Jonathan Romero's sermon, "God's Sovereign Gospel," delves into the importance of paying close attention to the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, as presented in Hebrews 2:1-4. Romero emphasizes the danger of neglecting this great salvation and the necessity of guarding the gospel in our hearts.
Key Points:
God’s Sovereignty: Romero begins by marveling at God's sovereignty and His intervention throughout history, particularly highlighting the promise of redemption made in Genesis 3:15 and fulfilled through Jesus Christ.
Importance of the Gospel: The sermon stresses the critical importance of the gospel message, urging believers to receive it with joy, believe in it, and guard it diligently. Hebrews 2:1 warns against drifting away from this truth.
Christ's Supremacy: Romero elaborates on Hebrews 1 to explain the supremacy of Christ, who is the creator, sustainer, and the exact representation of God's nature. Christ's purification of sins and His position as King highlight His importance.
Danger of Neglecting Salvation: There is a grave danger in neglecting the salvation offered through Christ. Disregarding the gospel message leads to spiritual peril, far worse than any earthly trial.
Assurance of Salvation: True believers are secure in their salvation because it depends on Christ’s hold on them, not their own strength. Trials are seen as a means to strengthen genuine faith.
Call to Action: Romero calls on listeners to examine their faith, urging those who are unsure to seek forgiveness and turn to Christ. He underscores the urgency of this call, reminding that salvation is found only in Jesus.
Enduring Faith: Believers are encouraged to keep trusting in Christ, who suffered and died to save them. The message of salvation, affirmed through signs, wonders, and the Holy Spirit, should be treasured and remembered.
Conclusion: Romero concludes with a prayer, thanking God for the gift of salvation and asking for strength to hold fast to the gospel. He prays for growth in faith and understanding, acknowledging dependence on God for spiritual endurance.
Jonathan Romero's sermon, "God's Sovereign Gospel," delves into the importance of paying close attention to the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, as presented in Hebrews 2:1-4. Romero emphasizes the danger of neglecting this great salvation and the necessity of guarding the gospel in our hearts.
Key Points:
God’s Sovereignty: Romero begins by marveling at God's sovereignty and His intervention throughout history, particularly highlighting the promise of redemption made in Genesis 3:15 and fulfilled through Jesus Christ.
Importance of the Gospel: The sermon stresses the critical importance of the gospel message, urging believers to receive it with joy, believe in it, and guard it diligently. Hebrews 2:1 warns against drifting away from this truth.
Christ's Supremacy: Romero elaborates on Hebrews 1 to explain the supremacy of Christ, who is the creator, sustainer, and the exact representation of God's nature. Christ's purification of sins and His position as King highlight His importance.
Danger of Neglecting Salvation: There is a grave danger in neglecting the salvation offered through Christ. Disregarding the gospel message leads to spiritual peril, far worse than any earthly trial.
Assurance of Salvation: True believers are secure in their salvation because it depends on Christ’s hold on them, not their own strength. Trials are seen as a means to strengthen genuine faith.
Call to Action: Romero calls on listeners to examine their faith, urging those who are unsure to seek forgiveness and turn to Christ. He underscores the urgency of this call, reminding that salvation is found only in Jesus.
Enduring Faith: Believers are encouraged to keep trusting in Christ, who suffered and died to save them. The message of salvation, affirmed through signs, wonders, and the Holy Spirit, should be treasured and remembered.
Conclusion: Romero concludes with a prayer, thanking God for the gift of salvation and asking for strength to hold fast to the gospel. He prays for growth in faith and understanding, acknowledging dependence on God for spiritual endurance.
Hebrews chapter 2 verses 1 through 4 and the word of the Lord says this therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it for since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? it was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. It's amazing to think that think about God's sovereignty. If you ever sit down and ponder on God and who He is as far as His character goes that alone will be enough to make you stop and worship Him right then and there. Think about all the things that God has done from the beginning of time. We can read through Genesis and see God's intervention with Adam and Eve when they fell in a garden. God made a promise that would later be revealed and fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Genesis we find the first glimpse of God's promise. He says I will put enmity between you and a woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel. That's Genesis 3 15. What an amazing statement to make as a curse to the serpent who tricked Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit that God told them not to. This is what the Lord said the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. That's Genesis 2 17. They received a command from God. They disobeyed that command from God. So the just punishment for them would be death because God said so. But God also demonstrated His mercy but not dropping them there where they were but instead we read of the first steps of redemption. They spiritually fell from the Lord's favorable gaze but granted salvation through what we would later understand in what is meant behind a serpent's head being crushed or bruised as it says. If God has the power to bring about justice and fulfill it why would we want to forget God's mercy through His justice? You see we as descendants of Adam and Eve partook in that fall since Adam was our representative. We do not deserve another day of life yet the Lord in His mercy grants us another day to ponder God's truth and worship Him in all that we do or at least we ought to. What I want from us is to take our gaze off of ourselves off of our work off from our neighbor and have you look to the Lord in His beauty. How majestic is our Lord. Let's look at Hebrews chapter 2 and see what the Lord has in store for us tonight. What God wants us to see first in verses 1-2 is that God wants us to be reminded of the importance of guarding His good news the gospel in our hearts. There is a warning in not doing so and it's very simple. We are to receive the gospel with joy but more than that we must believe it and guard it. Look at what verse 1 says, "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away." We must go back to Hebrews 1 to know the purpose of chapter 2. In chapter 1 the writer of Hebrews is writing from a position of knowing the Old Testament. Knowing the Old Testament in Greek because it is from that Septuagint which is the Old Testament Greek that the writer of Hebrews quotes in chapter 1 and there is actually more of the Old Testament quoted than his own words. Chapter 1 has more references from the Old Testament. This is done to make a point and what they are saying is backed up by a source that is reliable and it's God's word. He gets to the point in the first four verses of the chapter. God has spoken through the prophets of old but now in their time and even today God speaks through His Son. Well, now we ask who is His Son? The question is answered with Him being the one who is the heir of all things. He was in the beginning as creator of all things that exist. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. This means that if any body or anyone resembled God on earth it was His Son. He is extremely powerful in upholding the universe by the word of His power and let me ask you something who sustains the world? Is it God or is it His Son? Well, here in Hebrews according to the writer His point was to set our gaze, the audience, to Jesus, the Son of God as the creator and sustainer of all things. We get to the Son being the one who has purified the sins of the world and is now seated on His throne as King of the world. Verse 4 of chapter 1 then sets the stage for Christ being much superior to the angels. You see, look to Christ as Lord and King every time you think of Him and pray to Him and worship Him because He is Lord, King and Christ. Again, how can we forget? Well, this is what the writer of Hebrews is saying here in chapter 2. Reading chapter 2 we see dangers of not heeding the call of salvation through the gospel. This is what it says, "Therefore we must pay much closer attention." And more importantly, God, right? Because Jesus Christ is the sustainer of the world and has conquered the grave, making a way to be reconciled to God, we must pay much closer attention to that truth. The danger is knowing and hearing what is proclaimed and disregarding it. Listen and heed the call. This is the real danger, and this danger is far worse than the worst trial you have ever experienced or are experiencing now. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is nothing to be played around with because it's only through Christ that we can be reconciled to God. Without Christ, you are a dead corpse awaiting to forever experience God's justice and His wrath. The thing about this salvation is that through though we are guilty of a highness crime, we can be forgiven through Christ's death, burial and resurrection. The danger of not paying much closer attention to the gospel, preach, is that there is a drifting away and that's what it says. And let me ask you, how is it possible to drift away? Let me start off by saying this. If you are truly in Christ, you cannot fall away from God's finished work of salvation through Christ. This is God's grace that isn't dependent on how strong you have a hold of this salvation, rather it is dependent on Christ's hold of you. God was rich in mercy and granted you who believed eternal life. Now, it's not up to you to keep eternal life, it's up to God who keeps you secured. So praise God for that. So with that, how is it possible to drift away? Well, by never receiving the gospel in your heart. What I mean is this. After 13, we are told the parable of the sower and we can see the different places that the seed lands on. And only when it lands on good soil is when it grows and becomes a tree that bears fruit. This soil is soil that has received the word, hears it and understands it. But there is also ground that is not habitable for the seed to grow. This is the rocky ground. Rocket ground is no place for planting seeds, yet there are some who at the base of their heart are resistant to the gospel, thus proving them to be rocky ground. At first, you may have a feeling. You may believe that in that feeling rather than the gospel that was received, but what proves your faith in the gospel to be faulty and false are the trials that you experience. See, we as Christians, we go through trials. We go through trials in our lives so that what is genuine may be strengthened. It's good to be tried. It's good to be tested. And the one who isn't strong in a trial is the one who proves themselves not to trust God or not trusting in God. Trials are God's way of proving our faith to be true by the reliance on Him through that trial. We must cling onto Christ and His finished work on a cross. The gospel of Jesus Christ is mighty to save even the most wretched soul. This is the sovereign gospel that comes from the sovereign God. This is all we have and this is all we need. The gospel, the good news, if you lack faith and are unsure if you are in Christ, the call is to be made right with Him now. Ask God to forgive you and your sins and turn from them to Him. Hate your sin. Kill it. Trust in Christ to save you from your sins and He will. And He has. Christ died 2,000 years ago. But again, it doesn't stop there. He rose from the grave. He has ascended and He has assumed His position as king as He is seated on His throne. This is the message which was declared by angels because it was by them that the message came to us, creatures made in God's image. Salvation has come to us through God's messengers, first revealing it through their message, God's message. And by this message, we are saved. And again, brothers and sisters, let me ask you, are you in Christ? Can you say for a fact that if you died tonight, if you died 10 minutes from now, that you are secure? Let's go back to Hebrews. Hebrews verses 3-4, what God wants us to see here is that God wants to remind us of the dangers of rejecting the great salvation that is preached by the beautiful feet of those who proclaim His good news as it is confirmed through the signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts by Christ and His apostles. Let me repeat that. God wants to remind us of the dangers of rejecting the great salvation that is preached by the beautiful feet of those who proclaim His good news as it is confirmed through the signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts by Christ and His apostles. The question is put this way. How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? The answer to this question is easy. We can't. Peter puts it well in Acts chapter 4 verses 11-12. During his sermon before the council, he says this."This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." I hope that you don't fall or fail this examination of yourselves. Do you believe this truth? Do you believe that this is true? There are two options. You believe in Christ and live for eternity in glory. Or two, reject God's salvation through Christ and suffer what is rightfully earned by every single person who has transgressed against the Lord. You see, those who believe are not better off than anyone else. Or they are not better than anyone else. They are just better off because of Christ."As long as you have breath in your lungs, there is still time to turn to Him in faith." Again, there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Jesus Christ is powerful enough to save you from your sins because He is the one who is God incarnate. He Himself is the only one that can suffer the wrath of God and live. He is the sinless one who became sent on our behalf of all of us who believed in Him and believe in Him. Do not be like those in chapter 2 where it seems that they have to be reminded of the Gospel truth and is in danger if not paid much close attention to Christ and His kingship. The Lord declared this message. When God spoke, He spoke truths. He created all things, but He also spoke the first Gospel where we can find in Genesis 3.15. Salvation came through the Word of God. Salvation came through the Word Christ Himself. How can we escape such a great salvation? We can't without Christ. He is the saver of the world, so why not put your trust in Him? If you have believed in Him, keep believing. Keep trusting in Him. Jesus suffered death for all His people so that His people would not taste death but instead be found in life, in Him. Jesus Christ is merciful. Jesus Christ is faithful in His priesthood who made atonement for our sins. Jesus Christ is the name of which we must believe in and trust in. He had to be made like His brothers, the chapter goes on to say, so that He can make propitiation for the sins of the people, of His people. Praise God for a saver like Christ. All glory to God for bringing about a salvation we are undeserving of. We send not Him, yet He suffered our punishment because He loved us, and He still loves us. Pay close attention to this Gospel message. Hide it in your heart. The sovereign God of the universe has given us this great salvation that is able to save us from our sins. Repent from your sins and believe in Him if you have not done so already. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank You for sending Your Son to us. We thank You, Lord, for this great salvation that You have revealed to us. We are but a worm, God. But yet You showed Your mercy. You showed Your love that You sent Your Son to die on our behalf because we are unable to pay for our own sins. God, we have transgressed against You and we do not deserve this Gospel, yet You give it to us freely. God, we thank You for this Gospel. God, we ask that You grow us in His Gospel. Lord, let it not escape our tongue, but instead let us hide it in our hearts and remember forever. God, our bodies deteriorate. They fall apart. Eventually, they go back to dust. But until we breathe our last breath, God always reminds us of this good news that we have in Christ. And those who are here tonight, God, that has not believed in You, God, I pray and ask that You change their hearts. You give them a heart of flesh to believe this great salvation that is found in Christ. God, grow us. Be with us. Help us. Help us understand that the trials that we are put through is to grow our faith. Lord, we are dependent upon You and apart from You, we do not stand. Apart from You, we will disintegrate and fall apart. God, You hold us together by the word of Your power. So, God, be with us and help us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.
