Our Great Salvation'

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The writer of the Book of Hebrews was writing to seasoned saints. Why then did he not congratulate them on their being saved and on their way to Heaven? Why did he issue such dire warnings to people who already had received Christ as their Saviour and had been filled with the Holy Spirit?

(6/12/2005) The key to the theme of Hebrews is that of the danger of neglecting our great salvation. Since these believers already had every experience and were familiar with every doctrine that is possessed by us today, what is the great salvation that must not be ignored without severe penalties.

The answer is, we have not been called just to be forgiven and make our eternal residence in the spirit paradise. We have been called to be sons of God and brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God has put His entire creation under the feet of man, with the Lord Jesus being the Chief Man. Under Christ we are to govern the works of God’s hands.

The proper order of rulership in the universe is God the Head, Christ under God, each saint under Christ, and the created world under the feet of the saints.

The problem is, there are many creatures and things over our head instead of under our feet. We have all sorts of idols that live between Christ and us and demand our worship.

Our idol may be a relationship with an individual. Our idol may be money, Our idol may be some profession or skill. Our idol may be an artistic talent. Our idol may be pleasure, or drugs, or alcohol. Our idol may even be our ministry.

We have been commanded to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. However, in actuality we are "married" to all sorts of creatures and things.

How can we tell if we have an idol? Any person or thing that we would be unable to give up if the Lord asked for it is an idol. Any person or thing about which we are passionate, that we are grasping to ourselves, probably is an idol. A great deal of our Christian discipleship consists of God taking the idols that stand between us and Christ and placing them under our feet. As we know, this is a painful operation.

One aspect of Christian maturity consists of our yielding our desires to the Lord so He can fill us with His desires. Our desires often lead us into confusion and regret. But when God works in us to will and to do His pleasure, we are led into green pastures. We walk beside still waters. A table is set for us in the presence of our enemies.

To thus surrender the desires that motivate us, the idols that drive us, we have to believe that God is seeking our joy and has the ability to lead us into joy. None of us truly knows what is good for him. Only God knows what will bring love, joy, and peace to us. Since this indisputably is true (although Satan has challenged this truth from the beginning), the wise individual will turn over his or her desires to the Lord and cooperate with Him as He brings us into peace and joy.

If we look to Him, God will give us understanding. Wisdom is to be desired and knowledge often is helpful. But greater than either wisdom or knowledge is understanding. Understanding combines wisdom and knowledge and mixes into them compassion, sympathy, a sense of humor, an awareness of the complexity and frailties of life, and a willingness to see past the rigid rules of religion. Understanding is "salt," and it must be sprinkled on every sacrifice in order to avoid the error of the Pharisee.

When we receive Christ we gain the name of "son." We now are sons of God and must learn to follow the Spirit of God in all matters. There is no name greater than son. No angel is privileged to bear this name. Rather, the angels, as great as they indeed are, are responsible for the welfare of the sons of God, and have been given charge over them lest they stumble over the stones in their path.

Let us not stop with being saved and filled with the Spirit of God. These are the necessary orientation to the program of redemption that continues until we stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, a fully mature brother of our Lord, Jesus Christ.