The Strength Of Our Confession

“Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell share not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18

Upon this rock…Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Son of God is the foundation upon which the church is built. “If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt he saved.” Romans 10:9 It is through our confession of who Jesus is and what he has done for us that we have the hope of everlasting life and that nothing shall separate us from God’s love.

When I look at the one who made this confession, Peter, I see in him a man who is spontaneous, uneducated, determined, afraid and can be a bit hot headed. He was far from perfect! And yet this is one of the lead disciples. This is the one who preached the first sermon when the church was birthed at Pentecost. It just goes to show what Paul wrote to the Corinthians that “…not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 In other words God didn’t choose strong, intelligent, and affluent men, but men who were just like me and you who are weak, not highly educated or affluent, but had great influence on the world due to the grace of God that he bestowed upon them.

The encouraging thing is that “The gates of hell could not prevail against this church.” Those who were prominent, influential leaders of a city always sat at the gate of it. What Jesus is saying is that satan’s most powerful, demonic forces cannot overthrow God’s Church. There is no intellectual or academic philosophy that can overthrow the truth of the Gospel. There is not an affluent politician or militant tyrant that will be able to conquer the Church of Jesus Christ. Satan can throw his best and most powerful against it, but will never, ever conquer, take captive, or bring down one of God’s weakest saints, or struggling churches. As long as we stand on the solid rock (which is what Peter’s name signifies) of our confession of faith, then when ”the rain descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow, and beat upon that house; and it will not fall.“ Matthew 7:25

God’s strength is made perfect and manifested at its best through weak men and women. One of the strongest of God’s saints was the Apostle Paul. But even he was made to feel his weakness when a thorn in the flesh was given unto him. It rendered this strong man weak, but yet Paul was never more stronger than he was in this weakness of his. His strength did not come from within himself, but came from God’s grace, “which was sufficient for him.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul would go on to say “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

It was through the weakness of the cross that God destroyed the works of the devil. It has been through the foolishness of preaching that God’s church has confounded the movements of history and philosophy. And many martyrs who have faced the sword, torture, the wild beast, and the fire, have overcome their enemies and the most powerful weapon they had which was death. Even death must bow before the most weakest of saints, because of not what they know, but who they know, the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God who conquered death, hell, and the grave!

So hold fast to you profession of faith without wavering today and know that even satan‘s strongest demon or tactic cannot overthrow God’s grace working in and through you!

Pastor Robby