So Great Salvation Heb. 2:3 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

So great is our salvation because:

So great is our Savior – Titus 2:13 – consider how great Jesus Christ is.  He created the universe.  He has all power.  So great is his humility that he wiling forsook all of his riches and lived in poverty that we might be rich.  He didn’t own his own transportation.  If he needed a boat, he borrowed one.  He had to borrow the colt that he rode into Jerusalem for his triumphal entry.  Instead of taking the throne, he willing died in our place.  And then he miraculously rose from the dead.  And today he intercedes that others might be saved.

So great is His love – Jn 3:16; Jn 15:13 – Ps 66:5 says, “he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.”  With his great power he could destroy the United States in a split second, if he has had enough of our legalized sins.  Yet, he loved us enough to forbear his judgment and willingly offer his Son in our place to save us from our sins.   A mother wouldn’t offer her son in the place of a stranger and certainly wouldn’t tolerate the rejection of her son the way that God has tolerated the rejection of his Son.  His love is that great.

So great is his grace – 1 Tim 1:12-15 – Paul expressed the greatness of God’s grace to Timothy better than anyone else could put it.  Because of God’s great grace, the chiefest of sinners, who was a blasphemer and a persecutor, became the greatest apostle.  Like the hymn writer said, “What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since Jesus came into my heart.”  Just consider how much he changed us.  I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for his grace.

When we realize how great is his salvation:

So great is our heaviness – Rom 9:2 – The more we realize the greatness of God’s salvation, the heavier our burden becomes for those we love who don’t know him, yet.  We carry the burden of their souls on our hearts the way the priests carried the names of the children of Israel upon the breastplate over their hearts.  Epaphroditus even experienced this heaviness [Phil 2:26] for the Philippians when they heard he had been sick. 

So great is our heart’s desire – Rom 10:1 – the salvation of Israel was Paul’s desire.  He knew that the remnant would be saved in the tribulation [Rom 11:25-27].  However, his desire was to see them saved in his lifetime.  Even though the Holy Spirit warned him not to go to Jerusalem, Paul’s desire was so great that he could not keep himself from going.  Their salvation was in his heart.  And when we remember the greatness of our salvation and the horror of our friends’ coming judgment, our heart’s desire for their salvation becomes great.

So great is our prayer – Rom 10:1; Col 4:12 – Paul prayed fervently for Israel as he did for the churches he started and to whom he ministered.  He knew what James knew, that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much [Jas 5:16].  When our burden is heavy and our heart’s desire is great, our prayers become more effectual and fervent for those who are lost  

So great is our zeal – Col 4:13 – Titus 2:14 we are to be a people zealous of good works.  What happens is that our great heaviness, our great heart’s desire and our great fervent prayer translates into great zeal.  We know that we must do something, as we are led by the Lord, to preach the gospel to those who are lost.

Conclusion: in Lk 8:39 the man in the Gadarenes, out of whom the Lord cast many devils, wanted to travel with Jesus when the Lord was “run out of town.”  Undoubtedly, he was concerned for his own well being since the devils that killed their swine had come out of him.  However, the Lord told him to show the people in his house and in his city how great things Jesus had done unto him.  And he did.  We should do the same.