So Great a Salvation
The Gospel of the Kingdom — Part 6
Most believers have no idea how much free stuff came with their salvation.
They got their ticket out of hell, and they stopped right there. Said thank you, set the box up on the shelf, and never unwrapped the rest of it.
The Bible has a word for that.
Hebrews 2:3 — “how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,”
Neglect. Not reject. Neglect. You can be saved and still leave most of what came with it sitting in the box.
So let’s open the box.
Jesus told us what He came to do the day He started His ministry.
Luke 4:18 — “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,”
Release. Sight. Freedom. That’s what’s in the box. And here’s the part most of us miss — none of it is performance-based. Not one item. You didn’t earn any of it, and you can’t.
First, eternal life. You don’t go to hell. We’ve covered that one. That’s the cage door opening.
Second, the seal. The second you got saved, the Holy Spirit set His seal on you.
Ephesians 1:13-14 — “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation — having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”
Sealed. That sets you apart from the kingdom of darkness. Satan no longer has any authority over you. You are sealed, and you are seated with Him in heavenly places.
Ephesians 2:6 — “and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”
Third, authority, and the use of His name.
Matthew 28:18-19 — “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,'”
All authority is His. That’s exactly why He can send you out with it, in His name.
Fourth, healing.
1 Peter 2:24 — “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
Fifth and sixth: water baptism, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Power over personal sin, and power to be a witness. Both free. Both in the box. And they matter so much that the next message is about nothing else.
Now put it all together.
John 1:12 — “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,”
The right to become. The King James says power to become. Either way, that’s what you were handed. Not the finished product. The power to become.
And understand where all of it came from. It wasn’t just Jesus on the cross. The whole Godhead gave you your salvation — Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each one putting something into that box.
Titus 3:4-6 — “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,”
All three gave. So that you could become.
And when people don’t use it — that’s sort of a travesty.
Here’s how I’d put it. Every requirement for entering the Kingdom asks something of you. But everything you inherited in your free salvation is what makes it possible to get there. The box holds everything you need for the road.
Every believer gets the box. Every one. But a believer and a Christian are two entirely different things. They both go to heaven — but only the Christian enters the kingdom.
So how will we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? Open the box.
Next time, the key that’s in it.
