Music In a day full of conflicting opinions and ideas, the Word of God stands true, and the Bible is the source for absolute truth. In these days of confusion and questions, it is so important to know what the Bible says. In today's study, let's ask the Lord to open our heart and mind as Scott Pauley leads us into Scripture to help us discover God's absolute truth. A big truth can be packed into a little word. Have you ever considered the little word, so? It's a powerful little word. It's an adjective that can be used in a myriad of different ways, but in Scripture, it is used frequently. For example, John chapter 3, verse number 16 says, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. What does that mean? He's so loved. You see, the little word, so, is a word that defies definition, really. It's an intensive word. It's a word that says to an extent or a degree that cannot be explained. It cannot be expressed. Perhaps by finite minds, it cannot even be understood. He just so loved the world. Well, today in our study, we've come to one of those so's in scripture. It's found in Hebrews chapter two and verse number three, where the Bible says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. I would submit to you that the little word so here is both a joyful word and a sobering word at the same time. We're talking about what the Bible says about salvation, and God describes it this way. His salvation is not just salvation. It's not even just great salvation. No, it is so great salvation. It is so great that you need it. It is so great that without it, you'll be separated from God forever. It is so great that you ought to rejoice when you have it, my friend. You ought to thank God that He saved you. But it's also so great that you ought to be sober about it and realize what a serious, costly thing this salvation is. We're talking today about the greatness of this salvation. And if somebody said to me, well, how great is it? I'd just have to use the Bible word and say it's so great. An infinite God uses the word so to try to relate this truth to finite man. Why is our salvation so great? Well, it's so great because of its divine author. Just this week, I've been preaching in the place where I've been ministering from the little book of Jonah, and I came to that verse just last night. Jonah chapter 2 to verse number 9, it says, is of the Lord. Can I remind you that man didn't come up with salvation. Salvation was God's idea. That apart from God, we'd all still be lost in our sin. We'd either be in hell or on our way there. But the divine author of salvation is the God of love and mercy and grace. It came to us according to the eternal purpose of God. This was not God coming up with an emergency plan. No, our sovereign God knew from the very beginning of the world, this was not an afterthought, He knew from the very beginning of the world that we were going to need a Savior. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, before the foundations of the world. Ephesians 3 verse 11 says, according to His eternal purpose. Titus 1 verse 2 says, before the world began. 1 Peter 1.20 says, before the foundation of the world. It sounds to me like God knew what He was doing from the very beginning. Don't you think that He's been writing this story of redemption? Graham Scroggie wrote a powerful book on the Bible many years ago, and he titled his book, and I love the title, The Unfolding Drama of Redemption. You see, my friend, that's really what the Bible is. It is God's redemptive story to man. Herbert Lockyer wrote this, deep and far in an intractable eternity, its foundations were laid. It's not a thing of yesterday. It will not pass away with tomorrow. The Father has endorsed it with his own everlastingness. Think of that. My salvation is rooted in the eternalness of God. He's the divine author. That makes it so great. It was also so great because of the price that was paid for it. In 1 Peter 1, we're told that we've been bought, not with corruptible things, but incorruptible. The incorruptible blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the precious blood of Christ, was what the cost of my salvation was. Don't take this lightly, friend. We should never discuss spiritual things in a flippant way. One of the things that is tragic today is the lack of reverence when people talk about God and spiritual truths. Friends, you might make a joke about some things, but never joke about Christ and about salvation. It's so great. And then it's so great because of the fact it's universally offered to every man. John chapter 3 verse number 16 still says, whosoever. First Timothy chapter 2 says that God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Don't you love that? First John 2 says that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world. Does that mean everybody's going to be saved? No. We know that some people are going to reject the truth, and some people perhaps will never even hear the truth. What a tragic loss that is. But the fact remains that Christ died for every man, God loves all people, and the Holy Spirit has come to make the free offer of salvation available to all who will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, you know what it sounds like to me? It's so great, salvation. Not only that, it's so great because of its duration. How long is it going to last? Forever. Salvation is forever. You see, the great word used in Scripture is this, eternal life. Don't you love that? Eternal life. Isaiah 45 calls it everlasting salvation. Isaiah 51 verse 6 says whatever God does, it's forever. Hebrews chapter 5 verse number 9 says that the Lord Jesus has become the author of eternal salvation. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 12 calls it eternal redemption. John chapter 3 verse number 16 says it is everlasting life. Don't you love the terms that God uses? Salvation has a beginning point. It's the moment you look to Christ in simple faith, but the beauty is it has no ending point. It is so great, salvation. It's so great because of its divine author. It's so great because of the price paid for it. It's so great because it's universally offered to every man. It's so great because it's eternal in its duration. But finally, it's so great because it came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. It's not a system. It's not a church. Salvation is in the person of Jesus Christ. If it was in something, then we might have to struggle to keep it, and there would be constant fear that we would lose it. But salvation is not in a thing. It's in Jesus. You're not hanging on to Jesus. Friend, Jesus is hanging on to you. You're being held by the hand of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 27 verse 1, the Lord is my salvation. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12, I know whom I have believed. I know whom I have believed. And I'm also persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. No wonder Hebrews chapter 2 and verse number 3 calls it so great salvation. You know, when you start studying what the Bible says about salvation, you almost, as you begin plumbing the depths and getting greater understanding, you almost start wondering, man, did I even understand enough of salvation to get saved? But may I bring you back to this simple truth today? You see, you may be wondering even now, well, I didn't understand all of this when I first called on Christ for salvation. But you may not have comprehended all that you received the day you got saved, but you got it all the moment you got the Lord Jesus Christ. In the same book of the Bible, the little book of Hebrews, the Bible talks about the things that accompany salvation. You see, on the day you got saved, you just simply took Christ as your personal Savior, but on that day, hallelujah for that day, the hymn writer said, glad day, glad day when Jesus washed my sins away. On the day you took Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you got all that comes with Jesus Christ. You've got so great salvation. In fact, you're going to spend the rest of your life coming to a deeper understanding of it. And then, if that's not enough, when you leave this world, you're going to go to be with your Savior for all of eternity. And I believe we're going to spend the rest of eternity going deeper and further and higher into an understanding of the God of love. We're just going to say for all of eternity, this is so great. That's what the Bible says about our God's salvation. Repeating what other people have said about the Bible is not enough. We must know the biblical reason behind what we believe. 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