FEAR NOT!

 

 

Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)

 

fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

 

Six months have passed since the start of government-imposed lockdown as part of the measure to control the spread of COVID-19 and we aren’t seeing much improvement as the number of cases continue to rise.  These past six months have placed upon each of us enormous pressure and testing and it is so easy for us to surrender to our fears and anxieties.

 

For some, we fear contracting the virus, especially when we have other health issues.  For others, they are worried about the economic impact of the lockdown on the profitability of their businesses.  Some are currently unemployed as a result of the economy slowing down and this has led to anxieties about how they’re going to survive without money to buy essentials.  This pandemic has indeed heightened our fears and anxieties to new highs.

 

However, instead of succumbing to fear, the Lord lovingly commands us, “FEAR NOT”.  Instead, He wants us to remember His PROMISE, His PERSON, and His PROVISION. 

 

PROMISE. God has promised that He will be with us.  In Deuteronomy 31, as Moses passed the mantle of leadership to Joshua, he reminded him that God would never leave or forsake him as he leads the people of Israel into the Promised Land.  Moses made sure Joshua understood God’s promise because it was repeated twice (v. 6 & v. 8).  The promise of God’s presence holds true for us today, even as we face the challenging times brought about by the pandemic.  Knowing that God has promised and that He never lies, we need not be afraid or anxious over what is happening around us.

 

PERSON.  The one making the promise is God Himself.  What this means is His promise is guaranteed 100%.  He not only has good intentions for us, He has the power, the means, and the wisdom to fulfill what He has promised.

 

PROVISION.  The promise of God’s presence is seen in His empowerment, His help, and His upholding us in our time of trouble.  He provides all these generously when we ask from Him.

 

Fellow pilgrim, are you anxious and afraid because of the pandemic and the outcome it produced?  The Lord is telling us right now, FEAR NOT.  Will you heed His command?

When Praying Seems Difficult

When Praying Seems Difficult

- Alexander Uy

Romans 8:26 – 27 (ESV)

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

    Have we ever found it hard to pray, like the words just evade you and you can't express yourself? I know this feeling. I've been through it quite a number of times especially during the seasons of life that I feel abnormally sad and listless and I wonder what is happening to me. While I read the Word regularly, it seems that they bounce right off me, having no effect whatsoever. While I try to pray, yet I am unable to pray with the right words. During these moments of being “stuck in the mud”, I sometimes wonder if God understands and knows what I am going through.

    The apostle Paul most likely felt the same way at times, yet he discovered an important truth that helped him through tough moments. In Romans 8:26 – 27, Paul wrote about the Holy Spirit helping us in our time of weakness. One way in which the Holy Spirit helps us is in the area of prayer. The Holy Spirit is interceding on our behalf and He understands even the groanings of our hearts. When we don't understand what we are going through, rest assured, the Holy Spirit knows and He is bringing us before God's throne of grace, knowing that we are in need of help. He also prays in accordance to the will of God, an assuring thought as this means His prayers on our behalf are sure to be answered as they will not go against God's will for us. And it is because the Holy Spirit is praying for us according to God's will that all things then work for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28).

    In the moments when you are weak and you don't know what you ought to be praying for, hold on to the truth that the Holy Spirit is praying on our behalf and He is helping us in our time of weakness. He is indeed our advocate, our helper!

Lord, Open My Eyes!

 

“Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. . . O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.”

2 Kings 6:16, 17 (ESV)

            The COVID-19 pandemic has struck fear in the hearts of a lot of people.  There are those who are fearful of the financial and economic repercussions that the lockdown has brought about.  For them, there seems to be no relief in sight for their financial woes.  Then there are those who are afraid of being infected by the disease for which there is no vaccine available as of the moment. 

            But even without this disease, we are prone to becoming fearful.  We fear for our present situation.  We fear about the future.  We fear for our safety.  We are anxious about the performance of our stock portfolio.  This is because our hopes have been misplaced in things that are uncertain. 

            Elisha's servant was afraid for his life when he saw the army of the King of Syria surrounding the city of Dothan.  From a numerical standpoint, he knew that Israel would be no match for the Syrians.  If Syria succeeded in conquering the city, it would signal the end of his life as well as that of his master and of all the residents of the city.  It seemed to be a dark and ominous certainty than just being a mere possibility.  Yet, we find his master, the prophet Elisha, calm and unperturbed by the presence of the Syrian army.  As it was early in the morning, Elisha may have been enjoying his breakfast while watching the massive swarm of soldiers readying themselves to attack the city and to capture him.

            Why was Elisha calm even though there was a great reason to fear?  It was because he recognized an important spiritual truth, that those who were on his side were much more than those who oppose him.  Elisha was referring to the presence of the LORD and His massive and far superior army of angelic beings.  This servant may have been unconvinced by Elisha's answer; thus, Elisha prayed that the LORD would open his eyes.  Then, the servant saw for himself that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha (2 Kings 6:17).  God was protecting Elisha as well as the city of Dothan.  There was indeed nothing to be fearful about.

            God's presence with His people during this time of crisis should ease our fears.  God has not abandoned us; He continues to be with us to comfort, to strengthen, to embolden us.  He will protect us.  We need only to trust that God is able and is willing to protect us.  We need to stop trembling in fear and to start praising the LORD for His presence and protection; choose to believe that the LORD is on the side of those who acknowledge and fear Him.  If God is for us, who can stand against us (Romans 8:31)?

Let Your Light Shine!

Matthew 5:16 (ESV)

… Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

An article entitled “Atheists in Praise of Christianity?” was published on May 19, 2020 by a website called www.stream.org. In the article, author Jonathan Van Maren wrote on how a growing number of atheists are acknowledging that Christianity was responsible for transforming the world. He cited the book of historian Tom Holland (not to be mistaken with the Spiderman actor!), Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, wherein Holland makes a historical defense of Christianity. Holland cited how Christianity changed the world for the better such as the teachings on sex and marriage, and on the elevation of the status of women as being equal with men. Holland would point out that without Christianity, the world would not have perceived the wrongfulness of social injustice.

Holland is not the sole atheist defending Christianity. Others mentioned in the article included Douglas Murray who believes that the decline of Christianity has led to the rejection of the sanctity of human life. Even the most outspoken atheist of our generation, Richard Dawkins, has admitted that Christianity has good effects on society. Psychologist Jordan Peterson wrote that without Christianity, cruelty is inevitable. While these scholars will not go so far as to say that Christianity is true, they are starting to believe that Christianity is necessary.

While the Christian faith can be defended rationally like what the late Rev. Ravi Zacharias was famously known for, what seems to speak loudest to people who are outside of the Faith are not the carefully crafted defense of the Christian faith, though they are needed. Instead, what spoke loudly and clearly to people, even to the scholastic atheists, is that the way the early Christians took their faith seriously and lived it out carefully has radically affected the world in a positive way.

Ravi Zacharias said, “We are living in a generation that listens with its eyes and thinks with its feelings. If they cannot see the gospel in you and me they will not feel the persuasion of what you and I are trying to present to them.” The truth is important, but if we don’t live out the truth, then who is going to believe our message?

It is no wonder that our Lord Jesus commanded us to let our light shine before others so that others may see our good works. It is when people see the consistency of our life with our words that they will be attracted to the Christian faith. It is when we faithfully obey God’s Word, as seen in our actions and in how we treat others, that people will then give us a fair hearing as to what we have to say regarding our Lord Jesus.

Do people know that you are a Christ-follower when they see how you live your life? How you treat others well? Are your words truthful yet loving? Do they know that you stand for the truth and for justice even in small ways? Our faithfulness to Christ as seen in our way of living speaks loudly; even atheists and agnostics are paying attention. Live for Jesus every day. Do good to others. Then declare why you live in such a manner – that it is all about Jesus.

(for those interested in the article, this is the link: https://stream.org/atheists-in-praise-of-christianity/)

GGC Ministry Center on full-blast!

 Basement Parking

 Basement Parking

 View of the upper ground floor from Mangga Avenue

 Elevator Shaft

 Elevator Shaft and stairs

 Fire Exit

 Entrance leading to the Ministry Center

 Ramp leading to and from basement parking

Lower Ground Floor parking

The Right Man for the Job (Hebrews 2:5 - 18)

The Right Man for the Job

(Hebrews 2:5 – 18)

Introduction:

One of the biggest headaches a homeowner usually faces is the problem of termite infestation. We've encountered the same problem also in our home, not just once, but probably around 3 to 4 times already. Termites are very destructive. They consume things like wood, fabric or cloth, and paper products. When we had an infestation a few years back, we discovered it by accident when we were moving some stuff in one of our rooms when I noticed that a carton box was disintegrating and there we saw some termites eating the carton.

So, what should we do with these termites? Definitely, we shouldn't ignore them like nothing's wrong. If we choose to ignore them, it won't take long before every inch of wood in your house will be consumed and you'll be left with a house that will collapse at anytime. The other thing some people do is to attack the termites by spraying them with insecticide. Now, the termites that get sprayed will definitely die, but the termites that are hiding inside will sense the danger and will go elsewhere within the house to feed and destroy. So, it isn't wise to attack the termites by yourself. The best solution is actually to call up the pest control company and pay them to do the work. You see, the people who work in reputable pest control companies don't just go around spraying pesticide, they actually understand the behavior of common household pests such as the termite, and with that knowledge they know how to control infestation by using different kinds of chemical pesticides or by using baiting systems that will slowly poison the entire colony. We could say that the pest control people are the “right man for the job” when it comes to pest control.

Its not only in the issue of pest control that we look for the right man for the job. If we want to build a house, we look for people like architects and building contractors as well as licensed plumbers and electricians. If we are sick, we go to the doctor. If our tooth aches, we visit the dentist. If we want our garden to look really green and flourishing, we call a gardener to tend the garden. We all want the best person for the job we need done. I don't think you would want to entrust the building of your house to a dentist. You wouldn't want the doctor to be doing the electrical circuits in your house. You surely wouldn't think that the gardener would be capable of drawing an elaborate design of a house or perform root canal on your tooth. We all go to the person who is well-trained and who specializes in certain fields for our needs.

This morning, we continue to look into the Book of Hebrews, in particular, Hebrews 2:5 – 18. In this section of Scripture, we will understand why Jesus is the right man for the job. What exactly am I talking about? I am talking about Jesus Christ being the right man to be our Savior, our Great High Priest, and as our Restorer.

This morning's message is an important one because we are looking into and affirming the importance of Christ's humanity. You see, the humanity of Jesus Christ is crucial in at least three areas – our salvation, the restoration of our human dignity, and his being able to understand and empathize with us as our high priest. In our day and age, many people deny that Jesus is God. They think of him merely as a human being. The deity of Jesus is important because, according to Scripture, he is the creator and sustainer of the universe as well as the judge of all humanity. If Jesus were not God ,he cannot fulfill these roles since he would merely be a created being. During the time of Jesus, many did not believe in the deity of Jesus, because this was a blasphemous idea, especially for the Jews. However, some time after the resurrection and ascension, a group of so-called believers denied the humanity of Jesus. For them, to be human is to be sinful. They speculated that the supposed human life and death of Jesus was nothing more than a fantasy (sort of like the movie “Inception”).

However, the author of Hebrews makes clear that the humanity of Jesus Christ is very important. As I've mentioned a moment ago, Jesus is the right man to be our Savior, our Great High Priest, and our Restorer. We will use this as our outline and I will explain why I call him the right man for the job.

Jesus: The Right Man To Be Our Savior

First of all, Jesus Christ is the right man to be our Savior. According to Hebrews 2:10, he is described by the title “author of their salvation”. What this title means for the translators of the NIV is that Jesus Christ is the one who created and designed our salvation. In other translations of the Bible, the phrase from the original language is translated differently. In the latest revision of the NIV, the phrase was translated as the “pioneer of their salvation”, meaning, he is the pattern of the new life we are to trust and to follow. In the King James Version, He is called the “captain of their salvation”, meaning, he is the one who gives the orders and steers our life in the right direction. The various versions of the Bible have different takes on how they understood the phrase, but what is clear is this: Jesus created and designed our salvation. He patterned the new life for us to trust Him and to follow Him. He is the one who steers us in the right direction we are to take in order to be saved.

In describing Jesus as the author of our salvation, we read that he tasted death for everyone (v. 9). What this means is that Jesus took our place, bearing the penalty of sin upon himself and dying for us. He did this in order to destroy the enemy (v. 14) who holds sway over people with the power of death and to free us from the fear of death (v. 15). Satan is the one who induces people to choose sin and to fall under the penalty of death. He uses this power over us. When Jesus took our place, he gave fallen people like you and I the power to overcome death by first taking the penalty of sin upon himself, and then by defying death through resurrection. I don't know if you remember something Jesus said in Mark 3:23 – 29. Jesus here said that no one can enter the house of a strong man and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. In other words, there has to be someone stronger who can defeat the strong man. Jesus is the stronger one who has defeated the strong man who has held all of us hostage because of sin. All this is possible because Jesus came as a human being. At the same time, his being God ensured that he was sinless. Being a sinless human being meant that He would be the perfect or the right sacrifice for us. Hence, he was the right man for the job of saving us.

If Jesus were not a human being. How can he complete work of salvation? How can he be the perfect substitute for us on the cross? You see, for the Lord Jesus to be our Savior, he has to be a human being. If he were not a human being, he could never die. If he couldn't die, he couldn't take our place on the cross and defeat Satan. That is why Jesus is the right man for the job of salvation. He came as the perfect sacrifice who can take our place.

Jesus: The Right Man To Be Our Restorer

Secondly, Jesus is our restorer. Now, when I say “restorer”, I am referring to Him as being the restorer of our humanity. When God created the human race, his intention was for them to have dominion over the earth and to have fellowship with Him. Humanity was the apex of God's creation order and we were meant to reflect God's glory. Sadly, Adam and Eve, the first human beings on earth, sinned against God by disobeying Him. This marred the entire human race as all who were born afterwards were marred by sin and by the propensity to sin. We all fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23) and we all are separated from God because of our sins. Man was originally given a high position, just a little less than the angels, yet close to God's heart. Sin brought man down from his high position, from one who was intended to shine God's glory to one who insulted and mocked God. Instead of possessing a high position in God's kingdom, we became slaves to sin and slaves to the power of death. Instead of being a part of God's family, we have become part of the kingdom of evil.

Aside from our salvation, Jesus came in order to restore that which was lost, namely the high position of man as well as the original purpose of God for creating man. If you are familiar with the quotation mentioned in our passage, it is actually Psalm 8. This Psalm is used when talking about the high stature of man in God's order of Creation. The author of Hebrews used Psalm 8 not to talk about man in general but to refer to Jesus Christ himself, as the man who fulfilled God's original purpose for humanity of bringing glory to God.

Where Adam and Eve failed utterly, Jesus triumphed completely. When Adam and Eve were tempted, they were tempted in three areas – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. They thought of the forbidden fruit as being good for food (the lust of the flesh); they perceived of the fruit as being pleasant to their eyes (the lust of the eyes); and they desired for the knowledge of good and evil so that they can be like God (the pride of life). Yielding to the temptation, Adam and Eve ate the fruit and they fell into sin. Jesus, on the other hand, was presented with three different temptations but all three fall into the three areas of temptation. Satan suggested that Jesus turn the stone into bread in order to ease his hunger (the lust of the flesh), that he jump from the pinnacle of the temple so that the angels can rescue him and prove to all that he is the Son of God (the pride of life), and that he bow down to him in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world which he showed to the Lord (the lust of the eyes). Jesus did not yield to the temptations of Satan but he battled Satan with God's Word and came out victorious. I am sure this was not the only episode in Jesus' life where he was tempted, but the important thing was that he triumphed over them all. In so doing, he was bringing glory to God as a human being, the original purpose that human beings were created for. Furthermore, according to some Bible scholars, he was representing humanity in those moments of temptation in order to restore back to humanity that which was lost – our high position before God and our original purpose of bringing God glory.

If Jesus Christ did not come at all in the flesh, there is no restoration work that can be done for humanity. We can never be brought back to God's original purpose as to why he created us. We would be forever be under the subjection of Satan. Thank God that Jesus came in human form in order to be our restorer! Thank God that He was the right man for the job.

Jesus: The Right Man To Be Our Great High Priest

Finally, Jesus is our Great High Priest. We find mention of this position in verse 17, where Jesus is described as our merciful and faithful high priest. For the Jewish believers, this was a familiar picture. They had been taught about the sacrificial system as recorded in Leviticus. They had visited Jerusalem and the temple during holy days. They probably even know someone who was a priest or even the high priest. The position of high priest during the time of the temple was a significant one. It was a great responsibility as the high priest was the only person who could enter into the Holy of Holies inside the temple once a year in order to offer the atonement sacrifice to God. The High Priest was the representative of the people when it came to approaching God. They were sort of the middleman between God and the people doing the work of intercession and offering the sacrifices that were intended to please the Lord.

The problem though was that the high priest in the Jewish faith was just a human being who had the same problem with sin as everyone else had. Before he could even offer sacrifices on behalf of the people, he had to offer a sacrifice for himself, for the cleansing of his own sins (see Hebrews 7:27). The sacrifices he offered were not effective as he had to keep doing this over and over again. The high priest was just as much a sinner as the other person. He could not claim to be holier than others for in the sight of God he was just as much a sinner. If the people were weak spiritually, the high priest was very much just like them. Furthermore, he was also under the same penalty of sin as everyone was.

The author of Hebrews declared that Jesus Christ is our great high priest. His being the great high priest is linked with his humanity. Look at verse 17. It said that he was made like his brothers (to become a human being) in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Jesus needed to become a human being so that he could empathize and understand what we are going through. Not only that, by being human and going through temptations and triumphing over them, he is able to help us when we are tempted. By being human, he could represent humanity before God. By being God, he was holy, blameless and pure (Hebrews 7:26). What a combination!

One important thing regarding Jesus as our high priest is that he is our permanent high priest since he lives forever and because he presented the ultimate sacrifice of himself, he is able to save completely all who come to him in faith.

If Jesus did not come in the flesh, he could never be our great high priest, for he would not have been able to offer the ultimate sacrifice that would save us completely. He would not be able to truly empathize with us and to understand what we're going through. He would not have been able to set the pattern of the victorious Christian life if he had not faced temptation personally and triumphed over them.

Conclusion – What does it mean for me?

We've learned that Jesus Christ was the right man for the job. He was the right man for the role of Savior, Restorer and High Priest. You may be asking, “What does it mean for me? What are the practical implications?

First, as the right man to be our Savior, anyone here this morning who has doubts about Jesus and his offer of salvation should reconsider their position. Jesus' death on the cross ensures that the power Satan wields over us can be broken if we trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior. So, will you put your faith in Him, believing that he has already done everything needed to give us salvation? I hope you will receive Him into your life as your Lord and Savior. If you need to talk with any of our pastors and church leaders about Jesus and his offer of salvation, feel free to do so.

Second, because Jesus is our restorer by winning back the dignity of humanity and by fulfilling the original purpose of man in glorifying God, we can look to his pattern of life as recorded in the Gospels and use it to guide our life so that we too can live according to God's original purpose for us – to glorify Him. Let it be our lifelong pursuit – to follow in the steps of Jesus. I encourage you all to take time to read and meditate on the Gospels and learn from the pattern and teaching of Jesus and put them into practice everyday.

Finally, because Jesus is our merciful and faithful high priest who understands us and who has gone through everything we experience in life and has come out of it victorious, we can confidently approach him through prayer and pour out to him what is in our hearts . We need not fear rejection from him for he welcomes us and he wants for us to tell him everything that's in our hearts, and he knows how to answer us correctly.

Jesus is the right man for the job. Do you believe and trust Him? Will you follow his pattern of life? Do you have confidence in his guidance and answers for you? I hope we all can say “yes” with confidence to all three questions.

Don't Take It For Granted

Don't Take It For Granted

Hebrews 2:1-4

Introduction:

Do we ever take things or people for granted? I guess we're all guilty of this. It seems that we don't know how to appreciate what we have in our hands or who we have beside us. When we wake up in the morning and we see breakfast already prepared on the table, are we grateful that God gave us the food and that there are people who took the effort to prepare the food for us, or do we look at the food and complain that you don't like it so much, taking for granted that you are tremendously blessed to have food on the table everyday and for at least three times a day, when someone out there struggles to even have one meal a day? When we turn on our computers to use the internet, are we thankful that we have such a powerful technology which we can use to enhance our work and communication, or do we think nothing of it, forgetting that some twenty years ago, there was no such thing as internet connections to talk about? What about the people whom we say we love? We work hard and late into the night, coming home when everyone is already asleep and you say to yourself, “I'm doing this for my family”, but you take for granted that your children misses you, your wife misses you. You see, we take a lot of things in life for granted. This stems from a lack of gratitude or from a misguided priority.

We do take things as well as people for granted. We neglect the fact that we are tremendously blessed or that we have much more than what our parents had. We neglect the fact that life is more convenient nowadays compared to before. We neglect those we love because we think they don't mind our behavior and actions. Yes, we all have at one time or another taken things and people for granted.

This morning, we continue our study on the Book of Hebrews and this morning's passage, Hebrews 2:1 – 4 is all about never taking something and someone important for granted. What and who exactly are we talking about?

Our passage this morning is actually one of five warnings the author wanted the readers to heed. You see, the believers whom the author was writing to were feeling the pressure to give up their faith and return back to Judaism; thus, he had to warn them not to allow the pressure to overwhelm them. In giving his warning, he gives his rationale why they should not turn their backs on Christ.

In our passage, the warning given is that they should not drift away, and that they should pay careful attention to what they have heard. What exactly was the message that they have heard? The answer is in verse 3 where the author talks about salvation. The believers were probably in danger of ignoring God's gift of salvation. By ignoring our salvation, it is but natural that the next thing to happen is that one will drift away.

The phrase “drift away” gives us the picture of a boat whose anchor has not been lowered or poorly hooked, such that the boat is pushed by the waves to places which are dangerous such as rocks or sandbars. When one neglects God's gift of salvation, he is in effect like a boat without an anchor. Now, when we talk about God's gift of salvation, we're not just talking solely about what God does, namely his justifying work, but we're also talking about the person responsible for our salvation – Jesus Christ. In other words, if we take the Lord Jesus Christ for granted, the source of our salvation, we will bring about a lot of dangers on ourselves, dangers that will harm us spiritually. There are three ways in which we neglect the Lord and his work of salvation. There are also three dangers that will come upon us when we neglect our salvation.

Now, I do not believe that a true believer will ever lose his or her salvation, and there are Scripture passages that will prove this. But true believers can drift away from the Lord if they don't secure their anchors properly. The author pointed out that God's salvation is a great one. The question we must answer then is “how is it a great one?” I believe there are at least three reasons as to why our salvation is a great one.

So, this morning, we will be answering three questions. I would like to first answer the question, “How great is our salvation?” The second question will be, “How do we neglect this salvation?”. The final question will be, “What is the price of neglect?”

How Great is Our Salvation?

So, how great is our salvation? There are three reasons as to why our salvation is a great one.

(1) The Scope of Salvation

The first reason why our salvation is great is because of the scope of our salvation. People often have the wrong notion that salvation is simply all about the forgiveness of our sins and the ticket to heaven. While it is true that when a person repents of his sins and receive Christ as Lord, his sins will be forgiven and he will be made right with God, that it just the first part of salvation, which is called justification. However, we need to realize that salvation doesn't end with our being justified. Salvation continues on in the process called sanctification. Sanctification in simpler terms means we become more like Jesus Christ in holiness. In sanctification, we are being redeemed from the world and being changed more and more into the image of Jesus Christ. Everyday, as we faithfully follow Jesus Christ, we will see ourselves being saved by the Lord from worldliness and sin, from conforming to the ways of the world to living a transformed life. Finally, there is glorification, the process where we receive our new, incorruptible and perfect bodies, thus a salvation of our physical bodies. Although I do not have the time to elaborate on the entire scope of salvation, we can see that the Lord is not yet finished with us. We may have received Jesus Christ as Lord, but that is not the end. That is just the beginning of the process of complete salvation.

(2) The Person Responsible for Salvation

The second reason why our salvation is great is because of the person who made salvation possible. It was none other than the Lord Jesus who, through his life, death and resurrection, made possible for us to be saved. God did not send just anyone to save us; he sent his own son. The task was not given to the angels or to righteous men and women whose names are recorded in the Bible. The angels could not die for us for they are spiritual beings. Righteous men and women cannot die for us because they, too, are not perfectly sinless. Thus, God sent his perfect Son to become perfect man. Our salvation is great because Jesus is the source of our salvation.

(3) The Price of Salvation

Finally, our salvation is great because of the price that had to be paid in order for us to have this salvation. Jesus did not just live a holy life here on earth for us to have a pattern for living; he died on the cross in order that his blood would wash away our sins. That is the extent of God's love – he sent the very best in order to save unworthy people like you and I. This is why we say that our salvation is a great one. It is because God paid a very high price – his own son. If you were given the opportunity to completely save a person from his life-threatening illness but the price will be the life of your son, would you do it? God did just that. He gave up his son in order to save us.

How Do We Take Salvation for Granted?

The second question we will tackle is “How do we take salvation for granted?” There are three ways in which we take salvation for granted.

(1) When We Choose to Sin

Pay attention to the phrase “every violation” in verse 2. In other translations, the word used is “transgression”. Transgression means a violation of the law or an overstepping of a set boundary. The idea behind the word is that we made a conscious choice to sin against God and against others. It is something that we have deliberated in our minds to do and we carry it out. Now, when we choose to sin against God, it is to take salvation for granted because we are refusing to turn away from evil. Salvation is not just about going to heaven, its also about turning away from our sins and turning towards God. So, if we choose to sin and to keep on sinning, we are in effect taking for granted that Jesus paid a very high price just to save us from our sins. Furthermore, to continue sinning against God is to treat with contempt the blood of Jesus (see Hebrews 10:29).

(2) When We Refuse to Obey Him

Choosing to sin is what I would call as the sin of commission. Refusing to obey Him, on the other hand, is the sin of omission. In verse 2, the word used is disobedience. We do not do what God wants for us to do. He wants us to go this way, we want to go that way. He wants us to do this, we want to do that. When we refuse to obey Him, we are actually treating his salvation lightly because when Jesus died on the cross, it was in order to purchase us from the grip of sin and to make us his children. In 1 Corinthians 6:20, we are told that we have been bought with a price, therefore we are to honor God with our bodies. By refusing to obey Him, we are denying his rightful ownership over us. By denying that ownership, we are insulting his act of salvation.

(3) When We Fail to Be Grateful

We can also take God's salvation for granted by failing to be grateful. By this, I am not just referring to our verbal expression of gratitude. I am also referring to three things. First, we fail to be grateful to God when we still long for the old life. True, we may not commit sins of commission and omission, but we sometimes may sigh and say to ourselves, “How I wish I were not a Christian.”. By saying that, we are declaring that we don't appreciate being God's child. Second, we fail to be grateful when we are ashamed of being his follower. We don't want people to know that we are believers and we hide our identity. We don't talk about our faith openly to people because we don't want to be called “Jesus freaks”. However, by failing to identify ourselves as followers of Christ, we are actually being ungrateful. To the single ladies here, would you want to say “yes” to a guy who courts you but tells you beforehand that he doesn't want to let others know that you're his girlfriend if you should say “yes” to him? Of course not! You want him to acknowledge you publicly. The same is true with Christ. We believe and trust Him, thus we should also be willing to publicly acknowledge Him before others. The third is, we don't cherish our relationship with Him. If we are truly grateful to someone, we want to spend time with that person. We value that relationship. If we are truly grateful to Jesus Christ for the salvation He has given to us, we will want to spend time with him in prayer and in reading the Word. If we are always in a hurry in our lives and we don't take time to meet with Him, we are being ungrateful by not valuing our relationship with Him.

What Will Be The Price of Our Neglect?

We come to the third and final question that needs to be answered. It is the question, “What will be the price of our neglect?” Again, let me reiterate that a person who is genuinely saved will not lose his salvation. However, he can go through a period of his life where he neglects his faith and suffers because of that neglect. When a person continues in sin, when he disobeys God and when he fails to be grateful, the following will happen:

(1) His Spiritual Life Will Be An Empty One

The person who neglects his salvation will be running on empty soon. You can compare your spiritual life to a car. A car needs gas to run. If your fuel meter hits “E” or the warning light goes on, you know you're supposed to fill up on gas. I am not of the habit of letting my car's gas tank hit “E”. I usually gas up when there's still around ¼ gas left. In the spiritual realm, your “gas tank” needs to be filled everyday. When you neglect your faith, what happens is that your tank gets empty. You will find yourself becoming fruitless and frustrated. You will find that you're not growing in faith. God seems distant to you (actually, you were the one responsible for growing distant from God).

(2) He Does Not Have the Joy of the Lord in Him

When we neglect our salvation, we will find that there is no joy in life. We will simply go through life existing but not really living. We will find that the things we do feels like drudgery. Remember the Fruit of the Spirit? One of the characteristics of a spirit-filled person is that his life will have joy. The person who neglects his salvation will lose his sense of joy. Remember David in Psalm 51? His prayer was that God would restore the joy of salvation to him after he had confessed his sins. You see, when David persisted in sin and strayed from God, he lost his joy. Likewise, if we stray from the Lord, we will find ourselves listless, without a trace of real joy in us.

(3) He Will Be Spiritually Stunted

Finally, when we neglect our salvation, we will be spiritually stunted. In other words, there is no growth whatsoever in us. When we are not growing, but declining instead in our spiritual life, this will not bring pleasure to God. What it brings is sadness to Him. Who among you parents, upon seeing how cute your baby is, would ever wish that they would stay that way forever? Of course, none of us would ever make such a wish. Yet, that is how we are before God when we neglect our salvation. We stop growing. It's like someone who's 20 years old already but whose body is still that of a 5-year old. God desires that we grow spiritually. If we are already believers for 20 years, our maturity should match the years. Unfortunately, many believers are spiritually stunted. It is because they have taken their faith for granted. After more than 20 years of being a Christian, they still don't know how to pray and they don't even pick up their Bibles to read it. This results in a believer being spiritually stunted.

Conclusion:

Don't take your salvation for granted. That is the warning given by the author of Hebrews. We've looked at the scope of our salvation, as to why it is great. We've learned of how we can take our salvation for granted. Finally, we know the consequences of taking salvation for granted.

Salvation is a free gift. It is also a gift once given to us, will always be ours. However, it is never to be taken for granted, nor should it be neglected and abused. Have you and I been abusing God's grace by taking his gift of salvation for granted? If we are truly saved, we should not neglect God's grace. May the Lord help us all to cherish our salvation dearly.