The sinfulness and the danger of neglecting the gospel
The great salvation of which the apostle testifies is not the salvation which the gospel reveals, but the gospel itself, even the good news of the kingdom, which, by His Son, God in these last days hath spoken unto us (Heb_1:2).
The salvation which is in Christ Jesus may, with the most obvious propriety, be denominated great, if we compare it with the deliverance which was wrought for the house of Israel, when the Lord brought them out of the land of Egypt. The former was a temporal deliverance, the latter is a spiritual salvation, including deliverance from sin and wrath--from everlasting destruction; and not only deliverance from all evil, but also the enjoyment of eternal life. What is it to neglect so great salvation? “All things are ready, come unto the marriage,” is the intimation which the servants of the King, according to His commandment, gave to those who were bidden to the marriage of His Son. Did they regard this kind, this generous invitation as duty and interest required? No. “They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise.” They who neglect so great salvation, make light of the gospel. They do not regard it as the way of eternal life; they do not give to it that cordial reception to which it is entitled. The great salvation is neglected by all who enjoy the means of religious knowledge, and yet remain ignorant of the faith once delivered to the saints; by all who do not with the heart believe unto righteousness, how much knowledge soever they may have attained; by all who continue in the love and practice of sin, who profess to know God, but in works deny Him--who do not give to the salvation of their souls the preference to every other object of pursuit.
I. To NEGLECT SO GREAT SALVATION IS A VERY HEINOUS SIN.
1. The dignity of Him by whom the great salvation has been made known to us, illustrates the wickedness of neglecting it.
2. The wickedness which is included in rejecting the gospel of the blessed God our Saviour, is illustrated by the clear and full revelation which it makes of the way of eternal life. The mystery of salvation by the obedience and the death of the Son of God, which was hid from ages and generations, is clearly revealed, and hath appear, d unto all men. The gospel proclaims tidings so good and so interesting, that, on the acknowledged principles of human nature, it seems at first view reasonable to conclude, that to a very faint discovery of them, all whom they concern must give the most earnest heed. How inexcusable, then, must be they who turn away from Him who now speaketh from heaven, proclaiming in the clearest manner, “Peace on earth, and good-will to men!”
3. The wickedness of neglecting so great salvation is illustrated by the infallible proofs of its Divine origin by which it is recommended to our acceptance. That the gospel is indeed the Word of the living God is established by the most abundant evidence. Do you require evidence to convince you that the gospel which the apostles preached, is, indeed, the great salvation which, at the first, began to be spoken by the Lord? What you require. ,he text supplies in rich abundance. “So, then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God; and they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word by signs following.” That the God who cannot lie will not attest what is false, is a self-evident truth. He cannot be deceived, and He will not, He cannot deceive. If, therefore, the God of heaven bears testimony to the doctrine which the apostles published, it must be the great salvation which, at, the first, began to be spoken by the Lord.
II. THE JUST RECOMPENSE OF REWARD WHICH AWAITS THOSE WHO REJECT THE COUNSEL OF GOD AGAINST THEMSELVES.
1. The righteousness of God renders it necessary that, on them who make light of that mercy which the gospel reveals, judgment shall be executed.
2. The condemnation of those who neglect so great salvation must be dreadful beyond conception.
3. The condemnation of those who neglect so great salvation is most certain. (W. Kidston, D. D.)
The inexcusableness of rejecting the gospel
1. Here is the intrinsic goodness and excellency of the thing itself, which wicked men reject; intimated as a just ground why they should not escape unpunished.
2. This further consideration, that the gospel is n express and positive revelation of the will of God, is a very high aggravation of the sin of neglecting so great a salvation.
3. The dignity and excellency of the Person, by and through whom this great salvation is proposed to us is a further aggravation of the sin of rejecting it.
4. The strength and clearness of the evidence, and the number and greatness of the proofs, made use of to assure us of the truth of the gospel, is the highest aggravation of the guilt of those who neglect or disobey it, and that which of all other things renders them the most absolutely inexcusable. (S. Clark. , D. D.)
The guilt of the unconverted in neglecting the offered salvation
I. THE GREATNESS OF THE SALVATION, which every unconverted person despises. It is a deliverance from the eternal ruin due to our sins; from the dominion of sin and Satan on earth, and from the doom of Satan after death; from present terror and from eternal remorse; from the wrath of an infinite Avenger; from a sorrow, which is near at hand, inevitable, intolerable, eternal; from all that thought shrinks to contemplate, and more than the imagination ever conceived. It is, on the other hand, an admission to blessings as vast. To adoption into the family of God; to all the privileges of His believing people; to be loved by Him, watched over, provided for, cheered, consoled, sustained, and guided to glory. It is an invitation to accept the blessings, given after the greatest provocation--a guilt which is incalculable. It is a salvation offered to those, who by the obduracy of their hearts and the ungodliness of their lives, persevered, d in through long years, have deserved that the Lord should exclude them from His favour for ever. It is a salvation provided for such rebellious transgressors at the cost of the death of Christ.
II. WHAT IS IT TO NEGLECT IT? It might seem that it was impossible to neglect a mercy such as this. The traveller, when he is dying of thirst in the desert, does not reject the gushing spring, which, bubbling at his feet, gives him refreshment and life. The prisoner does not hug his chain, and draw back from the sunshine and liberty offered him, to the damps and darkness of his dungeon. The sick man never scorns health. The poor dejected and homeless wanderer would never refuse proffered wealth. Yet it is not only possible to neglect this salvation, but it is too certain that it is very generally neglected--that while the road to perdition is crowded by multitudes, the road to glory is straight and narrow “and few there be that find it.” To neglect this great salvation is, evidently, not to obtain the blessings which it proposes; by whatever mode that neglect is manifested, in whatever way those blessings are lost, to lose them s to neglect this “great salvation.” God has offered them to sinners freely; He has set before you plainly the way in which they may be made yours; tie has offered them only in that one way; and therefore if either another way of obtaining them is preferred, or if they are not sought in this way, then is such a person chargeable with neglecting this great salvation.
III. THE GUILT OF NEGLECTING IT. That guilt is clearly implied in the expression in our text, “How shall we escape “ if we neglect it? “ How shall we escape?”--it evidently implies, that there is in it such a guilt as must provoke the severest punishment.
1. In the first place, you despise these blessings. Heaven, and the pardon of your sins, and the renewal of your hearts, and the indwelling Spirit the love of God, a holy and a blameless life, a glorious crown, an immortality of holiness and happiness--all this you despise, But I have a heavier charge to bring against you.
2. It is evil enough to disregard these mercies, but every unconverted person is also guilty of inconceivable ingratitude towards God. (B. W. Noel, M. A.)
The danger of neglecting Christ and salvation
I. THE GOSPEL SALVATION IS GREAT.
1. The deliverance of Noah from the general destruction brought upon the old world was wonderful; but the deliverance of our souls from the deluge of God’s wrath, by the gospel, is greater. The preservation of Lot from the destruction of Sodom was great; but the salvation we obtain by the gospel, from the vengeance of eternal fire, is greater.
2. The Author of this salvation (Isa_9:6), God manifest in the flesh 1Ti_3:16; Isa_59:16).
3. The means (Rom_8:3; Isa_53:8; Heb_9:22).
4. The salvation itself, or the benefits that accrue to believers through Jesus Christ.
(1) We are saved from the guilt of all our sins (Rom_8:1; Act_13:39).
(2) Believers are saved from the power of sin (Rom_6:6; Rom_6:14).
(3) Believers are saved from the contagion of sin (1Jn_3:9; Eze_36:25; Eze_36:29).
(4) They that are delivered from the body of sin and death, are saved, likewise, from fear; from all fear that hath torment (1Jn_4:18; 1Co_15:55; Isa_12:1).
(5) Believers are saved from the power of the grave (1Co Php_3:21).
(6) The saints shall be saved from hell and all misery (Rev_7:17; Psa_16:11).
II. WHO ARE THEY THAT NEGLECT IT?
1. Those who live in any known sin.
2. Those who trust in their own righteousness (Rom_10:3.)
3. Those who do not seek this salvation more than other objects.
III. THOSE WHO PERSIST IN THE NEGLECT OF THIS SALVATION CANNOT ESCAPE PUNISHMENT.
1. In this life conscience condemns them; therefore are they like the troubled sea (Isa_57:20-21). There is a curse on them, and on whatsoever they do.
2. At judgment justice will seize upon them (Rev_6:15-16; Rom_14:12; Pro_2:22).
3. In hell the vengeance of God will still pursue them (Psa_9:17, Rev_21:8).
Application:
1. How glorious is the gospel-scheme of salvation, how far superior to all those wonderful deliverances which God wrought in old times! Christ is our only refuge (Isa_32:2).
2. It is easy to see how heinous a thing sin is in the sight of God; how infinite and inconceivable the love of God is towards sinners (Joh_3:16; 1Pe_3:18).
3. Consider the great, the glorious salvation, which is offered to you by the gospel. Seek it while it may be found (Isa_55:7; Heb_3:7-8; 2Co_6:2).
4. Remember how it shall happen to all those who forget God (Rom_2:8-9; Psa_50:22). Speedily give up all for Christ (Php_3:8).
5. Though you may have neglected this great salvation to the present moment, God is willing and ready to pardon. Great salvation for great sinners (1Ti_1:15; Joh_6:37).
6. Never rest till you lest in Christ. (J. Hannam.)
The certainty that punishment in eternity awaits the unconverted
I. THE WORD OF GOD EXPRESSLY DECLARES THAT GOD WILL PUNISH SINNERS.
II. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD, HIS REVEALED PERFECTIONS, NO LESS CERTAINLY SECURE THE PUNISHMENT OF THE SINNER HEREAFTER.
III. We have another and an independent proof that the impenitent sinner must look for a severe retribution when he comes before the judgment of his Maker, derived from THE PAST JUDGMENTS WHICH HE HAS INFLICTED ON ACCOUNT OF SIN.
1. Often have individuals been made to experience the instant vengeance that God takes upon iniquity. Under the Mosaic law the provisions were exceedingly severe, to mark to that people that God abhors transgression.
2. On many occasions God has manifested His anger against sin, towards multitudes at once.
3. Once agate; contemplate a more awful wreck, and a worse disaster yet. Think of those angelic beings, that once were in the presence of God, loving, holy, happy beyond fear, who seemed in their Maker’s favourite have a shield that would secure them to eternity. Those angels transgressed the wilt of God. And “keeping not their first estate” they ,re now visited by no mercy, reserved to an eternity of horror. What God has done, why, sinner I should He not do again? How can you plead an exemption from the curse that has rested upon so many?
IV. But there is another fact, still more awful than all--another argument still more potent than these. If every other proof that God will visit iniquity were lost, if His Word were silent, if we otherwise knew not His attributes, if there were no past judgments to point at, still in THE CROSS OF CHRIST YOU would read a manifestation of the wrath of God against iniquity, which must reduce to hopelessness every considerate person still living in sin, or must reduce to silence at the last day every sinner that will cling to delusive hope. For why did Christ die, Because God will manifest how He hates iniquity; because He must--because holiness, justice, truth, goodness, and mercy require that He must--show that He hates sin. (B. W. Noel, M. A.)
The danger of neglecting the great salvation.
I. THE ONLY WAY OF SALVATION FOR SINNERS IS REVEALED BY THE GOSPEL 2Ti_1:10).
1. They must needs be strangers to the great salvation, who slight the gospel that brings the good tidings of it.
2. If the gospel alone brings the tidings of salvation for lost sinners, how thankful should you be to God for this revelation.
3. If the gospel alone brings you the tidings of salvation for lost sinners--a salvation we all needed to hear of and be interested in--then how worthy is it of all acceptation.
II. WHAT THE SALVATION IS, WHICH THE GOSPEL ALONE REVEALS.
III. WHY THE SALVATION REVEALED BY THE GOSPEL IS CALLED “ GREAT.”
1. It is great salvation, as it is the product of infinite wisdom and unerring counsel.
2. From the dignity of the Person that wrought it out.
3. It is a fruit of a great price, even of the obedience and death of Jesus Christ.
4. It is applied by almighty power, against all the opposition, of Satan, of an evil world, and even of the very soul itself who is made partaker of it.
5. It delivers the soul from everything that is evil.
6. It brings the soul from darkness to light, from death to life, from the power of Satan unto God.
7. It is a fruit of great grace.
IV. SOME UNDER THE GOSPEL NEGLECT THE GREAT SALVATION.
1. Notice how the greatest and most dangerous sin under the gospel is described. “Neglect” not the only remedy, the true riches. It is an injury to Father, Son, and Spirit. It is a high affront offered to the wisdom of God, and to His goodness and grace in Christ.
2. Notice the misery of those that neglect the great salvation. They are condemned already (Joh_3:18).
3. Who are they, among all the hearers of the gospel, that neglect the great salvation?
(1) Such as satisfy themselves with notions of the gospel, and take no care about the transforming virtue of the Word of God upon their souls (1Th_1:5).
(2) Such as have often heard of the danger of sin, yet live in the love and practice of it.
(3) Such as hear of the necessity of an interest in Jesus Christ, but take no care to win Christ and be found in Him.
(4) Such as know their Master’s will, and have no heart to do it.
(5) Such as have but a low esteem of the gospel of Christ, and the ordinances of it.
(6) Such as never inquire what they shall do to be saved, how they may escape the wrath to come.
4. Whence is it that some, who are placed by kind Providence under the gospel and ministry, neglect the great salvation?
(1) From the blindness of their minds, and ignorance of their hearts. They are not sensible of their misery, the guilt, bondage, defilement, and poverty that sin has brought them to.
(2) From the atheism of their hearts.
(3) From their natural aversion to the Word and ways of God.
V. THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY FOR THEIR ESCAPING ETERNAL MISERY WHO CONTINUE TO NEGLECT THE GREAT SALVATION.
1. Some impenitent sinners hope to escape the wrath of God, Though they neglect the great salvation.
2. Every one under the gospel should exercise their own judgment, reason, and conscience about their present behaviour, under their present trusts, and seriously think what will be the issue of their present carriage.
3. There is no mercy to be shown to impenitent sinners after this life, if they die in their sins.
4. Neglecting the great salvation is the only damning sin.
(1) It is a high affront to each of the Persons in the Holy Trinity.
(2) It is a slight of the only remedy.
5. The punishment that shall be inflicted, at last, upon impenitent sinners, for their neglect of the great salvation, will be found to be just.
(1) God has given them fair warning by His word.
(2) They will receive nothing at the great day but the just fruit of their rebellion against the Lord Jesus Christ.
(3) They will receive nothing but their own wishes and a retaliation of their own language (Job_21:14).
Uses: 1. Inferences.
(1) Hence we see how wonderfully rich the goodness of God is to poor lost mankind, in providing this great salvation for them.
(2) The goodness of God is further displayed in revealing this great salvation to us by the gospel.
(3) We learn hence the sin and folly, the danger and misery of such as sit under the gospel and yet neglect the great salvation.
(4) Such as neglect the great salvation will be found the greatest losers; a greater loss never was or can be sustained.
(5) Those of you who are partakers of this great salvation, you see where your treasure lies, and there your hearts should be also.
2. Examination: Ask your own souls what entertainment the gospel and its salvation have with you. It has been brought to your door; has it been brought to your heart?
3. Exhortations:
(1) Give yourselves time, closely and seriously, to consider the state and wants of your own souls.
(2) Take care and pains to clear up your interest in the great salvation, by the power of the Word of God upon the heart, and by the esteem of the Word of God upon your souls; by your hatred of sin and love of holiness, and by your hungering and thirsting after God the living God, and hearty concern for the salvation of others.
(3) Attend the ministry of the gospel with your affectionate prayers, that God would reveal His arm therewith, and powerfully apply His great salvation to the souls of your poor relations and neighbours.
(4) If you can make out to yourselves that you are partakers of the great salvation, then
(a) Give God the glory of what He has wrought.
(b) Take care to live agreeably to this great grace.
(c) Commend the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation to others; endeavour to show them the necessity of it.
(d) Put this great salvation into the balance against all the great afflictions, losses, disappointments, and unkindnesses that you may meet with in the world (2Co_4:17; Rom_8:18). (W. Notcutt.)
The danger of neglect
I. OUR DANGEROUS CONDITION.
1. The inquiry, “How shall we escape?” implies it: bitten, depraved, dead, lest.
2. We need relief--salvation (Isa_53:6; Eze_37:11).
3. We cannot relieve or save ourselves (Job_36:18-19;Psa_49:7).
4. Christ brings salvation to us (Joh_3:16; Mat_1:21; Luk_9:56; 1Ti_2:6).
II. IT IS A GREAT SALVATION.
1. God in Christ is its Author.
2. Jesus is its Finisher.
3. It is plenteous and full (Psa_130:7).
4. It saves from great sins.
5. It saves from greatest dangers.
6. It is free.
7. It is the only salvation. “None other name.”
8. It is great in heaven. Infinite honours, eternal crown. “Kings and priests.”
9. It is everlasting (Isa_45:17).
III. THERE IS DANGER OF LOSING IT. Not great sinfulness alone, but simple neglect will destroy your soul. The man in business has but to neglect it to be ruined. The sick man neglects the means of recovery, and he dies. The man on Niagara neglects at the proper time to use the oar, and he plunges over the cataract. Ah, ruinous neglect! Let no one infer because he is moral and truthful, is not a drunkard, an adulterer, a murderer, or some redhanded, black-hearted criminal, that he is safe. Why, if your own morality and goodness were enough to save you, then Jesus need not have suffered and died. Salvation is n t forced upon us. We must make an effort to secure it. We may neglect to make that effort, and be lost. (B. F.Whittemore.)
Neglect of the great salvation
I. THE IMPORTANT SUBJECT COUCHED IN THE FEW BUT EXPRESSIVE WORDS, “SO GREAT SALVATION.”
1. Its heavenly origin.
2. The extraordinary means by which it is effected.
3. Its boundless fulness and freeness.
4. Its deliverances from evils
5. Its choice and extensive blessings.
II. THE NEGLECT SUPPOSED, AND VIRTUALLY CHARGED UPON US.
III. THE AWFUL CONSEQUENCES THAT MUST ENSUE TO ALL FOUND GUILTY
OF NEGLECTING SO GREAT SALVATION. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
Do not neglect the great salvation
I. The word of the gospel which is preached to us, is THE WORD OF SALVATION.
1. It reveals and announces salvation. It tells us of God’s method of recovery for lost, guilty, sinful man. The gospel is the only revelation of saving mercy. Reason could never have discovered it. Philosophy never could have descried a scheme like this. Nature could never have given us any just conceptions of this subject. We see much of the goodness of God in the brightness of the sun, and in the descent of the shower; in the flowers which cover the earth; but not one word of salvation; not a syllable which relates to the restoration of man, and his deliverance from the deserved wrath which his apostasy has incurred.
2. Instrumentally it effects salvation. It brings salvation near, both to the understanding and to the heart.
3. It is the ordained means of perfecting and preparing the soul for the enjoyment of consummate bliss.
II. This salvation, announced and revealed and brought near in the gospel, is inconceivably GREAT. The apostle does not attempt to describe its greatness; but he wraps up the whole magnificence of his theme in this expression, “so great salvation.”
1. Think of the stupendous contrivance in which it originated; and it will be found a great salvation.
2. Look at the methods which have been adopted in order to render this salvation sure. Nothing less than the achievements of the eternal Son.
3. Think of the agency employed in securing the application and saving efficacy of this salvation--the Holy Spirit.
4. Think of the all-sufficient credentials and Divine attestations, by which the gospel is recommended to us; and you will easily perceive that it is, ill my text, most justly described.
5. Consider the richness and amplitude of its provisions.
6. I only refer, finally, to the ultimate end which it proposes to effect on behalf of all who are interested it, its benefits. That end is the resurrection of the body from the dust; the glorification of the entire Church; the subjugation of all evil; an eternity of unimaginable bliss.
III. I am to prove to you that THOSE who NEGLECT IT have not the remotest prospect of escape from the entire and hopeless ruin which such neglect inevitably involves.
1. Everything in the reason of the case forbids the hope of escape. Because God Himself has devised this method of recovery; He has revealed it; He has offered it; He has told us plainly, “Neither is there salvation in any other” than Christ. They who neglect this salvation, then, most perish, upon every principle of equity, and upon every principle of reason. There is a storm gathering. Divine mercy has provided a shelter. You neglect it; and the thunderbolt strikes you prostrate to the ground.
2. Everything in the character of God forbids the hope of an escape. He is a God of justice; and will never compromise the claims of equity in complaisance to the negligence and unbelief of His creatures.
3. There is, moreover, nothing in the Word of God which affords the slightest ground of expectation that this method of salvation discarded any other will be provided. (Heb_10:26.) Lessons:
1. Admire and adore the riches of Divine grace in having provided such a salvation for lost man.
2. How full of terror is this subject to you who are neglecting this salvation.
3. How happy are they who have reached the final end and ultimate enjoyment of that salvation of which we have been hearing; who have “believed to the salvation of the soul.” (G. Clayton.)
The superiority of Christianity as seen in its claims
I. THE NATURE OF CHRISTIANITY’S CLAMS.
1. Their imperativeness.
2. Their personal character.
II. THE IRRETRIEVABLE CONSEQUENCES OF NEGLECTING THE CLAIMS OF CHRISTIANITY.
1. These consequences are suggested analogically.
2. These consequences are based on the intrinsic excellence of Christianity.
3. The character of the sin on account of which these consequences will be inevitably inflicted.
4. That such a sin as neglect must inevitably be followed by serious consequences is very obvious from the laws of our nature.
(1) That of relation between moral appreciation and moral advantage.
(2) That of free agency.
5. That these consequences will follow this sin is seen from the veracity of God.
Lessons:
1. We learn that there are two sides to salvation.
(1) The Divine side, viz., the providing salvation for a lost world.
(2) The human side, viz., the personal acceptance by faith of the salvation thus divinely provided.
2. We learn that, for all practical purposes, the human side is as important as the Divine.
3. We learn that, infinitely great and glorious as salvation is, there is no manifestation of the goodness of lied more easily sacrificed.
4. We learn the unspeakable importance of giving practical heed to the voice of God’s Spirit as He speaks in His Word.
(1) Because neglect is followed by such sad and irretrievable consequences.
(2) Because of the law of habit.
(a) Birds which build their nests in a belfry become habituated to the loudest and longest clangour.
(b) Those who live ill the vicinity or Niagara and cataracts of the Nile become so habituated to the roar of their waters that they do not mind it at all.
(c) Alas! is not this the explanation of the heedlessness to the gospel of thousands in Christendom--they have become too familiar with its sound.
(3) Because of this life being our probationary sphere.
(a) If we die in a state of unbelief we cannot hope for another opportunity.
(b) As we are liable to die any hour, to neglect salvation is of all follies the greatest. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The sin and danger of neglecting the great salvation of the gospel
Whether we look at the source from which salvation originates, or the objects to whom it is extended; at the depth of misery from which it delivers, or at the height of glory to which it exalts; at the long train of prophecies by which it was introduced, or at the stupendous display of miracles by which it was established, we cannot but be deeply impressed with its magnitude and importance. There is one circumstance, however, which wonderfully augments these impressions, the unparalleled excellence and dignity of the Person by whom this salvation was perfected.
I. The first argument which I shall adduce results from THE VERY NATURE AND CONSTITUTION OF THINGS. They who neglect the great salvation of the gospel must, from the necessary connection between causes and effects, he involved in everlasting destruction. For what is the salvation of the gospel? It is salvation from sin. Should the drowning man neglect to lay bold of the only hand stretched out to save him; should the sick man neglect to follow the only prescription which can administer a cure: what, in all these several instances, must be the inevitable consequence? Death. Neglecting to improve the only opportunity vouchsafed to them of procuring the removal of their guilt, they must sink down for ever under the curse and burden of unpardoned sin.
II. Another argument arises from THE PECULIAR AND AGGRAVATED GUILT OF NEGLECTING SO GREAT SALVATION. The gospel is a remedy which we are constrained by the most powerful obligations to apply: a remedy, the neglect of which argues not only the most daring folly, but the most malignant wickedness, and consequently involves a degree of criminality which exhibits in a still stronger light the impossibility of escaping. To neglect the salvation of the gospel is to violate a positive command of God. It is also to pour contempt on His most glorious perfections. The gospel is the richest display of mercy to fallen man, the consummation of the Divine wisdom and love. (E. Cooper, M. A.)
How shall we escape?
I. “SALVATION” is the grand thought.
1. Consider salvation in its origin. May it not be termed “so great salvation”? God is its Author. It was planned in the councils of eternity; it is the fruit of infinite wisdom. Great, we own, is creation; greater far is redemption. God creates by the word of His power; He redeems by the blood of His Son; new-creates by the power of His Spirit.
2. Salvation is so great: when we remember its nature. It saves from great sins. Christ is “able to save unto the uttermost.”
3. It saves from great dangers.
4. There is salvation from great enemies. But we have given only one side of salvation--deliverance. Positive blessings belong to it. Salvation might be termed “so great,” if it were only for the blessedness it brings to the heart now; in this life; Christ’s peace, Christ’s joy, Christ’s wondrous love. But man has a destiny reaching away into the great eternity. When we think of man as he is, what be deserves, what he well may fear, guilty, depraved, condemned--as he shall be, when purified, glorified--is not salvation rightly styled “so great “?
II. Think now of the word “NEGLECT.” Easy were it to show that such “ neglect” is a great calamity, and a great crime.
1. This neglect is common. Alas! how many ,how their neglect in their lives--by open sin, by contempt of God’s Word, God’s day, God’s house.
2. It is inexcusable. Vain and flimsy as a spider’s web are all excuses. The real reason why men neglect so great salvation is because they love this world more than God; time more than eternity; their sins more than their souls.
3. Neglect is foolish. What should we think of a prisoner who should bug the chains that bind him?
4. Neglect is easy. In one sense, it in hard for sinners to perish. God in mercy sets barriers in the way. In another sense, it is an easy thing. “Neglect!” The man in business does not need to gamble in order to go bankrupt; all he needs is to neglect his business.
5. When we add it is fatal, this brings us to the third word
III. “ESCAPE.” “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” (D. S.Brunton.)
The vital question
I. CONSIDER THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED. The man who, amidst the multitude of other anxieties, sets the invitation to a banquet aside, and altogether neglects it, is just as sure of being found absent as the man who distinctly rejects it. There are many who idle a whole lifetime away in a sort of passive indifference to the gospel, and go down to the grave utter strangers to its Saving power. The man who is not diligent in the prosecution of his worldly business is said to neglect it; and so, in like manner, if you do not esteem the salvation of the soul as the one thing needful, if you do not strive to enter in at the straight gate, and give diligence to make your calling and election sure, then know, of a truth, that you are found among those woo are guilty of neglecting it.
II. CONSIDER THE QUESTION HERE PUT. More evil is done, and more injury sustained, through neglect than from any other cause. Escape is utterly and altogether impossible.
1. From the very nature of the case; for the neglect of salvation is just the rejection of the remedy, and if the remedy be releced, what but ruin can await us?
2. From the history of the Divine denyings. If God brought in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, so that they escaped not, how shall we escape? Say not that God is too merciful to inflict the penalty He has threatened; for was God not merciful then, and yet He did not permit them to escape?
3. From the very means employed for our deliverance. If sin were trivial, if the law were flexible, if God were changeable, Christ would never have suffered, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God.
III. CONSIDER THE GUILT OF NEGLECTING THIS GREAT SALVATION. The mariner who refuses to cast his anchor on the rock deserves to suffer shipwreck. The man who declines to accept the bread that is offered to him deserves to die of famine. God has not provided this great salvation at such a mighty expenditure, and left men to sport and trifle with it at their pleasure. (Thos. Mair, D. D.)
Neglect
I. THE MISERY ARISING FROM NEGLECT.
1. In the lower or material realm, e.g., industrial, sanitary, commercial.
2. In the higher or mental and moral realm, e.g., education, religion.
(1) The signs of neglect. Listlessness and dulness, or profligacy and obduracy.
(2) The temptation to neglect. Example, spirit of procrastination, pressure of other claims.
II. THE GUILT OF NEGLECT.
1. It is spiritual suicide.
2. It is ruinous in its influence on others. You say, “No danger,” when the peril is terrific.
3. It is practical atheism.
4. It is in gratitude to the Redeemer. (Homlist.)
The only plan
I. GOD HAS MADE ABUNDANT PROVISION FOR THE WELFARE OF THE WORLD. “So”--the descriptive word of a child when failing to set forth in detail an object beyond its ability.
1. Salvation is God’s highest achievement.
2. Supplies all the wants of mankind.
3. Is all-powerful in its influence.
4. Is destined to be universal in its success.
5. Is everlasting in its duration.
II. GOD’S ABUNDANT PROVISION FOR THE WELFARE OF THE WORLD MAY BE IGNORED. “If We neglect” implies
1. The freedom of the human will.
2. The deluding power of sin.
3. The futility of mere knowledge.
4. The evil of contempt.
5. The power of self-righteousness.
6. The actual prevalence of carelessness.
(1) Some are totally indifferent.
(2) Some are idly procrastinating.
(3) Some by hoping for the best.
(4) Some because others do.
III. GOD’S ABUNDANT PROVISION FOR THE WELFARE OF THE WORLD, IF IGNORED, LEAVES MAN HOPELESS. “How shall we escape?”
1. Man bears in himself the elements of destruction. Born a sinner. Sin will never destroy itself. Powder train laid.
2. Salvation the only remedy. Ark, Brazen Serpent, Cities of Refuge. “No other name.” “Jesus only.”
3. Man’s effort to appropriate the appointed means is essentially necessary. Wrecked sailor must enter lifeboat; manslayer flee to city of refuge; patient take prescribed medicine.
4. Non-compliance on man’s part will result in endless misery. (B. D. Johns.)
The regret of lost souls
In the palace at Versailles as if by the irony of fate, is a famous statue of Napoleon in exile. His noble brow is lowered in thought, his mouth is compressed, his chin is resting upon his breast, and his grand eye gazes into space as if fixed on some distant scene. There is something inexpressibly sad in that strong, pale face. It is said that the sculptor represented Napoleon at St Helena, just before his death. He is looking back upon the field of Waterloo, and thinking how its fatal issue was the result of three hours’ delay. Those three short hours seem ever to write on the walls of his memory--“The summer is ended, the harvest is past!” Years rolled on, but the memory of that neglected opportunity follows the great emperor through his life, and haunts him through midnight hours in his sea-girt home. I have sometimes imagined that I could see on some remote and lonely shore of the Lake Avernus a soul haunted by its memories. The battle of lit e is long past, centuries have rolled away, but memory lives. Some lost soul wanders from the rest, where the waves of that gulf beat hopelessly on the far-off shore. The absent eye that gazes over the starless deep, is looking with longing unutterable to the precious time when those who are now in glory held up the blood-stained cross and pointed to the joys of heaven, then so near, now so tar. And a bitter sigh, and a sob as bitter as despairing love, fills the solitude; but it reaches no ear, touches no sympathy, awakes no echo. Such is the vengeance of neglected opportunity. (R. S. Barrett.)
How shall we escape?
By our wealth? Its currency is condemned at the judgment-seat. By our own good deeds? Those deeds have been weighed in the balance, and found wanting. Then how shall we escape? By concealing ourselves? God’s eye penetrates, with its burning glance, all space. Shall we escape in the crowd? Each individual shall be so insulated, as if there were no other creature besides at the judgment-seat. Then how shall we escape? There is but one way, and that escape is incompatible with neglecting the great salvation. Thus he says the gospel is the great salvation. “How shall we escape”--not, mark you, if we reject so great salvation, but if we neglect so great salvation? The sceptic rejects Christianity; the nominal believer neglects Christianity. Now, I very much question if it be not a greater insult to God to neglect religion than it is to reject it. I can understand that man who says, I have examined all the evidence, and I have come to the conclusion that the Bible is a fable, that Christianity is a romance; eternity, and death, and judgment the visions of a mere baseless dream. I pity him, I deplore his conclusion, but I can understand it; there is consistency about it. But the man that neglects such a religion, if it be true that God has spoken, if it be true that Christ has died for us, if it be true that we must stand at the judgment-seat, if it be true that by His righteousness alone we are justified, is guilty indeed. Such neglect is in the sight of God and man altogether inexcusable. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
The danger of neglect
During the terrible fire in the Ring Theatre at Vienna, a large crowd striving to reach one of the exits saw a sideway marked “Emergency Door, in case of Fire.” This was just what they needed. They turned aside from the main passages, and rushed to use this special way. But the bolts could not be drawn, the locks could not be turned, and the hinges were choked with rust; because the door had never been used, it could not now be suddenly put into requisition when urgently needed. A heap of dead soon lay before that gate. So, lips which never pray on earth will be speechless in the great day; the prayer for mercy will die unuttered, and the excuse which has been framed on earth will never be offered, when the King asks, “How art thou come in hither all unprepared?”
An unanswerable question
Many years ago a Welsh minister, a man of God, beginning his sermon, leaned over the pulpit, and said with a solemn air, “Friends, I have a question to ask. I cannot answer it. You cannot answer it. If an angel from heaven were here he could not answer it. If a devil from hell were here he could not answer it.” Death-like silence reigned. Every eye was fixed on the speaker. He proceeded, “The question is this, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?
Folly of neglect
A certain man had a long journey before him, which must needs be made in one day, for it would be impossible for him to journey a mile in that country after nightfall, neither was there any place wherein he could lodge on the road. He knew right well that this journey was appointed him, and that it was his duty to perform it; and, moreover, he told his best friends that he was fully determined to set out thereon: but he thought the matter was easier than they seemed to imagine. In his stable there was a fine stud of strong and swift horses suitable for the road, and a carriage stood ready for his riding. The traveller did not set out in the early morning, for he said that there was time enough. Meanwhile, by a certain custom of the country, two of his best horses were taken for the king’s service, and this caused the traveller to look about him; but he soon quieted down, sat down to his dishes and his cups, and cried, “What’s the good of haste?” While thus engaged, more of his horses were lost, or stolen, or else they strayed, and had he then set out and kept well to his journey, he had scarce the means left to accomplish it. Still he waited with his boon companions till one way or another his horses were gone, and he had nothing left to ride upon but a single wretched jade. Then he made much ado about setting out, and meant to fly along the road at a great rate; only it so happened that while he was resolving the sun went down, and he never reached the place where he would have been rewarded with honour and profit. The explanation of the riddle is easy. A man in his early days, with his best years before him, is so foolish as to put off the concerns of his soul till he is older. Years follow years, and yet he delays--delays even when his last worn, and feeble age is all that remains to him, and death comes before it is welcome. Alas, that men should think to perform the most important business of all at a time when all their powers and faculties are failing! God’s service requires all our abilities in the prime of their strength, and it is wicked as well as foolish to put Him off with our leavings, and endeavour to reach heaven on a worn-out steed at the fagend of the day. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Neglect
A traveller always provided himself with a life-preserver, which he kept in constant readiness for use. On the Mississippi an accident occurred which led him to dream of the advantages of precaution. He dreamed that the vessel was disabled, and rushing upon a lee-shore. The passengers, in different moods, awaited the result. Those who had life preservers were composed; while those who had none rushed to and fro in terror and dismay. Some cursed themselves because they did not buy them before they started; others did not apprehend danger; others had them laid away in their trunks, but found them useless through long neglect; others found themselves cheated with a counterfeit article; others were uselessly trying to escape by resting on the life-preservers of others, which could barely support their owners. The scene is one only too common in life.
When the storms come, and the frail vessel is a wreck, how many have secured the true life-preserver, and wait the result in good confidence?
How many are dismayed because unready? (New Cyclopedia of Illustrations.)
Opportunity must be grasped
Some years ago a large river in America became greatly swollen, and a rapid current was thus produced which was very dangerous to venture on, as a terrible fall was only a few miles distant.
A man who had some valuable timber in the stream got into a boat to rescue it. He was, however, soon drawn into the rushing tide. He had not the slightest power to stop or turn the boat, but rapidly it floated down the stream, hurrying him on to a certain destruction. A friend saw his peril, and mounting a fleet horse started for a bridge a few miles below as the only chance to rescue him. Reaching the bridge before the skiff, which came like an arrow towards the arch, he dropped a rope over the surface of the stream and called to the imperilled man to seize it as his only chance of escape. The trembling hand was extended, and with the firmness of a death-grasp clutched the rope as the boat shot by, and soon he was in the arms of his deliverer. This was the arch of mercy to him, which, if once passed, it would have been certain death.
How shall we escape?
It is an appeal to universal reason, to the consciences of sinners themselves; it is a challenge to all their power and policy, to all their interest and alliances, whether they, or any of them, can find out, or can force out, a way of escape from the vindictive justice and wrath of God. It intimates that the neglecters of this great salvation will be left not only without power, but without plea and excuse at the judgment day. (M. Henry.)
Neglect leads to deterioration
Let a certain number of pigeons, of different colours and varieties, be collected and carried to a desert island.
Let them fly wild in the woods and found a colony there. After the lapse of many years let the collector return to the island, when he will find The pigeons all of one colour--a black and white dun, or a dark slaty hue. All the beautiful colours will have vanished. Why? Because they have been neglected. The variations and improvements had been the result of care, nurture, and domestication: neglect has simply had the effect of letting them drop into their original state. So with plants--a rose--a strawberry; it is a natural law. So with man. By neglect his body will lapse into a savage state; his mind to imbecility; his conscience to lawlessness and vice; his soul to atrophy, ruin, and decay. “Let him alone,” and all the rest will follow. (Proctor’s Gems of Thought)
Unconscious of peril
As the inhabitants of a little, narrow street in Paris looked out at their doors one morning, they were astonished to see a young woman pacing backward and forward on the top of a six-story house. Their astonishment was changed into alarm when it was discovered that she was unconscious of her peril, and was walking in her sleep! The young creature seemed to be dreaming of an approaching gala day, and was humming a lively air. Again and again she drew near to the very verge of the parapet, and again and again crossed over to the other side of the roof, always smiling, and unconscious of danger. Suddenly her eye was attracted by a light in the house opposite. She awoke instantly; there was a piercing cry, a heavy fall, and all was over. Alas! that this sad incident should have a counterpart in things spiritual still more appalling. The despisers of God’s mercy, who are now dreaming away the brief remaining portion of their existence, will be aroused suddenly from their guilty slumber by the light which bursts in upon them from the other world, but only to discover the fearful precipice on which they have so long been standing, and when escape from ruin will be impossible. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)
Neglect--not gathering up
Bear in mind the teaching that lies hid in the derivation of the word “neglect.” It signifies “not to gather up.” It paints to us the blind man walking through a valley of diamonds, and in his ignorance gathering up none. And when, in their ignorance, men do not avail themselves of “the riches of God’s grace,” placed within their reach, how can they “escape” the results of their folly?
Danger of delay
A lady had a very important lawsuit on hand for which she needed the services of an advocate. She was strongly urged to secure the help of a verse eminent and well-known lawyer, but she could not make up her mind to entrust her case to any one. Time passed on, and at last she was compelled to take steps to secure an advocate, and called upon the great lawyer who had been mentioned to her. He listened whilst she expressed her wish to engage his help, but in a few minutes he said with a grave face, “Madam, you are too late; had you come to me before, I would gladly have been your advocate, but now I have been called to the bench, and am a judge, and all I can do is to pass judgment upon your case.” Now is the day of grace, and the Lord Jesus Christ is our Advocate, ever pleading the merits of His precious blood (1Jn_2:1-2), but the day will come when He will be the Judge of sinners, and must pass sentence upon them (2Ti_4:1).
Neglect
It is the neglected wheel that capsizes the vehicle, and maims for life the passengers. It is the neglected leak that sinks the ship. It is the neglected field that yields briers instead of bread. It is the neglected spark near the magazine whose tremendous explosion sends its hundreds of mangled wretches into eternity. The neglect of an officer to throw up a rocket on a certain night caused the fall of Antwerp, and postponed the deliverance of Holland for twenty or more years. The neglect of a sentinel to give an alarm hindered the fall of Sebastopol, and resulted in the loss of many thousand lives.
So great salvation
Great salvation--an appeal
I. AS SINNERS YOU ARE EXPOSED TO IMMENSE DANGER
1. Ever augmenting.
2. Self-created.
3. For ever unavoidable after death.
II. TO DELIVER YOU FROM. THIS DANGER HEAVEN HAS INTRODUCED A GLORIOUS EXPEDIENT. “Great,” because of
1. The great facts it involves.
2. The immense influence it exerts upon the universe.
3. The infinite blessings it secures to those who will accept it.
III. THE NEGLECT OF THIS GLORIOUS EXPEDIENT BENDERS SALVATION IMPOSSIBLE.
1. Because it is the only expedient now on earth that can effect your deliverance.
2. Because it is the only expedient that will ever be presented to you by Heaven for the purpose. (Homilist.)
The gospel and its Rejectors
I. THE ABSURDITY OF NEGLECTING THE GOSPEL SALVATION. This appears if we consider
1. Its gratuity.
2. Its greatness.
3. Its endurance.
4. Its relation to us.
5. Its singleness.
II. THE IMPOSSIBILITY FOR GOSPEL REJECTORS TO ESCAPE ETERNAL PUNISHMENT.
1. The inseparable connection between sin and punishment.
2. God’s veracity.
3. God’s almightiness.
4. God’s justice.
5. The nature of Heaven. (Homilist.)
Great salvation
1. It was a great thought in the heart of God.
2. It required a great preparation.
3. It exhibited great condescension.
4. It gives occasion to study a great mystery.
5. It exacted great sufferings.
6. It ensures a revenue of great glory. (H. T. Miller.)
The greatness of salvation
The word “salvation” occurs in the Bible under a variety of significations. When the children of Israel had just been delivered out of Egypt, and were brought to a stand-still before the Red Sea, Moses said to them--“Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” Now, in what did that salvation consist? It consisted in this--in a temporary delivering of them out of their trouble, by making a path through the depths of the sea. The Lord delivered them then with a great salvation. Further, you remember that our Lord, on His visit to Zacchaeus, seeing how he was escaping from the bonds of that passion for ill-gotten lucre, exclaims, “This day is salvation come unto this house.” That was a great salvation--a deliverance from the thraldom of sin, by the introduction of the freedom wherewith Christ makes His people free. And there remains another appropriate use of the term. We are kept by faith unto salvation: to be redeemed and brought into that glorious state, where the white-robed ones stand--that city, in which we shall not only be saved, as we are now, but in a perfect state of salvation. That, also, is meant at times in the Scripture, when the word salvation is employed. Now, it becomes us to inquire which of these three senses are here conveyed by the words of our text. It seems to me that it comprehends all three; that is to say, all that is needed for the first liberation of man from sin; all that is needed of temporal deliverance to keep him from failing, and to enable him to persevere unto the end; and all that is comprehended in the hereafter, and not-to-be-revealed glory that remaineth for the people of God. Each of the three are great salvation, and, combined, they make the so great salvation. “How shall we escape, if we neglect this so great salvation?” Now, I think there are several things which will plainly prove that this is a great salvation.
I. First of all--as A SCHEME, a plan, to work out a Divine purpose--as a Divine scheme and plan, I maintain it is a great salvation.
1. If I examine the wisdom of the scheme--the plan of the scheme--here I come in contact with a wisdom of no finite being: it is the wisdom of the Divine Being Himself; it is infinite wisdom; the mint-mark has Heaven’s royal stamp, and the image and superscription are more than Caesar’s; they are those of the King of kings Himself. Now this wisdom is displayed in a threefold manner.
(1) First, in grappling with a difficulty in which no man can succeed. We can deal with our fellow-creatures’ bodies; we can deal with their minds; but their souls are encased as in triple steel; and whenever man has begun to touch sin, the only thing he has done has been to burn his own fingers, without putting that firebrand out of the world. Sin is everywhere, and man has never been able to cast it out. It stands, and ever will stand, till a Divine power shall come to cast it out. Now God has found out the way of accomplishing this, and He has devised a scheme which, in His hand, shall make this wide world to be covered with His glory, even as the waters cover the deep. That is one thing in which I detect the wisdom of God; He has accomplished that which has ever defied the wisdom of the wisest, and the might of the mightiest.
(2) Something further is to be noticed--God has done this with a wisdom so great, that He has foreseen all that He has purposed to do, and everything He has done, and has not left undone anything that He has purposed.
(3) Let me observe, again, that the wisdom of this scheme is something so great, that not a single wrong is done to any one. God has rest ,red the false note in the great organ of the universe, without staying its tune, or hindering the harmony of the music of the spheres; and He has done it all with a wisdom so infinite, that we must exclaim. “This is indeed a s, great salvation.”
2. But now, join that wisdom with love--think of the low, as well as the wisdom, and then you will have further heightened the thought.
II. Now, it is a great salvation, not only because of the scheme, but also because of THE AIM IN VIEW, and the objects which it purposes to perform. Christ came, not merely to save man from sin, and from Satan--not merely to save man from going down to the pit without ransom, though that would ha, e been a great salvation. Christ comes, we say, to destroy sin; but how? By bringing in a righteousness that shall far surpass the righteousness of men. He comes to destroy death; but how? By bringing life and immortality to light. He comes to destroy the works of the devil; and how? By doing the works of Him that sent Him, and the great salvation He brings in, has, for its end and aim, not merely the putting of man into the garden of Eden, where he was before the Fall but to put him in possession of life and immortality itself.
III. We exclaim again, “It is a great salvation,” from THE MEANS that have been used for the working-out of the scheme, and from the original end and aim proposed. And here I might begin at the beginning, but how can we go back to the countless ages of eternity? and time would certain, fail us, if I were to begin at the creation of the world, for it all has been but the theatre for the working-out of this great salvation. I would come down to the time of the Jews, and would see there all the wonders of the life of Abraham, and of Abraham’s descendants. All these things formed part of the working-out of the scheme, for the Jews were like the scaffolding which needed to be erected, that there might be raised, inside of it, a true and living structure, which is to abide for ever. The Jewish race, with its wondrous history, has but served as the pinnacle for the erection and for the display of the cross thereupon. But we must narrow our limits again. Let us now start from Bethlehem; and there, in the stable of a lowly inn, we see a babe; small it is, but yet great ; the Son of Mary, and the Son of the Highest. He whom even the heaven of heavens cannot contain, is there, wrapped in that veil of our inferior clay. As I look upon that deep mystery, and see there that Child of God, I see also and adore “the man my fellow”--Christ in the flesh--God incarnate. I see there a mighty deed thatstamps this salvation with a greatness of His own. I pass by all the after-wonders of His life, and come to the cloning scene, when He hangs upon the cross. I look at that bleeding man, and I exclaim, “How is it?--it is the blood of God”--for I find the Scripture saying, “The Church of God, which He has purchased with His blood.” How it is I cannot tell; but there is a Divine efficacy in the death and blood of Christ.
IV. Fourthly, let us look at these facts taken as a whole, and as LYING AT THE FOUNDATION OF OUR RELIGION. Now reason could never discover a religion; I say that reason does tell us this--it is the best religion the world ever has seen, or can see. There are three things that we must find in every religion to make it great. It must reveal a God, worthy of the highest honour ; it must give benefits to the worshippers ; and it must establish a connection between the two. If it does not reveal a God, it is worthless. If it reveals a God, but He is not worthy of the highest honour, I say it is a weak religion--away with it. Now our religion is this: “Glory to God in the highest”--glory in the scheme, glory in the working-out, glory in the end proposed. (C.H. Spurgeon.)
The great salvation
I. THE CHARACTER OF THIS SALVATION.
1. It is worthy of the character given to it, if you consider the method of its contrivance.
2. It is a great salvation in the manner of its execution. Amazing love!
3. It is a great salvation in the blessing it secures.
4. In the manner of its bestowment. It regards us as we really are, “poor and wretched”; and without insulting us in our poverty, it invites us--nay more, it commands us--to “come and take of the water of life freely.” Were the smallest good required of you in exchange for this blessing, we might then calculate on your neglecting this great salvation, on the plea that you were destitute of what you were required to give for it. But you are invited to receive it “without money and without price”
5. In the countless multitudes who shall be brought to participate in it.
II. CONSIDER ITS REFERENCE TO US.
1. It demands great attention.
2. It should be embraced with great thankfulness.
3. Its refection will be accompanied with great condemnation.
God could devise no method more safe, more honourable, more glorious for a sinner's salvation, than the method exhibited in the gospel. Grace in its richest character, mercy in its brightest form are here displayed. But the greater the grace, the richer the mercy, and the more free and generous the invitation, the greater will be the guilt of him who rejects it. (Essex Congregati
