Sermon Outlines

By Frederick F. Schwindt, Evangelist

HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE?

1. A question, normally, demands an answer; but here is a question to which there can be no answer:
2. The inspired question can have but one purpose to provoke us to serious thinking:
   1. When we consider our need of being saved, we will be moved to action.
   2. That was true in the experience of the prodigal son - Luke 15:17-20

1. If we neglect so great salvation:
   1. To neglect is to disregard heaven's effort to save us.
   2. The antediluvians disregarded God's message through Noah - Matt. 24:36-39; Luke 17:26-29
   3. That was true of Lot's sons-in-law when Lot appealed to them to leave Sodom - Gen. 19:14
   4. To slight, to be indifferent to, or to look upon God's invitation as unimportant - EXAMPLES -
      1. The man without a wedding garment - Matt. 22:1-12
      2. The men that had been invited to a big feast - Luke 14:16-24
2. So great salvation:
   1. The greatness of salvation is found in what it offers--it offers to save us from sin and its penalty; it offers eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord; and finally, it offers a home in the earth made new.
   2. The cost to heaven to redeem us from sin and its consequences, as well as make us fellow heirs with Christ of God's promises, is infinite.
   3. We may be able to form some idea of the cost of salvation when we compare John 3:16 with 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom. 8:31-33
   4. The scars in the hands and feet of the Son of man will be a constant reminder to the redeemed of the price heaven paid for salvation.
   5. In the way it is offered to sinners -
      1. By faith in Jesus Christ! Could God make salvation easier? EXAMPLES - (a) The answer of Peter to the jailer's question - Acts 16:30, 31; (b) the answer of the eunuch to Philip is still another illustration of God's requirements to save sinners - Acts 8:37
      2. This offer is made by One who cannot lie - Heb. 6:17, 18; Num. 23:19

1. Privileges bring responsibilities:
   1. This is made clear in Matt. 11:20-24; Jas. 4:17
   2. The damning sin, which will send people to hell will be the sin of indifference to God's infinite effort, at unspeakable cost, to save man. This fact is illustrated in several of our Lord's parables -
      1. The invitation to a great feast and the attitude of the invited guests - Luke 14:16- 24
      2. The story of the five foolish virgins - Matt. 25:1-12
2. Why this subject?
   1. No one, that we know, wants to be lost.
   2. Many have given their consent to a better life.
   3. Our greatest danger may not be outright rejection of salvation, but preoccupation and doing nothing about saving our soul.
3. We may be sure that hell will not be full of infidels; there will be plenty of people there, who believed in God and accepted the Bible as God's Word, but who simply neglected to be saved.
   1. This is proven in the teaching of Christ -
      1. His warning, as found in Matt. 7:21-26. He does not state that they were infidels, not at all.
      2. A similar illustration is found in Luke 13:25-28. All these people made a profession, yet they neglected the most important thing -- to do the will of God.
   2. Let us heed the warning of our text and we shall not be guilty of neglecting so great salvation.