Matthew 16:17…….Ready

Matthew 16:17…….Ready

16:17 Jesus replied “Blessed  are you Simon son of Jonah, (Does not mean Peter was more insightful than the other disciples. It’s not because Peter had collaborated in a discover process, documenting Jesus’ works, cross-checking scriptures, and than weighing the evidence that Jesus must be the Messiah.-(New)  for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood (Even though It might have come through the flesh and blood of friends and relatives, but ultimately it was God who opened your heart to receive Christ-(New)  but by my Father in heaven. (For additional Expository Notes See Book)

Extended Sermons

“Teaches faith in Christ is not something we can credit ourselves on or how we got there, but is a divine revelation of God.” ⇒  No one comes to Christ on their own, you don’t get there in a vacuum. You didn’t wakeup one day and decide, I think I’ll become a Christian today. You may have been encouraged towards it. People may have told you about it. Your family, parents, aunt, uncle. Your church Pastor, Sunday school teacher, faith leader, ethics professor, You may have heard it through social multimedia; through Twitter, Myspace, YouTube, a Billy Graham crusade. Believing in Christ didn’t come because you were smart enough and reached that conclusion on your own. No one can ever say “Well I wised up and gave my life to Jesus”. Believing in Christ doesn’t come because you did a lot of studying, or you worked really hard at it. It’s not something you can figure out with a mathematical equation. It’s not an intellectual or academic exercise. It’s a divine revelation that God works on a personas heart. Faith is totally and completely a gift from God.- (John 14:6,  Eph. 2:8-9) That’s why it’s impossible to talk people into getting Saved. You can share the Gospel and plant the Word. You can pray for God’s Spirit to move in opening their eyes and softening their hearts. But only God can Save them. (It’s been said; God’s work is to Save, our work is to deliver the message.)

“Warns against pointing a condemning fingers at others. (Apart from divine grace that’s where we would be as well.)” ⇒ Sometimes we get frustrated and wonder why people don’t believe in Christ. Despite all the evidence, despite all the prayers, despite all the times you’ve reached d out to them with the Gospel. Yet they fail to believe in Jesus. The answer is God must reveal it to them and open their eyes. Just as He opened our eyes. If a person does not see, we are not to despise them or to argue with them, but we are to keep praying for them. If a man is blind, you don’t curse his blindness. You pray for God to open his eyes.

“Even today, faith in Jesus doesn’t come by piecing it all together. It doesn’t come because you did a lot of studying. It doesn’t come because you weighed all the evidence and came to a rational conclusion. It doesn’t come because you were raised in a Christian home. It comes by God opening a persons heart.” ⇒ Believing in Jesus and being born again didn’t come by being raised in a Christian home by godly parents. Your mother may have talked to you about Jesus. A friend may have introduced you to Jesus. But it was really God working through them. And it was He who was the one who wonderfully opened your eyes, touched your heart, and caused your soul to live. Your mother couldn’t have done that in you only God could do that in you. If anything God used the influence of your mother, your church, and your pastor. We need to think of our Salvation in similar terms. If asked how you were Saved? You should be able to look back and say God stirred my heart to seek Him. God used the people from the Church and a sermon message to draw me to Himself. Then the words of Jesus rang clear in my ears, “Come to me all you who are worry and burden, and I will give you rest”. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”-(Matt, 28:30-31)

More Notes & Applications

Teaches how spiritual insight ultimately is not based upon our human ability, but is a matter of divine revelation.

Teaches how God helps us in our faith, strengthening and supporting our beliefs.

Teaches how God is working and moving in our lives whether we feel it our not.

Teaches how only God could do in our life what we couldn’t do on our own.

Calls for recognizing that it’s only by the sovereign work and grace of God that we are here.

Teaches the importance of walking in the Spirit, that we’re allowing God to define who He is.

Teaches no matter how at a lose we are, God will give us the inspiration in what to say and how to say it.

Displays how sometimes we can speak by divine inspiration and not even know it. Too often we expect God to speak in strange and unnatural ways. Here God spoke through Peter so naturally that he didn’t even realize it was the Father who is in heaven that revealed it to him. So often will preach a sermon or share a scripture with someone, and they’ll come up later to us and say that’s exactly what I needed to hear. Even though we didn’t know what their situation was.

Comforts in knowing we don’t have to figure out on our own all the answer to the questions of life. Our heavenly Father is constantly working through the power of the Holy Spirt to help us …. if only we would pay attention!

Have you ever been frustrated and wondered why people don’t believe in Christ despite all the evidence, despite all the prayers, despite all the times you reached out to them with the Gospel. Why did they not believe? Well the answer is right here. It is God who must reveal it to them and open their blind eyes and soften their hardened heart to see that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of the world.

Some believe Son of Jonah was a nicknames for Simon. Therefore Jesus was comparing Peter as a Spiritual son of Jonah. That is, he has the characteristics of Jonah. Thus, Jesus is referring to Peter’s denial of Him and running away when Jesus was arrested—much in the same way Jonah ran from God (Jona 1:1-3). Jesus may also have in mind Simon’s being the first to take the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10), just as Jonah brought the message of repentance to the Gentiles at Nineveh.

BLESSING AND HAPINESS THAT COME FROM KNOWING CHRIST

• Justification in the remission of sins: This means that in Christ our sins have been taken away from us. They are no longer counted against us. Instead Christ to them and the judgment for them upon himself.

• Imputed Righteousness: Not only was your sin taken away Christian. You were given the perfect righteousness of Christ. God has replaced your record of sin with Jesus’s perfect record.

• Adoption: In Christ you have been removed from the world and brought into God’s family. The Spirit is your seal marking you out as a member of this family.

• Sanctification: In Christ you are not only forgiven of sins, declared righteous, and adopted, but you are also progressively infused with holiness. That is the Spirit of God resides within you and makes you more like Jesus.

• Glorification/Eternal life: By faith in Christ you receive eternal life and glorification. Glorification is the reception of the immortal, imperishable, and sinless life in the resurrection body.