has said. For by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of ourselves.

It is the gift or it is the free gift of God. Not of works. Lest any man.

Should bow. So great sin. Your sin.

Cause the Lord Jesus. So great suffering. In order that God from heaven could provide for you.

So great salvation. We encourage you to take him now. Says someone.

What happens if I don't take him? Friends we must warn you. So great sin. Because the Lord Jesus on the cross.

So great suffering. In order that God could provide so great salvation. That if you turn him down.

There could be so great separation. The Lord Jesus tells the story in Luke chapter 6. Not a parable. A man on this side that's crossed over to the other.

He says I've got five brethren at home. Go and tell them don't come here. He says there's a great gulf that is fixed.

A separation between them and him. And if you neglect so great salvation. The warning is this.

You'll endure so great separation forever. Friends tonight. Get down to business with God.

Trust Christ. God has made him available. He's available in the seat that you sit.

You could trust the Savior. It's not shedding a tear. It's not putting up your hand.

It's not even going to your mother and father. Or they could be of help to you. It's you getting down to business with God.

You could be saved in the seat you sit. Without the person sitting beside you knowing it happened. God help you.

To trust the Savior.