(upbeat music) - Well, on Monday, we started the week by looking at the cross. It's always a great way to start the week, right? By looking at the cross. And we saw there that the manner of Christ's death was fitting. It was fitting. In that episode in APJ 1816, Pastor John told us to underline and draw a big red circle around that word fitting in Hebrews 2.10, where it says, "For it was fitting that he for whom "and by whom all things exist "in bringing many sons to glory "should make the founder of their salvation perfect "through suffering." The fittingness of Christ's public humiliation on the cross is a profound point worthy of much study and hours of meditation, Pastor John said to us last time, because, quote, "God's eternal decision "to achieve our salvation through the sufferings of Christ "is not arbitrary or whimsical or meaningless, "but is owing to a profound fitness and suitableness," end quote.

And this fittingness of the cross calls for intense focus from us. And we focus on the cross to resist drifting away from the gospel. That's a major theme in the book of Hebrews. And I wanted to connect Monday's episode with today's sermon clip. And we do that with Hebrews 2.10.

Here's Pastor John preaching on this text in 1996, talking about gospel drift and how to avoid it. Here he is. - Now, the reason I call him a forerunner, or in your bullet, I call him a captain, that's what one of the versions say, is because of the phrase in verse 10, leading many sons to glory.

Let's read verse 10. For it was fitting for him, God the Father, for whom and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory. That's what he was doing in sending Jesus, to suffer, die, and be glorified. He was leading, bringing many sons to glory. It was fitting in doing that to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.

Now, there are a lot of important things in that verse. That verse could keep us for months. What an amazing, rich verse, verse 10 is. But what I wanna focus on right away is this phrase, God is bringing many sons to glory. The reason that's important is because it connects way back up with verse seven, where he quotes Psalm 8 to say that the destiny of human beings is glory, honor, dominion over the creation under God alongside Jesus Christ.

That's your destiny. That's your goal. Now, we don't yet see that, the case. Human beings suffer, they die. But what we do see is Jesus made a human for a little while, breaking into death, out of death, seated on a glorious throne where we will one day join him unspeakably, according to Revelation 3, on his throne.

And in doing that, what is he doing? Verse 10, he is leading or bringing many sons with him to glory. So the reason the son assumed human flesh is so that Psalm 8, which seemed to be aborting, would be fulfilled in the first man out of the grave and he would bring others with him.

That's the flow. That's what's going on here. This is our great salvation. When he says in verse three, beware lest you neglect your great salvation, this is what he has in mind. This great coming of the son into humanity, breaking through death, going into the Father's presence, being crowned with glory and honor, and bringing with him many sons and daughters to glory so that Psalm 8 will have a fulfillment.

It will be fulfilled. It is a great salvation for several reasons. We've seen them. It's great because there's a great destiny. There will be no more cancer. There will be no more paralysis. There will be no more blindness. There will be no more arthritis. There will be no more heart disease.

There will be no more depression. There will be no more violence or conflict anymore for the former things will have passed away. Psalm 8 will be fulfilled. The glory that Jesus now enjoys at his Father's right hand will become our glory as well, and there will be a new heavens and a new earth, and Psalm 8 will be true as you and I vice versa.

Christ, regents, as it were, rule the universe alongside our older brother, Jesus Christ. That's coming. That is our great salvation, and it's a great salvation, secondly, not just because of our goal, our destiny, but because of our Savior. He is a great Savior. His glory is our ultimate destiny.

We share in the glory that he has won by his death and resurrection, and he was the Son of God coming to rescue us. No mere human could have done what Jesus Christ did, so our salvation is great because he's a forerunner, God, and his goal is the glory of God.

Therefore, verse 3, therefore, we're always coming back to the therefores. Don't neglect this great salvation. Don't neglect it. One of the great reasons for weakness in the American evangelical mainline churches is neglect of the greatness of our salvation. Ask yourself, how much mental energy do you expend to occupy yourself with the greatness of your salvation?

Compared to the energy you expend on, say, your finances or housing or job, there is a colossal neglect of the greatness of our salvation in the church, not to mention outside the church. Well, what would be the opposite of neglect? Let me list off for you answers from the book of Hebrews.

In chapter 2, verse 1, it is paying close attention to what we've heard. In chapter 3, verse 1, it is consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of your confession. In chapter 3, verse 12, it is take care lest there should be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, but exhort one another every day.

In chapter 4, verse 16, it is drawing near to the throne of grace to get help from Jesus. In chapter 10, verse 23, it is holding fast our confession without wavering. In chapter 12, verse 1, it is running the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our salvation.

And in chapter 12, verse 25, it is not refusing him who speaks from heaven. Not neglecting is the mental, spiritual, emotional engagement with God to behold, to taste, to see, to embrace him in his greatness and all that he wrought for us. To ponder it, to think on it and not neglect it.

My dad and I were coin collectors when I was growing up. There was a series, a sequence of years. I can't remember the exact age. We were coin collectors. I wonder how many have ever been coin collectors. I haven't looked at the books for a long time, but there used to be these fold open blue books, little holes, dates, place of minting, push the coin in.

If you get a book full, you got a big deal. Hundreds of dollars it's probably worth. So my dad is a traveling evangelist. He'd go away and he'd talk to coin collectors and he'd save all his coins and he'd bring them home and he and I would sit down together and look at them.

And we'd look them up in the book and see, is this good, excellent, or is this fair? And we'd push them in the book and we'd try to finish books. And then something happened. I cannot tell you what happened. We just started to not do it. And there were a few spurts in the years after that of interest and we'd go down in the bottom shelf where it has a little door and we'd push the door and there they were.

We'd pull one out and do it a little bit and put it back and longer months would pass. And today, I don't have a clue where those books are and they're worth thousands of dollars. And that's the way many people experience the Christian faith. There's this spurt, there's this engagement, there's this flowering of apparent zeal and interest.

And then weeks pass and no prayer, no meditation on the Word. It's easy to skip worship. The late home really needs some attention and there's good fellowship there and the glory of God is proclaimed in the sunshine. And little by little, you wake up one day and it's over, it's over.

It's not only neglected, it's forgotten and you're cold and there may be no return according to Hebrews 12, maybe. And that's what this book is written to help not happen. That's the point of the book of Hebrews. Don't neglect it, don't neglect it. It is a great salvation. It's 10,000 times more great than dozens of full blue coin books but this salvation is worth 10,000 times more than that.

And this author is pleading with us, don't neglect a great salvation. He writes this book to model for us and to help us copy him in meditating on the greatness of salvation. If you say, what is the book of Hebrews? The book of Hebrews is one extended effort not to neglect the greatness of salvation.

It is one long meditation on the magnificence of Jesus Christ and what he has wrought through his death and resurrection for you and me. So if you wanna know how do you not neglect your great salvation, let the book of Hebrews model for you how not to neglect your great salvation.

That's what he's doing here. - So good, that coin collecting story. I'd never heard that before. It's a good one, motivating one to warn us against the dangers of gospel drift. This clip was taken from a sermon on Hebrews chapter two titled, "Our Captain Made Perfect Through Sufferings" preached on June 2, 1996.

If you have a sermon clip to share, email me. Give me your name, hometown, the sermon title, the timestamp of where the clip happens in the audio. Make a note of what stands out to you. Put the word clip in the subject line of an email and send it to me at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.

That's an email address, askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org. Well, what if the Bible warns us not to become overly righteous, overly righteous? Is that what the Bible says, to avoid being too righteous? Yes, it does. Right there in Ecclesiastes 7.16. You can look it up for yourself, no joke. Don't be too righteous.

So what on earth does that mean? It's a great Bible question and as of next time, I'm your host Tony Renke. We are rejoined in studio with Pastor John on Friday. We'll see you then. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)