The Rock
Part 2
Blessed are you
18th November 2016
Last week, we looked at these words from Matthew's Gospel:
Matthew 16v13-18
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in
heaven."
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome
it.
When Jesus asked this group of disciples, "What about you? Who do you say I am?" Simon answered by acknowledging that Jesus is divine. He said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus responded, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because this was not revealed to you by man but by my father in heaven".
Do YOU know that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of the living God? If so, do you know how you know? It wasn't revealed to you by flesh and blood. It wasn't some eloquent preacher who explained it all to you so you could understand it. It wasn't that you found a Bible and a Greek lexicon, and looked all up and worked it all out for yourself. It was revealed to you by the Heavenly Father. If you believe the truth about Jesus, you believe it because God took the trouble to explain it to you. As it were, God flicked a light switch on in your head, so you can see. God revealed it to you.
Blessed are YOU, for this was not revealed to you by man but by God the Father. God cares enough about YOU as an individual person to reveal it to you. Understand how important you are to God.
And understand that we can't save ourselves. We can't even understand the gospel by ourselves, let alone implement it. It's only God who helps us know there is a God. It's only God who God shows us the way of salvation. It's only God who shows us that Jesus is Lord. It's only God who shows us that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins.
Perhaps you have a close friend and you've told him about Jesus time and time again, and he still doesn't understand, and you think, "Why? It's so simple! How can he not understand?" The answer is simply that God hasn't revealed it to him yet. The Gospel is only obvious to you because God's revealed it to you. It's baffling to him because God has not yet revealed it to him.
We're not cleverer than non-Christians. On average, we're average. But we've received revelation from God, and they haven't. That's why we pray for them, that God would reveal the truth of how to be saved through faith in the blood of Jesus.
Don't get frustrated with them. Don't think they're stupid. Pray more for them, that they might see what we see.
And remember how blessed we are.