And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
7 sermons cite this verse
offensive. Go with me. If you are going to be the minister, you have to live offensive. Look at the next part of the verse. It says, and also I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. Then he makes this bold statement. And the gates of Hades, or the gates of hell, shall not prevail against it. I've always had this scripture messed up, because what has happened, I got a gate here that represents a gate of hell. And what I thought is that the church was inside of a gate being protected and that all the forces of the enemy is coming at you, but nothing can touch you because you're protected in the gate. So the gates of hell won't prevail. But I figured that I just couldn't read and I didn't understand it because it says the gates of hell. That means hell is the thing that has set up protection around certain things. Hell has set up gates around the entertainment industry. …
Your car is not more important. Your career is not more important because all of those things will pass away, but I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. What does it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his soul? And so we see Noah as a hero in God's eyes because he gave his children a purpose and they found it in the kingdom of God. It's no coincidence. I didn't tell him what I was preaching. But when I saw little Jet over here strumming his guitar at seven years of age, and I saw Etienne standing up here, his father, playing and worshiping God, that's what I'm talking about. You see, he's getting his kids involved in the work of God. My children, and many people's children, this is how you do it. Come on now. I heard that song go off when I said it. This is how you do it. You got to get it. …
… And he asks them this question. Who do people say that the Son of Man is? Here's the opinion. What are the opinions of people? And then Jesus looks at them and says, okay, now this is the moment where you have to answer for yourselves. And he asks them the question, but who do you say that I am? Every one of us has a Caesarea Philippi. Every one of us will have multiple Caesarea Philippis and where we have to give an answer. Now, sometimes that's gonna be a direct question and sometimes it's just gonna be, this is a situation where we have to say something. So I came across this. I thought it was pretty funny. Mother Miriam. Mother Miriam is this elderly nun. And she was telling the story about how before she was a nun, before she was a Catholic, she loved Jesus, she was a Christian, and she needed a job. And so she saw in want ads that there was a diner that was hiring waitresses and no experience required. …
… this is our lord speaking to his disciples and here we have the background for the keys of the kingdom our lord says these words and i tell you you are peter and on this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it i will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Our Lord here institutes the instruments by which the people are to be admitted and excluded in the kingdom of heaven, the church. By the preaching of the gospel we see here is the kingdom of is opened and then he uses discipline to correct those erring sheep to exclude those who remain unrepentant and thus the gospel of the the preaching of the gospel rather and the use of church discipline are the two keys that he uses he establishes the church with officers, and we know them to be the pastors, the elders, and the deacons. And he has given to the pastors and the elders the authority to exercise these keys. These elders, these pastors, are the gatekeepers that open and close the kingdom. Pastors have the responsibility of opening and closing with the first key, preaching the gospel, preaching that Jesus is the Son of God, obedient in the place of his people, that he died, he rose from the dead, is in heaven and will return …
… for flesh and blood hath not revealed this to you, but by my Father in heaven. And Jesus said, I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of Hades, the gates of hell, the storms of life will not overcome it. He said that to Peter, knowing that Peter would go on to deny him at the fire on the eve of his crucifixion. But see, Jesus knew that sometimes the best place to build from is rock bottom. I told the Lord, I'm not ready to preach yet. He said, you're more ready than you realize. And you've been telling the Lord, I can't handle this. I'm not ready for this. I can't do it. He said, I wouldn't have called you if I wasn't confident that you could. And not only this, He said, I wouldn't have called you if I wasn't going to do it with you. Bow your head and close your eyes. The Lord is in this place. …
… is actually the fulfillment of a specific prophecy of the Lord Jesus. I'm thinking, of course, of Jesus' words in Matthew 16, Matthew 16, 18, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Now, in many ways, we tend to think of those words as a kind of general prevision of what would happen in the rest of history. But I think it's helpful for us, at least in the first instance, to think of them as a specific prophecy that is fulfilled at least in its inauguration on the day of Pentecost and in this particular congregation, this particular church in Jerusalem. It is the fulfillment of a specific prophecy. The day of Pentecost was groundbreaking day for the church in Jerusalem. And not only so, it seems to me to be perfectly clear on the day of Pentecost and thereafter that what our Lord Jesus says to Simon Peter, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against that church. …
… And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So what I'd like to do in this message is just answer one question, and that is, what is the church? If you looked in a Greek New Testament and saw the word church, the word would be ekklesia, E-K-K-L-E-S-I-A, E-K, which means out of, klesia, called ones. So that the New Testament word for church means those who have been called out of something. You say, well, what have they been called out of? Well, I want you to look at a couple of verses here. First of all, in Colossians chapter 1, if you'll turn there, to verse 13. because here he tells us what every single believer has been called out of. …